Credit Where Credit is Due
As a doctoral student, you’ll be spending enormous amounts of time reading, analyzing, and critiquing the work of scholars and researchers in your field. As you write about the ideas and research of others, you need to give credit where credit is due. That is, you need to be scrupulously clear when an idea, sentence, or phrase that you use is something you have read in the work of other scholars and not something you composed yourself. Before you dive into reading and analyzing research we want to ensure that you have the skills to ensure academic integrity in your work and give credit where credit is due.

Many people think of plagiarism as simply copying the work of others and not giving credit (that is, not citing where the idea came from), but the most common Academic Integrity violation at Northcentral is related to improper paraphrasing (that is copying the work of others nearly word-for-word, or simply rearranging their words, even when you give credit to the source). To paraphrase correctly, you need to carefully read the material, think about it, and then express the idea in your own words.
In this week, you will learn more about Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy, how Northcentral deals with Academic Integrity violations, and what you can do to avoid all forms of plagiarism, intentional and unintentional. As a bonus, you’ll also consider the firsthand accounts of the professional development of two innovative and successful contemporary business professionals.
Review the resources listed in the Books and Resources area below to prepare for this week's assignments.
Complete the following Spotlight on Skills if you need assistance with the tools used to complete your assignments.

Skill Builder 1: Academic Integrity
As an accredited university, Northcentral adheres to high standards of academic integrity. Students are expected to read and understand the Northcentral academic integrity requirements and follow them carefully throughout their course of study at Northcentral. Violations of these standards, whether intentional or unintentional, are reported by course Faculty to the Dean’s Office, and a series of consequences follow, ranging from a warning and the opportunity to resubmit the paper (first violation only), grade penalties for the activity, course failures, and dismissal from the university.

To become familiar with these standards:

a. Read the Northcentral University Academic Integrity Policy.
Northcentral Academic Integrity Policy

b. Review the Academic Integrity Tutorial.
The integrity tutorial explains the academic integrity policy more in depth and will direct you to resources that will help you learn the necessary skills to maintain integrity in academic writing.
Northcentral Academic Integrity Tutorial

c. Take the Academic Integrity Questionnaire.
Test your knowledge of the Northcentral Academic Integrity Policy by taking the Northcentral Academic Integrity Questionnaire.

d. Review the section in the Academic Success Center (ASC) on Choosing to Summarize, Paraphrase, or Quote. You can find this section under Writing Handbook under Drafting. Please also review this website, related to the same topic: Successful vs. unsuccessful paraphrases. As mentioned above incorrect paraphrasing is the number one reasons Students at Northcentral receive violation letters.

Northcentral University holds strongly to its values, one of which is integrity. We require students to use scholarly resources for academic papers and have designed and maintain a state-of-the-art online library to ensure our students have access to resources that they need. We also recognize the importance of information literacy, and through tutorials and course activities, educate our students on this topic.

However, we do not endorse websites that give access to student papers for a fee or that require students to submit their own class papers for access. A student selling or sharing course papers through these sites is highly discouraged. Sites containing assignment papers by Northcentral students will be contacted for removal.

Students are also asked to refrain from using these sites for academic purposes, specifically using another student’s work within the body of their paper. Using another student’s work for one’s own grade stands in direct violation of Northcentral’s Academic Integrity Policy and/or Code of Conduct.

If you find that you are unsure of the answers, go back and review the Academic Integrity Policy or Tutorial. Learning this information now will help you avoid difficulties in the future.

Skill Builder 2: APA Form and Style
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the gold standard for professional and academic writing and is the style used at Northcentral. Mastering APA form and style takes time, and there is no time like the present to begin! For starters, you will review some of the basic APA writing rules, especially those that apply to citation and references.

a. Take an APA tutorial.
To become familiar with APA form and style, take this tutorial called Basics of APA Style.

b. Questions?
If you have a question about using APA form and style that you can't resolve by looking in the manual, it's possible other people have questions on this same issue. Bookmark this list of APA's FAQ called Frequently Asked Questions about APA Style.