Academic Integrity at Bow Valley College

Principles of Academic Honesty & Integrity

According to The Center for Academic Integrity, academic integrity is "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action" (p. 4). 

The Center for Academic Integrity (n.d.). The fundamental values of academic integrity. Retrieved from http://www.academicintegrity.org/

Related Online Guides from the RGO Library:

Welcome to the RGO Library guide to academic integrity and plagiarism.  Use this guide to:

  • Learn about intellectual property, academic honesty, and plagiarism
  • Understand Bow Valley College's policies on academic honesty, including the consequences of misconduct
  • Find tips and strategies to avoid plagiarism
  • Appreciate the cultural values underlying academic integrity
  • Understand the importance of citing sources in academic assignments

Take online workshops conducted by the library.

Bow Valley College (BVC) expects learners to follow academic honesty policies. There are serious consequences for students that break these expectations. A common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism. BVC's Academic Honesty Policy defines plagiarism as:

"submitting or presenting work as if it were the the learner's own work done expressly for a particular course when, in fact, it is not” (2010, p. 1).

Plagiarism is a serious offense with consequences that may include:

  • A failing grade on an exercise, quiz, test, examination, or course
  • Being placed on disciplinary probation
  • Suspension or expulsion from the department or the college

Examples of activities considered plagiarism include:

  • Buying a paper in any form
  • Hiring or allowing someone do your assignment
  • Stealing or "borrowing" all or part of someone else's work
  • Patching together a paper by copying and pasting from different sources without citing any of it
  • Submitting the same or a similar assignment more than once
  • Selling or allowing others to copy your work
  • Copying something word for word but not using quotation marks
  • Using significant ideas, concepts or facts without a citation, even if it is paraphrased
  • Paraphrasing too closely by making only small changes to a passage
  • Citing a source you did not actually find and read

Watch this humourous video with examples of plagiarism from the University of Alberta:

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Avoiding plagiarism is simple - always properly cite the original source of the ideas and research findings that you are reproducing and using in an essay or research paper.

This applies regardless of the manner of reproduction. If you are quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing from a source, you must recognize the original by using a citation style (such as APA or MLA).

To avoid plagiarism...

  • Manage your time effectively by considering how long it will take to complete all the steps in the research and writing process
  • Keep clear notes and indications of when a source was used in your writing;
  • Use your own ideas first when constructing your essay outline and arguments, then search for sources to support those ideas and -argument
  • Cite and use quotation marks when copying another person’s words
  • Cite the original source when referring to a fact, idea, opinion or theory in your own words
  • Create an account and use the “folder” feature in the library catalogue and databases to save all the sources you refer during the research process
  • Refer to a citation guide or ask for help from your instructor or at the library
    

Use this flowchart to help determine if you need to cite a source to avoid plagiarism: 

Why You Must Cite Sources

This video explains some of the reasons why it is important to cite sources when writing an academic research paper.