Understanding Academic Integrity

In this scenario, although you provided references at the end of your paper, you did not use in-text citations.

How is this a Breach of Academic Integrity?

By not including in-text citations, it appeared to your professor that you plagiarized words and ideas from the two outside sources that you included in your reference list. According to Sheridan’s Academic Integrity Policy (2016), plagiarism is "the act of presenting another person’s words, research or ideas as your own without acknowledging the source of the information used" (p. 5).

However, in this case, you did not plagiarize: all of the words and ideas included within the body of your essay were your own. The problem is that you confused your professor by including a reference list and no corresponding in-text citations. Because of this, your professor concluded that your essay included words and ideas that came from those references. Therefore, because of the lack of in-text citations, your professor believed that you presented someone else's work as your own: plagiarism.

Proper Citation Practices

There are two parts to a citation that must be included in every citation for most citation styles:

• An in-text citation within the body of your paper signals when the words or ideas have come from an outside source.
• A list of references or works cited at the end of your paper provides complete information about the outside sources you have used.

These two parts must be present for each citation.

See our Cite it Right Guide for examples in your citation style.