Plagiarism is the portrayal, claiming or use of another person’s work or ideas (sentence, thought, paragraph, intellectual property, data, drawings or images) without specific reference. In the academic world this is considered to be theft. It is dishonest and irresponsible and will result in serious consequences. This applies to material from all sources – print, media, web, photos, graphs and diagrams.
While assignments and tests are intended to assess a student’s personal knowledge of a subject, there are times when students need to use resources written by others. In the health professions, this often consists of research findings, ideas and opinions. Proper referencing acknowledges ownership and shows respect for the work of others, allows the reader to locate the source of information and demonstrates a student’s ability to research, digest, apply and transfer knowledge.
In addition, all assignments must be the independent work of the student. Duplication of another student’s work is considered plagiarism. Group assignments are considered to be the personal work of the entire group members shared equally. If other sources are used they must be carefully cited.
Tests and exams are intended to establish the knowledge level of the student in a particular subject. Tests and exam assess and evaluate knowledge required by the profession and cited in the course outline learning outcomes. Each student is expected to respond independently to all the questions. Copying from the papers of other students is prohibited. With the exception of open textbook exams, copying from notes or textbooks brought into the test/exam room is not permitted.