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ESL Library Guide

This library guide contains useful library resources for ESL students, at Kent State University.

Library Tutorials

Academic Integrity

Academic dishonesty may refer to cheating, dishonest conduct, plagiarism, and collusion in your academic work. Specific examples of these types of activity may include : misrepresenting others’ work as your own, such as not acknowledging any paraphrasing or quoting, use of another student’s material, incomplete acknowledgment of sources (including Internet sources), or submission of the same work to complete the requirements of more than one course.

You may access additional information on Academic Honesty through the links below:

Academic Honesty Lib Guide

KSU's Administrative Policy regarding Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas as if they were your own without giving credit to that person. It may be intentional or unintentional.

Examples

  • Failure to acknowledge sources of words, sentences or ideas
  • Failure to acknowledge sources of illustrations, images, pictures, and audio recordings
  • Failure to include a reference list or falsifying a reference list
  • Failure to put quotation marks around direct quotations
  • Submitting the same paper for two different classes
  • Inappropriate collaboration: having someone else write your paper for you or you writing a paper for someone
  • Paying someone to write your paper or take an exam for you
  • Buying a paper from the Internet

Consequences

  • Your instructor may refuse to accept the assignment for credit
  • You may fail the assignment
  • You may fail the course
  • You may be required to attend Plagiarism School
  • You may be dismissed from the University
  • You may lose your degree

Why is it wrong to plagiarize?

  • It violates Kent State University Policy
  • It’s dishonest & misleading
  • It devalues the author’s original work
  • It’s cheating yourself:
    • Students are expected to create/ add to knowledge
    • Hurts the learning process

Tips on How to Avoid Plagiarism

Do's Don'ts
Do your own work; Start early Do not copy and paste
Take careful notes on all the resources you use (both print and electronic) Do not buy a paper from the Internet
Let your voice come through Do not let someone else write your paper for you
Read article, set aside then write your paper Do not write a paper for someone else
Use strategies such as paraphrasing, summarizing and quotations Do not copy your classmate's work
If you use direct quotations, use quotation marks Do not submit the same assignment for two different classes
Introduce each source using in-text citations Do not use article spinner or other online sites to help in paraphrasing text you found elsewhere
Include a bibliography or reference list of all sources used in your paper  
When in doubt, cite!  

No need to cite when:

  • Using ideas from your own experiences, opinions, insights, observations or conclusions
  • Reporting results from your own experiment
  • Using “common knowledge”- e.g.  “The earth revolves around the sun.”

Learn more...

Plagiarism and ESL writers- Purdue University's Online Writing Lab

Sharing information- (Module)- University of Idaho

More Plagiarism related Resources

For information on Avoiding Plagiarism in other languages, click on the respective documents below.