Avoiding Plagiarism 

This guide will assist students in understanding what constitutes plagiarism and best practices to avoid committing it.

Thank you to Professor Kim Gainer, who generously shared her academic integrity materials for inclusion in this guide.

Plagiarism is using someone else's work without giving him or her credit.  "Work" includes text, ideas, images, videos, and audio. In the academic world, you must follow these rules:

• When you use the exact words, you must use quotation marks and provide a citation.
• When you put the information into your own words, you must provide a citation. (See Paraphrasing tab.)
• When you use an image, audio, or video created by someone else, you must provide a citation.

Plagiarism could happen with a sentence, a paragraph, or even just a word! For example, Stephen Colbert, of the television show "The Colbert Report," made up the word "truthiness," meaning something that sounds like it should be true.  If you say in a paper something has a ring of "truthiness"- you should cite Colbert.  If someone else's words catch your interest, you should cite them. 

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Penalties can range from failing the assignment to being expelled from Radford University. See the Dean of Students' Academic Integrity site for the RU Honor Code and information for students charged with an Honor Code violation.

Pleading ignorance of plagiarism or the Honor Code will not excuse you from violations.  As an adult, you are expected to know and understand RU policies.