Plagiarism has always been a problem for educational and professional institutions. Now with the rapid growth of the outlets and accessibility of information, it has become an even greater concern when dealing with academic integrity. The Internet has provided a quick and easy way for students to research and locate materials for writing, but with this comes an increase in the possibility of plagiarism.

With the technology available today, students could conceivably just cut and paste material from an online resource directly to a paper. As an institution firmly grounded in academic integrity it is important for all of our students to be aware of this concern and to guard themselves against the temptation to plagiarize material. Trinity has included in the student handbook the definition of plagiarism for students to follow. Plagiarism is defined as “Using the ideas, data, or language of another without specific and proper acknowledgement.

Examples of this include: misrepresenting another’s work (paper, report, article, or computer work) as one’s own original creation and submitting it for an assignment; using someone else’s ideas without attribution; failing to cite a reference or to use quotation marks where appropriate; etc.” It is vital for Trinity students to be aware of what plagiarism is and what the possible consequences might be. We encourage students who have questions concerning plagiarism to contact a Trinity Academic Advisor for assistance. We also offer Research and Writing Helps at our website as well as in the student handbook. We strongly encourage students to take advantage of these helps.