Scholarship & Academic Integrity

Many instances of plagiarism are unintentional and can be avoided by pacing your work appropriately, carefully documenting your research, and using citation practices that clearly differentiate between your own ideas and contributions of others. As always, your teachers and the librarians are available to give you guidance if you are unsure about how to cite information in any paper, project, report or article.

Before Starting a Project

• Carefully follow any written or verbal instructions provided  for a paper/assignment (this includes peer or tutor editing/advice, whether this is a collaborative project, or if outside sources are permitted).

• Pay attention to dates and pacing. Leave yourself enough time to work thoughtfully and avoid citation errors often made when rushing. 

During the Research Process

• Take careful notes on all sources of information and ideas, including graphs, tables,  images, and other media  you may want to use. 
• Your notes should include any bibliographic information you need to cite the source. Remember, it is always harder to try and retrace your research steps!

During the Writing Process

• For direct quotations, use quotation marks around the quote and cite the source using the citation style chosen by your teacher. 
• When paraphrasing, ensure that the rephrased idea is rewritten in your own words and cite the source using the style chosen by your teacher. 
• When documenting help you received from peers, teachers, or any other people, follow the department guidelines. 
• Provide a bibliography or works cited page that lists all of the sources consulted in the preparation of the assignment following the citation style chosen by your teacher. 

Generally, you will not need to cite “common knowledge” in your papers. If you can find the information in three sources, especially a general reference source like CREDO or the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is probably common knowledge. If you are not sure, a good rule of thumb is that if you learned the fact while doing research, from any source, cite it.