Plagiarism Policy

Being part of an academic community means taking responsibility for one’s actions as a student, thinker, writer, and speaker.  The Bridgewater College community has adopted “Christian values, high standards of integrity and excellence, affirming and challenging each member,” as described in the Mission Statement.  Supporting this mission, the student Code of Ethics asks that students “demonstrate respect” for themselves and the community, “take responsibility for [their] actions,” and “uphold the standards and policies of our community.”

It is the intent of the student and faculty authors of this policy to make explicit the goals of the Mission Statement and the Code of Ethics with respect to research practices by explaining and illustrating their application.

Members of this academic community “demonstrate respect” for themselves and others by recognizing and acknowledging the use of their intellectual property—the ideas, facts, and wording discovered through research.  Members “take responsibility” for [their] actions” by including accurate documentation of others’ ideas, facts, and wording used in any writing they do.  Members “uphold the standards and policies of our community” by demonstrating ethical practices in using others’ ideas, facts, and wording.

Definitions and Examples

Plagiarizing means presenting someone else’s argument, definition, interpretation of events, interpretation of a text, or factual information as though they were one’s own, whether or not one uses the exact wording of the source.  Plagiarizing can take a variety of forms, some more extensive than others, some more intentional than others. 

Avoiding plagiarism starts during the research process with keeping accurate records of information and ideas gleaned from sources.  Any time that a researcher copies another’s wording verbatim, even if only a phrase, the researcher should place quotation marks around that wording in his or her notes, so that the quoted material is clearly distinguishable from the researcher’s wording.  It is important to keep a complete record of bibliographical information while doing research, so that one is able to complete in-text citations, notes, and bibliography as he or she drafts the paper.

Knowing when and how to provide documentation of sources is every writer’s responsibility.  Standard procedures are explained in writing handbooks, which students should purchase and use during their first-year writing courses.  Handbooks and citation guidelines are available in the library as well.  A student who does not know how to cite sources for his or her use of factual information, another writer’s wording, or ideas learned from a text should seek help with documentation from campus support services, such as the Writing Center.

1.  One form of plagiarism is the deliberate act of putting one’s name on a paper written by someone else or putting one’s name on text copied from a Website and pasted into a document.  Within academic communities, this practice is considered a flagrant violation of the trust that students, faculty members, and administrators share in each individual’s doing his or her own work, including writing.

2.  Another form of plagiarism is the presentation of factual information without citing the source from which the information was obtained.  This is often considered a simple breakdown in documentation, and may be defended with the comment, “Oh, I forgot to put in the parenthetical documentation.”  This defense is not acceptable in academic communities.  The best way to avoid committing this kind of plagiarism is to document sources as one drafts a paper.

Example: René Descartes’ short life (1596-1650) had a significant impact on later thinkers of the seventeenth century (Burnham and Fieser).*

3.  Yet another form of plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words to present ideas, information, or analysis without use of quotation marks and citation.  Any time that a writer uses a phrase, part of a sentence, a whole sentence, or more than one sentence composed by another writer, he or she must place quotation marks around the other writer’s wording and use an appropriate documentation form, either parenthetical citation or a note, to indicate the source of that wording.

Example: One of Descartes’ most significant contributions to philosophy was “a method of hyperbolic doubt” (Burnham and Fieser).*

4.  An often unrecognized form of plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas or argument without attribution.  When a writer presents an argument, a definition, an interpretation of events, or an interpretation of a text as his or her own, when in fact that argument or definition or interpretation came from someone else’s text, the writer is plagiarizing.  The solution is to frame the idea by introducing it as the original author’s and by citing the source from which the idea came.

Example: Descartes’ early work, Rules for the Direction of the Mind (1628), which he did not finish, foreshadowed his later analysis of reasoning, The Discourse on Method (Burnham and Fieser).* 

Final Comments 

In the final analysis, members of an academic community expect texts to be characterized by originality of thought and expression.  Research-based writing can be held to this standard.  The fresh perspective a writer brings to the selection and presentation of information is his or her own.  The point a writer makes is his or her own.  A Bridgewater College student can take pride in demonstrating a high ethical standard by making fair and honest use of others’ intellectual property. 

Bridgewater College Writing Center