Writing Center Statement on Plagiarism

        The University Writing Center is obligated to uphold rules regarding academic honesty and intellectual property by helping students produce correctly documented text. Because our mission is to help writers improve their writing skills, we view acts of plagiarism as particularly counterproductive to our goal. If a peer tutor believes that a student has used intellectual property belonging to another (words, phrases and/or ideas) without appropriate documentation, the tutor will inform the writer of this problem and recommend solutions. We realize that there are many documentation styles and that they can be confusing. We are happy to help students resolve this confusion.
        If a tutor believes that working with a writer will compromise his/her responsibility to uphold academic honesty, he/she is obligated to end the conference and inform the writer of the reason for doing so. In some cases, the Writing Center Director may deem it necessary to take further action.

Plagiarism includes the following acts:

• Definition: Using the words of another without indicating that these words belong to another.
  Solution: Enclose the words in quotation marks and include a reference to the author’s name and the page number of the source where the quotation can be located.

• Definition: Summarizing the words of another without indicating that the summary has been derived from another author.
  Solution: Refer to the author’s name and the page number of the source (for MLA) or the name and date of publication (for APA).

• Definition: Using the ideas of another without indicating that these ideas belong to another.
  Solution: Attribute ideas to the author in the text and include a reference to the author’s name and the page number of the source (for MLA style) or the name and date of publication (for APA style).

• Definition: Engaging another writer, whether professional, friend, or family member to write a document which the student writer is expected to be solely responsible for writing. Stealing, copying, or "borrowing" the writing of another for the purpose of submitting this work as the writer's own.
  Solution: Trust your writing abilities. If you are worried about your ability to produce text, visit the Writing Center early in your composing process to learn strategies for writing.