Academic Integrity

Librarians support academic integrity by:

• Helping you find appropriate outside sources such as books and articles
• Providing citation information in QuickSearch (library catalog) and major databases.
• Answering questions about major citation styles and offering print copies of citation style guides when needed.
• Providing access to citation managers such as RefWorks to simplify the citation process.

But they can't...

• Find your sources for you.
• Format your bibliography or all your in-text citations.
• Answer all citation questions (but they can help you find the right answer).
• Write your paper or do your project for you.
• Answer questions about assignment details.
• Tell you if something is or is not “cheating.”

Katie Anderson
katie.anderson@rutgers.edu
 856-225-2830
Anthropology, Business, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Social Work (temp), Sociology

Bart Everts
bart.everts@rutgers.edu
856-225-2849

John Maxymuk
maxymuk@libraries.rutgers.edu
856-225-2842
Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education (temp), Mathematics, Nursing, Physics

John Powell
john.powell@rutgers.edu
856-225-2838

Julie Still
still@libraries.rutgers.edu
856-225-2846
Childhood Studies (temp), History, Political Science, Public Administration, World Languages, Urban Studies

Zara T. Wilkinson
zara.wilkinson@rutgers.edu
856-225-2831
Art, Art History, Childhood Studies (temp), Communication, Digital Studies, English, Philosophy, Religion, Theater

1. Research is part of your writing process.  Write before, during, and after doing research.
2. Learn a citation manager--RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, or another one.  Use it to keep track of your references and to help you insertcitations into your writing. 
3. Make your working bibliography first.  A working bibliography is larger than your final bibliography, consisting of likely prospects that you will examine as you read them. 
4. Take notes as you read.  Record page numbers on every note.  Write something in your own words with every note.  These two practices will help to keep you from committing plagiarism.
5. Consult a librarian when you are stuck in your research process. Go to the Learning Center to get help with your writing. Asking for assistance will save you time and give you a better result in the long run.

[Info in this box adapted from the Rutgers-Newark "Academic Integrity" guide.]

As an academic community dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge, Rutgers University is committed to fostering an intellectual and ethical environment based on the principles of academic integrity. … [V]iolations of academic integrity constitute serious offenses against the entire academic community.

The principles of academic integrity require that a student:

• properly acknowledge and cite all use of the ideas, results, or words of others.
• properly acknowledge all contributors to a given piece of work.
• make sure that all work submitted as his or her own in a course or other academic activity is produced without the aid of impermissible materials or impermissible collaboration.
• obtain all data or results by ethical means and report them accurately without suppressing any results inconsistent with his or her interpretation or conclusions.
• treat all other students in an ethical manner, respecting their integrity and right to pursue their educational goals without interference. This requires that a student neither facilitate academic dishonesty by others nor obstruct their academic progress.
• uphold the canons of the ethical or professional code of the profession for which he or she is preparing.

Adherence to these principles is necessary in order to ensure that

• everyone is given proper credit for his or her ideas, words, results, and other scholarly accomplishments.
• all student work is fairly evaluated and no student has an inappropriate advantage over others.
• the academic and ethical development of all students is fostered.
• the reputation of the University for integrity in its teaching, research, and scholarship is maintained and enhanced.

Failure to uphold these principles of academic integrity threatens both the reputation of the University and the value of the degrees awarded to its students. Every member of the University community therefore bears a responsibility for ensuring that the highest standards of academic integrity are upheld.

From The Rutgers University Academic Integrity Policy

Most of the resources listed above include pre-formatted citations that help make the citation process easier and faster. These citations are generally provided in the three major citation styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago.

Here is an example of a pre-formatted citation in QuickSearch (found by clicking on "citation" when viewing the article):

 

Your "works cited" or bibliography entry for this article would look like this (in MLA):

Crysel, Laura C., et al. “Harry Potter and the Measures of Personality: Extraverted Gryffindors, Agreeable Hufflepuffs, Clever Ravenclaws, and Manipulative Slytherins.” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 83, 2015, pp. 174–79.

Your in-text citation for the same article would look like this (in MLA):

Readers of Harry Potter identify with the Hogwarts houses that reflect their "self-percieved personality traits" (Crysel et al. 178).

Using a Working Bibliography to Save Time 

A "working bibliography" is a list of the sources you found that you believe are most likely to give you the information you need.  As you use the items, you can type in comments about each in a notes folder. Or you can turn one copy of your working bibliography into your notes page while a second copy forms the basis of your bibliography or Works Cited page.

Organizing and Taking Notes to Avoid Plagiarism

• Make separate folders in your word processor, citation manager, or email account for each paper or project.

• Document what you find as you go by sending references, abstracts (article summaries), and even full text to yourself as you discover them.  If you use RefWorks or another citation manager, export your items so that you keep track of everything.

• Keep all your downloads, output from periodical indexes and databases, lists of sources, electronic documents, and notes you write for each project together in the same folder

• For your own protection, keep your searches, working bibliographies, note files, and versions of the paper until you receive your final grade for the course.

• Take notes in a way that automatically avoids plagiarism. All you have to do is:

a) Key every one of your notes to a source and page number; and

b) Differentiate clearly between the material you have quoted and your own words as you take notes.

Your notes page might look like this:

Miller, 2000 [source]

p. 419 "Using e-mail to collect citations allows the researcher to reformat them into a working bibliography on the computer and operating system that will be used to do the majority of the word processing." [Quotation, fact or even paraphrase and exact page number]

My note:  You should save your electronic searches in your email, even if you print them out somewhere for convenience. [These are your own words and thoughts about what you have read. Invent your own code if you wish, but be sure to label your own words to keep them separate from what you have read. If you used a paraphrase/explanation in your own words, you would still give it an in-text citation, just like the direct quotation.]

[Info in this box adapted from the Rutgers-Newark "Academic Integrity" guide.]

Types of Academic Integrity Violations

• Plagiarism
• Cheating/Unauthorized Collaboration
• Facilitation of Dishonesty
• Forgery
• Fabrication
• Impersonation During Exams and Classroom Activities   

The resources on this guide help you are intended to help you avoid plagiarism.

Citation managers can help you handle large amounts of citations and are especially helpful when you're working on a long paper or thesis. They help you keep track of the sources you've already consulted (or might like to consult) and, once you're done, they help you format your bibliography.

RefWorks3 is the main citation manager supported by the Paul Robeson Library. With RefWorks 3 you can:

• Save references and full text documents from major online databases and websites
• Access your references and documents from any computer or mobile device
• Organize, highlight, and annotate your documents
• Collaborate and share document collections with other RefWorks users
• Add citations and footnotes to your research paper from references in your RefWorks library
• Automatically create a bibliography or works cited in any citation style

Sign up for a Refworks3 account here!

The library also supports EndNote, a citation management tool available on the web, as a download for Windows/Mac computers, or as an iPad app.

Sign up for an EndNote account here!