Research and Plagiarism

One of the challenges of university level writing is learning how to incorporate views, information, ideas, and perhaps even a few sentences from other writers into the argument of your own essay. In your essays, you will be expected to write on a topic a way that shows some awareness of current critical thinking about that topic. You will need to incorporate relevant information and perspectives into your own work. However, you will need to fully reference the sources of all views, information, ideas, and phrases that you acquire from other writers in order to avoid plagiarism.

The Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.) points out that plagiarism actually is an umbrella term that covers two wrongful acts: "Using another person's ideas, information, or expressions without acknowledging that person's work constitutes intellectual theft . Passing off another person's ideas, information, or expressions as your own to get a better grade or gain some other advantage constitutes fraud " (2.1, emphases added).

In order to avoid what is called "unintentional plagiarism," you should become familiar with the conventions of academic citation. American Studies lecturers are from various disciplines, using one of three citation styles: MLA, APA, or the Chicago/Turabian Citation Style. All three of these citation conventions may be found on the library's website. Your lecturers and tutors will specify the nature of the research you need to undertake in any class and will explain the principles of citation that you will need to reference that research.

In cases of intentional plagiarism, the School of Humanities, in conjunction with the University Proctors and the Discipline Committee, will take appropriate punitive action.