

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, and Copyright


PLEASE NOTE: This instructional tutorial is not and should not be considered legal advice. If you are having a problem with an academic integrity issue, copyright issue, or plagiarism issue, you should consult the appropriate administrative or legal authorities immediately.

Teaching and Learning with Technology would like to acknowledge Yvonne Gaudelius, Karen Faldbaum, and Dawn Amsberry for revising this tutorial's content.


Fake advertisement to get a written term paper Academic integrity affects everyone at Penn State, whether you are a student, a professor, an instructor, or a staff member. It is everyone's responsibility to know what the Penn State policy on Academic Integrity says. Every member of the Penn State community is also expected to understand what plagiarism is as well as current copyright laws and how they apply to each person's work. This tutorial provides an introduction to academic integrity, plagiarism, and copyright, and additional resources for obtaining more information.


Goals and Objectives

This tutorial addresses communication skills, and provides opportunities for information gathering, synthesis, and analysis in solving problems and in critical thinking. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will be able to: 



Because the topic of academic integrity is so complex, the information in this tutorial has been divided into several sections. The recommended sequence is as follows:

  1. Read the information about academic integrity.
  2. Read about plagiarism and cheating and complete the activity.
  3. Read about copyright and fair use and complete the activity.
  4. Read about excuses students make and how you can avoid situations that lead to academic dishonesty and the penalties that will be imposed in cases where academic dishonesty is proven, and complete the activity.
  5. Finally, take a few minutes to think about your personal philosophy on academic integrity. Read each of these scenarios and think about the situation. Is what the students are doing wrong or right? Why is it wrong or right? How would you handle the situation? What would you say to them if they were your friends? Then read the commentary for each scenario to see what others have said about the same situation.





Instructor's Guide

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