Crediting sources

code | scenario | smart strategies | consequences

Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters

1. It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:

(d) to represent as one’s own an idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism;

Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on “knowing”, the offence shall likewise be deemed to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.

Scenario – Crediting sources

Your instructor has just informed you that the essay you submitted for credit in your Anthropology course contained many passages taken verbatim or nearly verbatim from an online source without proper acknowledgement. In the previous term, you submitted a plagiarised essay in a Biology course, and after your first meeting with the Office of the Dean, you received a zero on your Biology assignment.

The Issue

As this is a second offence of plagiarism, you knew about the provisions of the Code and that it is extremely important to give credit to the author of each of your sources, and decided to repeat the offence. The fact of the prior offence is a factor to be considered that will likely lead to a more serious penalty for the subsequent offence.

Smart Strategies

  • Citations, quoting and paraphrasing; Taking notes; Information literacy and academic integrity; Internet sources
  • If you are unsure how to properly cite material in an essay, approach your instructor or a TA in your course for help, or a librarian at U of T.
  • Colour-coding each source you use and immediately documenting the page number helps you to organize your sources and create an accurate list of references and bibliography.
  • Consult your course syllabus. Many instructors have details on plagiarism and what they expect from you.
  • Consult the helpful document ‘How not to Plagiarize’ for more detail on avoiding plagiarism (U of T Writing Centres) and the ‘Why Cite’ Library guide (U of T Libraries).

Range of Consequences

For a discussion of consequences see Key Consequences.