Plagiarism

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarizing is stealing or passing off someone's ideas or words as your own. It includes any of the following:

  • Borrowing facts or statistics that are not common knowledge without citing the source
  • Quoting or paraphrasing a passage without citing the original source
  • Borrowing an idea or opinion of someone else without giving the person credit
  • Buying, stealing, or copying a paper
  • Hiring someone to write a paper for you

Tips for avoiding plagiarism:

  • Don't procrastinate - start early so you don't feel rushed and pressured to plagiarize
  • Take careful notes - write down the source and page numbers of the research
  • Cite liberally - when in doubt, cite
  • Include a bibliography - in addition to citing within the paper, don't forget to include your sources in a bibliography at the end of a paper

Academic integrity is honesty and responsibility in scholarship. Plagiarism is just one facet of academic dishonesty. Creighton's Student Handbook Links to an external site. outlines its definition and policies for academic honesty on page 100. Additionally, the Handbook describes disciplinary procedures for those students who violate the policy. 

 

Common Knowledge

Common knowledge does not have neatly defined boundaries; however, there are several criteria typically used to determine whether or not something is consider common knowledge.

  1. Can the information be found in many different places?
  2. Is it widely known by a lot of people?
  3. Can it be easily found in a reference source?

 Examples of common knowledge:

  • Capitals of states and countries
  • Dates of wars
  • Folklore - the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Johnny Appleseed, etc.

Common knowledge may also be course/disciplinary specific. If you're unsure if something is considered common knowledge, ask your professor or a librarian.

When in doubt, cite!