Texas State Honor Code
The Texas State Honor Code:
WE ARE HONEST. We do our own work and are honest with one another in all matters. We understand how various acts of dishonesty, like plagiarizing, falsifying data, and giving or receiving assistance to which one is not entitled, conflict as much with academic achievement as with the values of honesty and integrity. Click here to read the entire Texas State Honor Code.
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a very serious offense.
Examples of Plagiarism Include:
- Using someone else's ideas or writings and presenting them as your own
- Using someone else's paper or paying someone to write your paper
- Restating someone else's ideas or writings too closely
- Not citing quotations
Who can help me make sure I'm NOT plagiarizing?
If you have specific questions about citing your sources, writing tips, or help with editing, go to:
Student Learning Assistance Center (SLAC)
Get in-person tutoring at the Student Learning Assistance Center, or SLAC, located on the 4th floor of Alkek Library. Check the website for hours and availability.
SLAC also maintains good handout page for quick reference.
Texas State University Writing Center
The Writing Center is located on the first floor of ASB North. You can get help with all types of writing, including papers, essays, and resumes.
The Writing Center offers in-person and online tutoring (check their website for more information). You can also print out documentation handouts.
Ways to Avoid Plagiarism
Here's how to avoid plagiarism:
Simply give credit where credit is due: present information other people's work in the body of your paper. Our citation guide will help you use:
Direct quote
- If you want to use a sentence or a passage exactly as it was written, you can include a direct quote, surrounded by quotation marks, and cite it by referencing the author and work of origin.
Summary/Paraphrase
- You can also write a summary in your own words of the ideas or (or paraphrase) the text you want to use. It helps to write the summary from your memory rather than looking directly at the passage.
Writing a summary and paraphrasing can be tricky as you MUST put the information in your own words, so to learn more about avoiding plagiarism, read the Plagiarism Guide.
Step 7: Save and Cite Your Sources
Here is where you make sure you're saving and citing your sources. You'll need to cite in-text for paraphrasing and quoting, and in your reference page at the end. You should...
- use the Share tool to save the article.
- use the Cite tool to get a citation for any article you use,
- check your citation to make sure it is correct! Writing & Citation Style Guides.
Note: not citing your sources is plagiarism - a kind of theft. Look at our Plagiarism guide.
Cite Tool
Use the cite tool in Start Your Research:
To access the Cite tool, click on the three vertical dots menu on the right of the result item.
Click on the "Cite" tool and a pop-up box appears.
You can copy the citation by selecting the citation style. Example: MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.) in the dropdown menu.
When you select the citation style, the citation of the article will appear in the grey box.
You can export the citation to your citation management tool of choice. Example: Export to EndNote Web.
Saving Your Work
Use the Share tool to save your article anytime!
Do NOT save the url at the top of the page. It won't work.
To access the Share tool, click on the three vertical dots menu on the right of the result item. Click on the Share option and a pop-up box appears.
Save the article in your Google Drive. You can copy the permalink by clicking on "Create Link" option.
Email the article to yourself.
