Intellectual honesty is simply acknowledging, through documentation, all those sources that the writer has used in preparing any written work. Plagiarism, the obverse of intellectual honesty, is the use of any form of material, whether written or verbal, without formal indebtedness through documentation. The paraphrasing of any work, either written by other students, or found in print
or in electronic form, without acknowledgment is plagiarism. Not properly identifying the source of a quotation, even though the quotation is enclosed in quotation marks is also plagiarism. Not only the exact language of a sentence or phrase, but any material falsely presented as one’s own – an idea, a concept, data, graphs, or a line of argument – constitutes plagiarism. Any material that
neither originates with the student nor is common knowledge among educated person must be formally acknowledged.
It must be remembered that written work stands on its own, not on the intention of the writer. The burden of intellectual honesty rests on the student, not on the instructor. If students have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism or what is required, they should inquire before the work is submitted. Otherwise, they open themselves to charges of plagiarism. The penalties for
plagiarism are severe: a student who is found to have plagiarized or to have assisted another student in plagiarizing may be given a failing grade for the course on the first violation; a second offense may result in exclusion or dismissal from the university.
(Adapted from Standards of Writing Pamphlet of Loyola University City College, 1971. For complete details on standards, penalties, and appeals procedures, see “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades,” Loyola University Undergraduate Bulletin.)