Colleges encourage students to search broadly and deeply in their pursuit of knowledge and to present their ideas in oral and written reports. When students borrow information to support their ideas, they must give credit to the original source. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to the following:

1. Copying the work of another.
2. Working with another person on a test, examination, or paper without expressed authorization and without indicating that collaboration has occurred.
3. Plagiarism — representing of the work of another person as one's own; failing to cite the source of an idea, information, or words that come from someone other that the author of the paper or the exam.
4. Using books and notes in examinations without the explicit permission of the professor.

Penalties may include:

1. Zero grade on the test or assignment on which cheating occurs.
2. Failing grade for the course.
3. Failing grade and immediate dismissal from the course.

To avoid plagiarism, one must document borrowed information according to the MLA documentation rules:

• Rule 1: Provide an in-text reference to the source to indicate where the borrowed information begins.
• Rule 2: At the end of the borrowed information, place a parenthetical citation to the first word of the source and the page of the source (if it is available).
• Rule 3: Provide the full bibliographic information in a "Works Cited" list on a separate page at the end of the research paper.

The following Web sites explain how to document sources correctly:

1. TRAILS: Tools for Research and Advanced Information Literacy Skills
2. Locating and Documenting Sources in MLA Style
3. A Guide for Writing Research Papers Based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation