Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

Now that you understand what plagiarism is, it's important to make sure it doesn't happen again. This page is full of helpful tips, tricks, and resources you can use to avoid plagiarizing in the future. 

Another way to avoid plagiarizing is making sure you've got a good set of research skills to rely on. It's easy to turn to plagiarism when research papers seem too terrifying a task -- by doing your own research, you'll hone those skills so that after some practice, you'll feel much more confident. 

Here are some ways to grow your research skills:

• Familiarize yourself with library resources
  • The library has a lot of useful resources available to you on campus and at home, including books, periodicals, and online access to all kinds of databases perfect for your research topic. There's even a tool that allows you to search through dozens of databases at once, Discovery. There are also many LibGuides and informational & tutorial videos you can explore. The point is, you have access to many more research resources than you probably realize and they're all free -- why wouldn't you use them?
• Make a research plan
  • When you get an assignment, think through the information you need to find and the steps you need to take to find it. What kind of resources will you need? Where will you go to find these kinds of resources? What might be some good terms to use to start your research? Keep these kinds of questions in mind to create a workable plan for your research process. If you need help getting started with research, check out this LibGuide to help you jumpstart the process.
• Do it yourself
  • It's hard to resist the temptation of using an online tool to do the work for you, but remember -- not doing your own work is what gets you into trouble. Some databases provide tools that will generate citations for you, but these are often incorrect or missing crucial elements. If you create the citation yourself, you're avoiding those mistakes and learning necessary skills. The same things goes for generative AI like ChatGPT. It can be helpful for some things like brainstorming or proofreading, but definitely not for providing reliable, accurate information. Doing the research yourself allows you to verify the quality of the information in the sources you find and not fall victim to AI "hallucinations."
• Ask for help when you need it
  • The research process can be confusing or challenging, but luckily, you have people you can ask/places you can go for assistance. Never hesitate to reach out to your instructor for help, especially with a specific assignment. If you have general research questions or need help getting started, ask a librarian. Come into the library or reach out via chat, email, or text. The Academic Success Center (ASC) has many different options available to you, too, including peer tutoring and the Online Writing Lab (OWL). 

The purpose of the Online Writing Lab (OWL) is to help Jefferson College students in all phases of the writing process. We understand that it isn't always possible to make it to campus for face-to-face tutorial sessions, so we've created this OWL to make sure everyone has access to our college's excellent writing instructors. Please understand, though, that the OWL is not an editing or proofreading service. We will work with you to improve your own proofreading and editing skills, but we don't simply correct mistakes for you.

We want to help you learn to become your own best proofreader and editor. We will make every effort to return your paper/question within 48 hours, but please be aware that we cannot make any guarantees