Writing: Academic Integrity and Research Skills (C2) - Lesson 1: Principles of Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism

C2 Lesson 1: Principles of Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism

Welcome to our C2 series on Academic Integrity. This is one of the most important topics for success at university and in professional research. Academic integrity¹ is the moral code of scholarship, built on values like honesty, trust, and responsibility for your own work.

The most important part of academic integrity is understanding how to use information from other sources correctly and how to avoid plagiarism².

What is Plagiarism? More Than Just Copying

Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work, ideas, or data as your own without giving them proper credit. It comes in several forms:

• Direct Plagiarism: Copying text word-for-word without quotation marks and a citation.
• Patchwriting (Mosaic Plagiarism): Copying a sentence and just changing a few words with synonyms. The sentence structure remains the same, so it is still considered plagiarism.
• Idea Plagiarism: Using another person's unique idea, argument, or theory in your own words but failing to give them credit with a citation.

Plagiarism vs. Correct Paraphrasing: An Example

Let's look at an original source and the different ways a student might use it.

Original Source Text:

"The rapid urbanization of Southeast Asian capital cities has created immense pressure on existing infrastructure, leading to chronic traffic congestion and inadequate public services for a growing population."

1. Patchwriting Plagiarism ❌

The fast urbanization of capital cities in Southeast Asia has led to huge pressure on infrastructure, which results in constant traffic jams and poor public services for the increasing population.

(This is plagiarism because it keeps the exact same sentence structure and just swaps a few words.)

2. Correct Paraphrase and Citation ✅

According to recent studies, one of the key challenges facing major cities in Southeast Asia is that their public infrastructure cannot support the speed of their population growth. This often results in two significant problems: persistent traffic jams and insufficient public services (Jones, 2024).

(This is good. It uses a completely different sentence structure and vocabulary to express the original idea, and it gives credit to the source.)

C2 Academic Integrity Checklist

• ✔️ Have I put any directly copied words inside "quotation marks"?
• ✔️ Is all my paraphrased information substantially different in both wording AND sentence structure from the original?
• ✔️ Have I included a citation³ for EVERY idea, fact, or piece of data that is not my own original thought?
• ✔️ Does my work fairly and accurately represent the ideas from my sources⁴?

Practice Quiz: Plagiarism or Not?

Original Sentence: "The study concluded that daily exercise significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease."

---

Student's Sentence: "The research finished by saying that exercising every day greatly lowers the chance of heart problems."

Is this plagiarism?

---

Answer: Yes, this is a form of plagiarism (patchwriting). Although the student changed some words (concluded→finished, significantly→greatly, reduces the risk→lowers the chance), the sentence structure is identical to the original. A proper paraphrase would need to restructure the entire sentence.

Homework: Ethical Paraphrasing

Your homework is to practice the core skill of avoiding plagiarism: effective paraphrasing.

Original Passage:

"The adoption of solar power in rural Cambodian communities offers a powerful solution to energy poverty. By providing a reliable and affordable source of electricity, solar panels allow children to study after dark and enable small businesses to operate more effectively, thus fostering both educational and economic development."

Your Task: In your notebook, write a paraphrase of this passage (2-3 sentences). Your paraphrase must:

1. Accurately represent the original meaning.
2. Use your own words and sentence structure.
3. Start with a signal phrase to give credit, e.g., "The author argues that..."

Vocabulary Glossary

1. Academic Integrity: (Noun Phrase) - Khmer: សុចរិតភាពក្នុងការសិក្សា - A commitment to honest and ethical principles in all academic work. ↩
2. Plagiarism: (Noun) - Khmer: ការលួចចម្លង - The act of presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own without giving them proper credit. ↩
3. Citation / To Cite: (Noun / Verb) - Khmer: ការដកស្រង់ / ដកស្រង់ - A note in your text that gives credit to the original source of information. ↩
4. Source: (Noun) - Khmer: ប្រភព - The book, article, website, or person that information comes from. ↩
5. Common Knowledge: (Noun Phrase) - Khmer: ចំណេះដឹងទូទៅ - Information that is so well-known that it does not need to be cited (e.g., "Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia").