A library workshop will allow students to freshen up on what the university considers plagiarism, an academic offense that can result in automatic class failures and dismissal from The University of Tennessee.

The “Understanding Plagiarism” information workshop will be held Thursday at 3 p.m. in Hodges Library Room 127. Maud Mundava and Jayati Chaudhui, minority librarian residents for UT Libraries, will make presentations, library outreach officer Laura Purcell said.

“The issue of plagiarism seems fairly cut and dry — the difference between what is yours and what is someone else’s,” Purcell said.

The workshop will cover any practices that could be constituted as plagiarism or academic dishonesty. Examples will be provided for each type of plagiarism case.

“Examples of wrong and proper paraphrasing will be given,” said Mundava, assistant professor of research in UT Libraries.

Increased incidences of plagiarism have become an issue of concern on most college campuses today, Mundava said.

“Though academic dishonesty is not a new problem, it is acknowledged that access to online databases, electronic journals and the Internet has made copying another person’s original work without attribution easier and more tempting,” Mundava said.

“We think it is important that students are aware what the university considers as plagiarism and proper methods of different types of citation and paraphrasing in written documents,” Mundava continued.

The workshop will include Internet plagiarism, which includes cutting and pasting text from the Internet without acknowledgment to the original author and buying or getting free assignment papers from Internet paper mills, Mundava said.

The workshop will also provide guidelines about proper research to students.

UT Libraries wants students to be aware that plagiarism is an offense which devalues honest work and, ultimately, the college degree, Mundava said.

“As part of the university community, we also want to play a role in creating an environment that can enable students to realize their full potential,” Mundava said.

Students may sign up for the workshop at http://www.lib.utk.edu/instruct/workshop. Students may also consult the online resource of hints on how to avoid plagiarism at http://www.lib.utk.edu/instruction/plagiarism.