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Middle Ages: Academic Honesty: Plagiarism & Citing Sources

Academic Integrity -- Summarized!

Why to Cite:

  • Give credit to the authors of the sources you used.
  • Provide evidence you did research -- good, credible sources give your work more authority.
  • Allows your reader to locate the sources you used.
  • Avoid plagiarism.

When to Cite:

  • You should cite a source if you copyquoteparaphrase, or summarize ideas and/or media created by other individuals. 
  • When in doubt, cite!

Plagiarism Has Consequences

Plagiarism may not seem like a big deal, but there can be some severe and/or long-lasting effects:

  • Failing grade (assignment and/or course)
  • Note on transcript for academic dishonesty
  • Loss of financial aid
  • Academic probation or expulsion
  • Limited career opportunities (can become a barrier to getting a job or can cause loss of employment)

Types of Plagiarism

There are many different ways to plagiarize, including self-plagiarism.

Image about self-plagiarism

North   Virginia  Community College Library

Checklists for Evaluating Sources

Checklists

Try each one and then choose one you like

How to Cite...

MLA Example

The writing excerpt below uses in-text citations to point to information sources taken from the bibliography below. Colors are used to illustrate different sources.  

Example from UWC South East Asia

To Eat Meat or Not?
           Americans in 1976 consumed an average of 91.5 pounds of beef per year; today that figure is down to 54 pounds (Kunzig).  The UK is about the same, with an average per person consumption of 56 pounds of red and processed meat annually ("The Great Meat Debate"). The health danger with eating red meat comes from the high levels of saturated fat.  Vegetarians may feel virtuous, but they should realize that cheese has higher levels of saturated fat than hamburgers (Smith 54).
There are vigorous debates in the scientific community about how much red meat is bad for your health, but all seem to agree that processed meat (bacon, ham, salami, etc.) is definitely worse than unprocessed ("The Great Meat Debate"). 

Works Cited
Kunzig, Robert. "Carnivore’s Dilemma." National Geographic Society, 2014,
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/meat/>. Accessed 21 Oct. 2014. 
Smith, Janine. The Argument Against Beef.  Brand Books, 2012.
"The Great Meat Debate"BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 
17 July 2014, <http://www.bbc.com/news/health-285e6706>.  Accessed 22 Sept. 2014. 

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