Using information responsibly After identification, location, retrieval and evaluation of information, it is now the stage of putting that

information into useful use. But with the amount of information and the number of information consumers growing daily, increasing amounts of attention are being devoted to things like plagiarism, confidentiality, and identity theft which call for academic integrity by institutions of learning. Academic integrity Academic integrity governs the way in which you research and write while at University. It is founded on the principles of respect for knowledge, truth, scholarship and acting with honesty. These principles and values are the foundation of academia. Students and staff have a responsibility to practice academic integrity throughout every aspect of academic life. Academic dishonesty Three major categories of academic dishonesty: 1. Academic fraud 2. Plagiarism 3. Research misconduct Academic fraud Academic fraud is making a false representation to gain an unjust advantage. This includes:

Falsification of data Dishonest conduct in relation to exams or other assessment items Reusing work you have previously submitted Contract cheating - paying someone to produce an essay or assignment and then submitting the work as your own.

Plagiarism Plagiarism is the "presentation of the thoughts or works of another as one's own". Taking credit for language or ideas not your own is plagiarism. It is a form of theft, an academic crime. Research and scholarship often build on or refer to the work of others. It is not wrong to use others' ideas, or even their words. It is wrong to present them as your own. This includes:

Copying or paraphrasing material from any source without due acknowledgment

Using another's ideas without due acknowledgment Collusion or working with others without permission and presenting the resulting work as though it was completed independently.

Plagiarism not only relates to written works, but also to material such as images and diagrams, music, formulae, lab reports, models, experiments, web sites and computer programs. Avoiding plagiarism

Keep careful notes as you are doing your research. Rephrase ideas into your own words as you take notes. Document your research by creating a complete bibliography (also called a list of references or works cited) that includes full citations to all your sources.

Exceptions to plagiarism Local knowledge Shared experiences Common facts

Research misconduct Research misconduct includes:

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or deception in proposing, carrying out or reporting the results of research, Failure to declare or manage a serious conflict of interest, Avoidable failure to follow research proposals as approved by a research ethics committee, Willful concealment or facilitation of research misconduct by others.

Good practice for academic integrity Practice academic integrity by adopting the following strategies: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Effective note taking Paraphrasing appropriately Summarizing correctly and efficiently Using direct quotations appropriately Using 'common knowledge' Organizing your sources Referencing your sources correctly.

Referencing/citations To give credit to sources, one should use a recognized reference/citation style. The most commonly used styles are APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, Harvard and MLA (Modern Language Association). SU uses APA style. It is advisable to stick to one style consistently within your paper. Each style includes rules for how to arrange details like author, title, publication date, retrieval date, etc. These details may vary depending on what (information source) you are citing:

Books Articles from print journals or newspapers Articles obtained from databases like Academic Search Premier or EBSCO Web sites Email communication

Rules for proper citation in style guides are available online or at the Library, or ask a librarian for help. Copyright Copyright is a legal mechanism for protecting the intellectual property of authors and creators. As a student, you have certain privileges in making single copies or downloads of material not available to the rest of the population, provided those copies are for research and study purposes and they are not more than a reasonable proportion of the work copied/downloaded.