Plagiarism Policy

Purpose and Scope. The purpose of the ECPI University Plagiarism Policy is to promote awareness and adherence to copyright and intellectual property law. Refer to https://www.copyright.gov/ for information on U.S. copyright law.

This policy applies to all students, faculty, and staff of ECPI and all intellectual property including but not limited to all written and electronic publications, ideas and inventions, verbiage and phrasing.

Definitions. The following definitions apply to this policy.

The Writer. The Writer is defined as any student, faculty, or staff member to whom this policy applies. However, plagiarism is not limited to writers, per the definition of plagiarism and the scope of this policy. Examples of plagiarism other than through writing include but are not limited to software programs, hardware designs, schematics, multimedia, charts, graphs, tools, and other inventions.

Plagiarism. ECPI University defines plagiarism as presenting work or ideas from other sources as your own, regardless of how the work or ideas were obtained. This includes the language and thoughts of another author, materials generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and other sources. 

Plagiarism occurs in, but is not limited to, situations when one or more of the following conditions apply:

• the writer uses exact words from a source but neglects to include quotation marks;
• the writer paraphrases ideas from a source but neglects to cite the source using an acceptable documentation style such as APA (this includes AI);
• the writer copies someone else’s work and presents it as his/her own;
• the writer purchases documents, ideas, and/or verbiage and presents it as his/her own;
• the writer fails to give credit to co-authors, team members, and/or editors of the writer’s original work;
• the writer uses previously published work protected under copyright and presents the work as original and not copyrighted elsewhere; or
• the writer fails to quote or paraphrase accurately but attributes the words and/or ideas to a source;

• the writer attempts to document the source but does so incorrectly;
• the writer attempts to give credit to an original source but does not use acceptable documentation methods;
• the writer uses ideas, text and/or verbiage without giving credit to the original source because the writer incorrectly believes the information is common knowledge;
• the writer inadvertently fails to give credit to co-authors, team members, and/or editors of the writer’s original work; or
• the writer inadvertently breaks copyright agreement of his/her own copyrighted work; or
• the writer submits written work for an assignment previously submitted in a different class. 

Consequences of Violating Policies. Violation of the University’s plagiarism policy, whether the plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, may result in disciplinary action up to and including suspension from the University.

Disciplinary action may include initiation of a Judicial Review Board. For more information on ECPI’s general disciplinary actions, see the sections entitled, Termination Policy, Academic Review Board, and Judicial Review Board in this Catalog.

Resources and Prevention. The University offers several resources, which vary by campus, for students, faculty, and staff who require information on plagiarism and documentation. These resources include:

Seminars and training on citation style methods

Writing Assistance Center handouts and workshops on avoidance of plagiarism

Classroom instruction on documentation of sources

Library recommended websites and sources on how to define and avoid plagiarism

Artificial Intelligence.  The growth and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, presents opportunities and challenges for ECPI University students.  AI provides ways to enhance learning but also has the potential to negatively impact the learning process.  The University recognizes the potential benefits of AI in the learning process but also expects students to independently demonstrate specific skills, competencies, factual knowledge, and general cognitive development within their academic discipline through submission of assignments, exams, and other activities.  Students are accountable for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of work (See Honor Code). The University’s Plagiarism Policy establishes what constitutes the proper and improper use of resources, including AI, and the expectation to properly cite resources used by the student.