<aside> 💡 The following plagiarism policy originates from the language department of the UAA. See also Plagiarism: The copycat crime in academia and beyond and The Nuñez Arancibia Case and others related to plagiarism.

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What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is one of the major problems that people commit when writing an essay, and it is something that can be avoided by citing sources appropriately. “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work or borrowing someone else's original ideas… [but] plagiarism is an act of fraud; it involves both stealing someone’s else’s work and lying about it afterward” (Plagiarism.org, 2017, paras, 1-3). According to the U.S. law, “the expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and it protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file” (as cited in Plagiarism.org, 2017, para. 4).

In Mexico, the Ley Federal del Derecho de Autor (2013) states the following:

• “TITULO XII. De los procedimientos Administrativos.
  • Capítulo I. De las Infracciones en materia de derecho de autor:
    • Artículo 229.- Son infracciones en materia de derecho de autor:
      • IX. Publicar una obra, estando autorizado para ello, sin mencionar en los ejemplares de ella el nombre del autor, traductor, compilador, adaptador o arreglista;
    • Artículo 230.- Las infracciones en materia de derechos de autor serán sancionadas por el Instituto con arreglo a los dispuesto por la Ley Federal de Procedimiento Administrativo con multa:
      • II. De mil hasta cinco mil días de salario mínimo en los demás casos previstos en el artículo anterior.”

The Ley Orgánica de la Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes (2012) states the following:

• “Artículo 178. Los alumnus incurrirán en responsabilidad por:
  • II. Prestar o recibir ayuda fradulenta en los exámenes;
    • Capítulo II. De las sanciones
• Artículo 186. Las sanciones que pueden imponerse son:
  • III. A los alumnos:
    • Amonestación escrita;
    • Nulificación de los exámenes realizados fraudulentamente, y en este caso se perderá la oportunidad correspondiente;”

Plagiarism also includes, “the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving appropriate credit, regardless of how that work was obtained, and submitting it to fulfill academic requirements” (SJSU…, 2024, para. 3). Two key points worth noting in this definition:

1. Any academic work you turn in should be your own (i.e., original); that is, any AI generated text (or audio, video, images, etc.) should not be considered your own work.
2. Any program or software used to generate text, audio, video, etc. submitted as academic work is considered plagiarism unless properly cited according to APA (See below.) (paras. 3-4).

Types of Plagiarism

The following are considered types of plagiarism (Turnitin, 2016):

1. CLONE: Submitting another’s work, Word-for Word, as one’s own.
2. CTRL-C: Contains significant portions of text from a single source without alterations.
3. FIND-REPLACE: Changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source.
4. REMIX: Paraphrases from multiple sources, made to fit together.
5. RECYCLE: Borrows generously from the writer’s previous work without citation.
6. HYBRID: Combines perfectly cited sources with copied passages without citation