"Intellectual property" is an important term in world of research paper writing. The challenge for young writers is to make wise use of sources to form a knowledge base for writing their paper and then to analyze and develop their own ideas from that knowledge base.As a matter of Christian ethics and scholarship, it is expected that the ideas presented in a student's paper are the "intellectual property" of that student.Plagiarism is a term that describes unethical use of materials by students or researchers. Plagiarism is using the ideas or words of others without giving them credit. For research papers, students are expected to find materials and sources to support their thesis and to properly cite these resources. While at times plagiarism may consist simply of poor use of research materials, plagiarism can also be defined as cheating and academic fraud.Students who copy, purchase, or otherwise obtain papers that are not their own are guilty of plagiarism. This also applies to papers that have received "cosmetic" changes but are based on or follow the outline of a paper provided by any source other than the student. Students are warned against the use of free internet cheat sites or sites that allow students to purchase custom papers. Fox Valley Lutheran High School subscribes to a screening service which can easily catch such papers.Penalties for plagiarism are handled according to the school's cheating policy. They range from an F on the assignment to failure of the class or removal from the class.Students who are members of the National Honor Society and are involved in such cases of academic fraud will be dismissed from that group since a requirement of that group is academic honesty.
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Avoiding plagiarism means carefully |