The Augusta Schools Plagiarism Policy

According to Merriam Webster Online, plagiarism is defined as “stealing and passing off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own; the use (of another’s production) without crediting the source; literary theft” (“Plagiarizing”). Plagiarism also occurs when a student:

• fails to cite without quotation marks the written words or symbols of another author;
• fails to document the author and sources of materials (including materials obtained through electronic media) used in composition;
• fails to cite research materials in a bibliography or works cited page;
• fails to name a person quoted in an oral report;
• fails to cite and author whose works are paraphrased or summarized;
• fails to cite an author’s ideas;
• presents another person’s creative work or ideas as one’s own in essays, poems, music, art, computer programs, or other projects;
• copies or paraphrases ideas from literary criticism or study aids, including CliffNotes or SparkNotes, without documentation;
• purchases a paper from an Internet site or an individual and claims the work as one’s own;
• cuts and pastes sections of text from Internet sites or online research sites;
• commits any other action intended to obtain credit for work which is not one’s own.

If students still have questions about plagiarism or how to correctly cite from their sources, they should consult the Cony Research Guide or ask the teacher who issued the assignment. Students who plagiarize will receive a zero on the assignment. In addition, their parents or guardians will be contacted and their names given to the administration. Further disciplinary action will be taken by school administration for repeat offenders.

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