Community Engagement and Research

Establish a citation standard early in your research and stick to it to avoid accidental plagiarism.  There are helpful resources available to help students organize their references.

The main purpose of a university is to encourage and facilitate the pursuit of knowledge and scholarship. The attainment of this purpose requires the individual integrity of all members of the University community, including all graduate and undergraduate students. Scholars at McMaster demonstrate integrity in many ways, including the following:

• Scholars practice intellectual honesty in the process of acquiring and extending knowledge. They do this by improving scholarly competence, and by exercising critical thinking and self-discipline.
• Scholars show respect for and courtesy to others in free discussions on academic topics and recognize the right to free inquiry and opinion.
• Scholars adhere to ethical requirements in their research.
• Scholars acknowledge fully the work of others by providing appropriate references in papers, essays and the like and declaring the contributions of co-workers.
• Scholars do not take credit that is not earned.
• Scholars strive to ensure that others are not put at a disadvantage in their pursuit of knowledge. They do not withhold material that should rightly be available to all.

The University states unequivocally that it demands scholarly integrity from all of its members. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive to the values of the University; furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to those students who pursue their studies honestly.

Source: https://secretariat.mcmaster.ca/app/uploads/Academic-Integrity-Policy-1-1.pdf