As we enter the season of final tests, essays, and projects, it is all too easy to feel confused by rules around citations, working with classmates, asking for help on an assignment, or reusing your own work to save you time.
According to Brown’s Academic Code of Conduct, “Community members should protect and promote the University’s pursuit of its academic mission” through “conducting ourselves with integrity in our learning, teaching, and research”.
We all aspire to conduct ourselves with integrity, but when we are short on time or anxious about a project, it can be tempting to look up an answer online and neglect the citation or ask a friend for their work.
In order to make it through the finals season in accordance with the academic code, I’ve compiled your go-to guide, so you can sleep easy this Winter break.
What is plagiarism?
According to the Brown University Library, plagiarism includes submitting someone else’s work as your own, minimally changing someone else’s work and not citing the source, reusing previous work, and not citing your sources.
What are the consequences?
The consequences of plagiarism are serious. According to the Brown Academic code, students found guilty of plagiarism could lose credit for their work, receive no credit in their course, be suspended, expelled, or have their degree revokes
Top Tips
- AI Knowledge Is Not Your Knowledge
The world of AI is truly awe inspiring and while it is incredibly useful for learning how to boil an egg or change a tire, it should not be used to write an essay or formulate an answer on an exam. You can learn a lot from artificial intelligence, but when it comes to your exams, study or research your work beforehand and then use your own knowledge and words on exams and essays.
- Use a Citation Manager
According to Brown’s Academic Code, “a student who obtains credit for work, words, or ideas that are not products of his or her own effort is dishonest and in violation of Brown’s Academic Code”. Whenever you are using facts or words that are not common knowledge in your work, you should include a citation or a footnote. Make your life easier by using a citation manager like Zotero to manage your sources. You can create footnote citations, bibliographies, and organize your sources by project or subject.
- Be Careful When Working With Friends
Collaboration can be a powerful tool when studying for an exam or brainstorming ideas for a project, but proceed with caution. According to Brown’s Academic Code, collaboration on work must be authorized and a student must be clear which parts of the assignment were done independently and which were done in a group. It is okay, and even encouraged, to study with others for an exam or work with your peers on a group project. When it comes to individual projects, essays, or exams, however, it is best to work on your own.
- Ask for Help
A college course load is not a walk in the park, so do not be afraid to ask for help over engaging in plagiarism or cheating. Attend office hours with your professor or TA to clear up confusion over an assignment or course content, sign up for group tutoring sessions if your course has it, or drop in to the writing center’s office hours to discuss an essay or research paper.