Understanding Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is defined by the International Center for Academic Integrity as, “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage,” (ICAI, 2020). At LSU, we take academic misconduct seriously. Per Section 10.1 of the LSU Code of Student Conduct, “high standards of academic integrity are crucial for the University to fulfill its educational mission.” Instructors are to refer all suspected academic misconduct to SAA.

Tools & Tips

For an overview of academic integrity and how to avoid academic misconduct at LSU, please complete the online LSU Overview Academic Integrity Moodle module.  You can self-enroll in the module and you will receive a certification upon completion.

Students should refer to each course’s syllabus for information on how to maintain academic integrity. Often instructors will include their expectations for collaboration and use of materials on assignments. If students ever have a question about class expectations, be sure to ask the instructor

A bibliography (references page, worked cited page or other title depending on citation style) is a list of sources, usually placed at the end of a document, that you consulted or cited in creating the document. In Microsoft Office Word, you can automatically generate a bibliography based on the source information that you provide for the document. Read more at Microsoft.com » or watch this tutorial to learn more about using the Microsoft References tool.

Easybib.com also offers a free method for formatting sources you relied on for research for a works cited page.

We have also created a resource that includes Steps for Writing Research Papers

A Question of Intent?

Violations of academic misconduct can be intentional, but may also be unintentional. By understanding the provisions of the Code of Student Conduct, students are able to understand LSU’s expectations for academic integrity.

What is Plagiarism?

The LSU Code of Student Conduct defines plagiarism as “the lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else's words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the Instructor,: (10.1 H)) Plagiarism can occur in a myriad of forms and media. Although most commonly associated with writing, all types of scholarly work, including computer code, music, scientific data and analysis, and electronic publications can be plagiarized. The aim of this section is to help students and faculty deal with the complex and important issue of plagiarism on campus.

Plagiarism is an extremely serious violation of academic integrity.

Nearly everyone understands that copying passages verbatim from another writer's work and representing them as one's own work constitute plagiarism. Yet plagiarism involves much more. At LSU plagiarism is defined to include any use of another's work and submitting that work as one's own. This means not only copying passages of writing or direct quotations, but also paraphrasing or using structure or ideas without citation. Learning how to paraphrase and when and how to cite is an essential step in maintaining academic integrity.

Adapted with permission from the University of Texas at Austin

Intent to Plagiarize?

Plagiarism, strictly speaking, is not a question of intent. Any use of the content or style of another's intellectual product without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism. However, students plagiarize for a variety of reasons, and awareness of these reasons is essential for understanding the problem.

Some students choose to plagiarize. Whether claiming to be overworked, compensating for their own perceived academic or language deficiencies, or simply hoping to gain an academic advantage, those who choose to claim credit for another's work are guilty of plagiarism. Those who intentionally plagiarize "borrow" either from published sources, such as books, journal articles, or electronic information, or from unpublished sources, such as a friend's paper or a commercial writing service. Whatever the source, such conduct is a direct and serious violation of accepted standards of academic integrity.

Others, however, stumble into plagiarism. Negligent plagiarism can result from ineffective writing process, sloppy proofreading or note taking, or, most commonly, simple ignorance about the nature of plagiarism itself. Such inadvertent plagiarism, while not an excuse for what is still a serious breach of academic standards, is a more complex area of academic misconduct than straightforward copying. Addressing the issue of negligent plagiarism requires a careful examination of both the definition of plagiarism and the appropriate techniques for scholarly attribution.