Plagiarism and fraud – Examples and sanctions

Every year, a number of students face penalties for plagiarism or fraud. Some students who find themselves in this situation wrongly believed that what they were doing was acceptable. We therefore encourage you to read this page carefully to avoid situations that may stand in the way of your success.

Examples of plagiarism and fraud

This is what our Politique institutionnelle d’évaluation des apprentissages (PIEA)* says about plagiarism and fraud (section 7.3.11).

Measures and sanctions

Cégep à distance applies the following measures and sanctions when plagiarism or fraud are discovered (section 7.3.11 of the Politique institutionnelle d’évaluation des apprentissages [PIEA]*):

A few examples

Here are some actions that constitute plagiarism or fraud. Please note that these examples do not cover all possible situations.

Situation	Plagiarism or fraud	Appropriate behaviour
I have a study partner who is taking the same course as me and we write our assignments together.	To understand the questions, we do our assignments at the same time and write more or less the same answers.	We are both taking the same course and we study together to make sure we understand the hard parts, but when we do our assignments, we each do our own to make sure we are not copying each other’s answers.
I use someone else’s text, reformulating it in my own words without providing a reference.	I found a text somewhere and I just use the thoughts and ideas. I do not copy word-for-word.	The paraphrase must also be referenced. I reference the text I used for inspiration.
I copy excerpts from a book, website, textbook, person, or any document written by another person, passing it off as my own without citing the source or by providing the wrong source (written or oral work).	I find a website with sentences that support what I want to say. I copy them.	I copy the text but I put it in quotes and I provide the source. (To learn the right way to cite sources, I use the resources available online or in the library.) Of course, this is just to support my own words. I do not use quotes for my entire assignment.
I just use the authorized exam materials (including dictionaries, conjugation primers, grammar books, literary works, or any other material allowed in the exam), but I put in handwritten or other notes.	I write extra information in the dictionary I bring to the exam.	Before coming to the exam, I make sure there are no extra pages of notes in my documents, that the notes in my literary works are just reading notes, not theoretical notes on how to structure a dissertation or on the course in general, and that there is nothing written in my dictionary, related to this exam or otherwise.

* Cégep à distance is part of the Cégep de Rosemont. The Politique institutionnelle d’évaluation des apprentissages (PIEA) is available on the Politiques et règlements page of the college’s website (in French).