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Academic Tools for the Research Process

Avoiding Plagiarism: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

This online tutorial is designed to help you understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it in your academic writing.  Plagiarism is often unintentional because students are not aware of all the ways they can accidentally plagiarize.

After completing this tutorial, you should be able to:

  • Recognize plagiarism in its various forms
  • Understand why avoiding plagiarism is important
  • Develop skills for avoiding plagiarism including: citing sources, taking notes, quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing

 

Taking this for points or extra credit?

 

Watch the two videos and take the quiz. Enter your preferred email address in the field after you complete the quiz to receive a copy of the results!

Avoiding Plagiarism Videos

Click on the image below to open the video in a new window. If you are off campus, you may need to log in with your university credentials to see the content below. 

Video on Academic Integrity from CREDO

Click on the image below to open the video in a new window. If you are off campus, you may need to log in with your university credentials to see the content below. 

Plagiarism video from CREDO

The Consequences

Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty that has serious consequences.  You have probably noticed that every syllabus you receive here at Texas A&M University-San Antonio has a statement about plagiarism.  Plagiarism is also addressed in the Student Code of Conduct.

If your professor finds too many similarities between your work and other people’s work, you might be accused of plagiarism.  If you have committed plagiarism, your professor may fail you on that assignment or the whole course.  

If you have been allegedly found violating the Student Code of Conduct regarding academic dishonesty, the incident will be reported to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.  A student conduct conference will be held with a Student Conduct representative.  If you are found responsible for academic misconduct, sanctions will be placed upon you and may range up to suspension depending on the severity of the incident.