Plagiarism Guidelines

"Plagiarism encompasses the following:

1. Presenting as one's own the words, the work, or the opinions of someone else without proper acknowledgment.
2. Borrowing the sequence of ideas, the arrangement of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else without proper acknowledgment." (GMU 1997-1998 Catalog, at www.gmu.edu/catalog/9798/honorcod.html)

Because above I am quoting from a source exactly, I must utilize:

1. Quotation marks to indicate that it is a quote, and
2. A cite to the source of the quote, including page number or other way to enable the reader to find the quote

If I am paraphrasing a source, i.e. using different words but attempting to express a sequence of ideas from a source, then I must also acknowledge the source, although I do not utilize quotation marks. It is not sufficient to merely list the source in a list of references, but one must include, at the end of the paraphrase, a reference to the source.

If you write about one of the IT 343 cases, and paraphrase the case document, the best procedure is to acknowledge the source and failure to acknowledge the source in such a case may result in a minor deduction. However, since the cases are relatively short and well known to the instructor, the fact that you are paraphrasing will be clear to the instructor and thus this is not a serious matter.

However, if the source is something different, perhaps an article you find on the internet, failure to acknowledge the source then becomes a serious matter.

For further information on plagarism, see the GMU Writing Center Web Page on Plagiarism at http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources/plagiarism.html