FYS--First Year Seminar (Fall 2024)

According to the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Plagiarism is using someone else's ideas or words without giving them proper credit".  Images, music, and other content created by another person or generated by AI that you use or refer to in your own work, must be acknowledged with a credit, known as a citation, in every instance.

As a contributor to the academic conversation, it is your responsibility to let your audience know who created the information that you are using and where the content is from, just as you would wish to be credited in turn for your own work. This is true for students and professionals in every field and at every level. Failure to give credit properly is serious and can result in lasting consequences.  

The videos and resources listed below, including Transylvania University's Academic Integrity Policy, explain what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Below are some actions considered to be plagiarism at Transylvania University:

1. Submitting an assignment purporting to be the student’s original work which has been wholly or partly created by another person, AI generative tool, or materials from the internet or software apps.
2. Presenting as one’s own the work, ideas, representations, or words of another person or AI generative tool without customary and proper acknowledgment of sources. This includes (but is not limited to) using work that is not your own without acknowledgement, copying material without quotation marks, paraphrasing too closely the exact words of the originating author, or providing a fabricated reference to a source
3. Submitting in whole or in part work for which the student has received credit in another course, unless the permission of the instructor has been obtained.
4. Knowingly permitting one’s work to be submitted by another person as if it were the submitter’s original work.

For more information about types of academic dishonesty and consequences of academic dishonesty at Transylvania University, consult Transylvania University's Academic Integrity Policy.

This video explains what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Watch this video for 5 key reasons why YOU should cite your sources!

The tutorials below check your knowledge on plagiarism.

Common knowledge does not have to be cited. Watch the video below to learn what is considered common knowledge.

Plagiarism and Citing Source: Common Knowledge Explained (Kirkwood Libraries, 2016)