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Writing Resources & Assistance

A useful guide for students doing a writing assignment. This guide includes several resources, such as where to find additional assistance and tips on how to prevent plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism?

The St. Catherine University Student Code of Conduct and Community Expectations defines plagiarism as "deliberately presenting work, words, ideas, theories, etc., derived in whole or in part from a source external to the student as though they are the student's own efforts." (section IV, number 3).

Plagiarism is one of the types of academic dishonesty that violates the academic integrity standards at St. Kate's. The consequences for plagiarizing can be serious.

All students should review the following policies:

Quick Tips for Preventing Plagiarism

  • Allow yourself plenty of time to research, and write your paper. Running up against a deadline can cause some students to make poor choices regarding academic honesty.
  • Learn how to document your sources. The Library has a citation guide for every citation style used at St. Kate's.
  • Keep careful notes that distinguish between your own ideas, your summaries of the ideas of others, and the exact words you have copied. And keep copies of the articles and content that you will reference in your academic work.
  • Most importantly, ask for assistance with any aspect of the writing process. Peer writing tutors are available through the Tutoring and Learning Center.

St. Kate's Library Academic Integrity Tutorial

This 25-30 minute course will introduce you to the concept of academic integrity, and how its principles relate to the proper use and documentation of sources in your academic work. We recommend that all students review this tutorial to deepen their understanding of what plagiarism is and how to prevent it.

Grammarly and Turnitin

The St. Kate's IT Department has provided access to two software programs that will assess the originality, grammatical and mechanical aspects of your writing. (Note that librarians do not provide technical assistance for these programs). 

Grammarly is a tool used to correct grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, word choice, and sentence structure. Grammarly can be freely downloaded with your St. Kate's email address.

Turnitin Feedback Studio is a tool for checking the originality of written content you submit as assignments within Canvas. Turnitin provides information about the originality of one's writing in order to prevent plagiarism, and now has AI writing detection. Turnitin must be enabled by your instructor in your course management system.

The ServiceNow links below provide information about these programs (you must login with your St. Kate's username and password to access ServiceNow).

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