Skip to Main Content

Academic Success

Student Survival Guide: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity means upholding the values of your school with respect to the production of your academic work and the completion of quizzes, tests, and exams. Algonquin College’s policy Academic Integrity (AA48: Academic Integrity) explains what academic integrity means at Algonquin. Make sure you understand your responsibilities as a student and scholar.

Tips

  • Read The Policy. Become familiar with Algonquin College’s policy AA48: Academic Integrity. Not knowing the policy will not prevent you from facing disciplinary action if you break it.
  • Know When to Work Alone. Make sure you know when it's okay to work with others on an assignment and when you ought to work alone. Collaborating on a test or assignment can get you into trouble if you are supposed to be working alone. 
  • Start Fresh. Re-using work from a previous class on a new assignment is against the rules unless your professor specifically allows it. Start fresh on every project with new ideas and up-to-date research.
  • Cite Your Sources. When doing your research, keep notes on the sources of your information and make sure to cite them accurately. Accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism. For help citing your sources, visit the Research Guide.

Find Out More About Academic Integrity

Explore the AC Café

Discover more about what is expected of you as a student at Algonquin College to avoid academic misconduct. Self-enroll in the AC Café Brightspace course now!

Plagiarism


What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism includes more than just "coping and pasting". Any time you use content that is not your own, you need to give credit to the original creator using citations. This doesn't just include text; you need to cite images, figures, ideas, and more.

Examples of plagiarism:

  • Deliberately copying work from another student or copying and pasting from the internet
  • Submitting a paper or assignment that you bought online
  • Using any source or image in your assignment without citing it properly
  • Misquoting or not including quotation marks (" ") around exact quotations
  • Re-using your own past work (self-plagiarism)
  • Collaborating with other students on assignments that are meant to be individual (group or team plagiarism)

Algonquin’s Plagiarism Directive

Algonquin College's policy on plagiarism, AA48: Academic Integrity, states:

Plagiarism, whether done deliberately or accidentally, is defined as presenting someone else’s work, in whole or in part, as one’s own. This applies to ideas, wording, code, graphics, music, and inventions from all sources, including the Internet, television, video, film, and recordings; all print and written sources, such as books, periodicals, lyrics, government publications, promotional materials, and academic assignments; and all verbal sources such as conversations and interviews. Sharing one’s work with other learners where this has not been authorized is also considered an act of plagiarism. The reuse of one's own words, ideas, artistic expression or work from preexisting material especially without acknowledgment of their earlier use, is self-plagiarism

Academic sanctions for plagiarism can vary from having to complete a course on academic integrity to being suspended.

Consequences of Plagiarism

The consequences for students who plagiarize depends on the case. Per the College Academic Integrity policy (AA48: Academic Integrity), some possible consequences at Algonquin College are as follows:

  • You may be required to resubmit the assignment with proper citation, etc.
  • You may need to complete a course on Academic Integrity
  • You may receive a lower grade.
  • You may receive a grade of zero for the assignment.
  • You may receive an F grade for the course.
  • You may be suspended from the program.
  • You may be suspended from the College.

See the policy for more details about the potential consequences and when they may be applied.

How Do I Avoid Plagiarizing?

Here are a few important things you can do to avoid plagiarizing in your own work:

  • Don’t present anything you didn’t create yourself as your own work.
  • Keep track of where you find your information so you can cite it.
  • Give appropriate credit in your work using correct citations. If you have a hard time with citations, use one of the resources available so that you can learn to do it correctly.
  • When working with a group, look at what your group is handing in. You may still be responsible if a group member plagiarized.

Find more information to help you avoid plagiarizing in the resources below:

Can you identify the different types of Academic Misconduct? Test yourself to see how much you know!

Tip: If you have trouble identifying the different types of Academic Misconduct, check out the page What is Academic Misconduct? from the Academic Integrity Office.



Other Activities

Complete the activities below to learn about avoiding plagiarism, whether it is in your academic papers or in your resumes and cover letters.