SOCIOLOGY UNDERGRADUATE STUDY

Department of Sociology on Writing and Plagiarism

The College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Sociology are committed to helping develop communication across the undergraduate curriculum.  Thus, most Sociology courses require a good deal of writing.  As students develop their writing skills, it is critically important to understand what plagiarism is, and why it is so problematic.

According to the Colorado State University General Catalog, plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty that “includes the copying of language, structure, ideas, or thoughts of another, and representing them as one’s own without proper acknowledgment.”  CSU specifically points out that plagiarism includes submitting something written by others as your own work, paraphrasing without proper documentation, and/or quoting without proper documentation.  In short, plagiarism is an act of fraud that may violate both university policy and federal law.  The Sociology Department monitors for plagiarism through the use of a plagiarism software program.  Any student found responsible for having engaged in plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty will be subject to academic penalty and/or university disciplinary action.  See the General Catalog for statements on academic integrity and student conduct (http://www.catalog.colostate.edu/front/policies.aspx)