AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

At ISB we encourage three strategies to avoid plagiarism:

taking careful notes

citing or crediting the original source of every quote, every

paraphrased passage and every summarized idea in your

work

consulting with your teacher or librarian throughout the

research process

PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

DEFINING PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism can be defined as presenting someone else’s words

or ideas as your own. It may take the following forms:

using another person’s ideas, language, theory or other

original material without acknowledging the source to

create the impression that these ideas are your own

paraphrasing material located in web sites, magazines,

newspapers, books, journals, charts or graphs without

citing the source

citing sources you did not use

copying or using work done by another student

NOTE TAKING

When taking notes always:

read the entire text and summarize it in your own

words

paraphrase important points and copy usable quotes

enclose quotes in quotation marks

copy all source information into your working

bibliography

CITING SOURCES

Use NoodleBib to develop a working bibliography as soon as

you begin to take notes. It should include every quote,

paraphrased passage and/or summarized idea that you use.

Remember: common knowledge [ex. Dates and definitions

such as Brussels is the capital of Belgium] are included only if

they are taken directly from a specific reference source. When

in doubt, cite it! CONSULTING WITH YOUR TEACHER AND LIBRARIAN

Ask your teacher or librarian for help if you:

have any questions about what constitutes

plagiarism

are unsure about how to use NoodleBib

need help with any part of the research process

CONSEQUENCES OF PLAGIARISM

ISB aims to develop ”independent learners” and ”international

citizens” who value intellectual property and who use information

ethically. Plagiarism violates both these codes of behavior.

Therefore students who plagiarize will be:

required to complete the work honestly with a new timeline set

by their teacher

referred to their headmaster

Additionally:

a note with details of the offence will be placed in the student’s

official file. This will only be removed from the file if there are

no further episodes of plagiarism or cheating

parents of the students will be officially notified in the event of

a second incident

students who knowingly plagiarize on an ongoing basis will be

treated as serious disciplinary issue

Academic integrity is a requirement of being a student at ISB. Given

the potentially serious cheating at the level of external exams and

college, students with an ongoing record of plagiarism will have

their future at ISB reviewed.