Intellectual Property and Plagiarism As part of your academic studies, you will receive guidance on how to engage with scholarly materials and cite them properly in your written assignments. Given the importance of this topic, the Faculty of Humanities has chosen to address the issue of plagiarism—defined as the improper use of intellectual property—at the outset of your studies, even before it is formally introduced in your courses. This section outlines the faculty’s policy on plagiarism and related misconduct.

What Is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as the act of literary theft: taking and publishing another author’s work (or part of it) and presenting it as one’s own (Even-Shoshan Dictionary).

How Does This Relate to Me?

In both academic and everyday contexts, we often draw on the thoughts and words of others. At times, these ideas and expressions are part of the public domain, and therefore belong to the public sphere, so there is no need to account for their original source. However, there are instances in which the thoughts or words we use are the intellectual property of those who originally conceived or expressed them. In such cases, we must acknowledge the rights of the original thinkers when using their ideas or language in our own writing. Typically, this kind of intellectual property includes ideas or formulations that have made a creative contribution to scholarship and are the result of significant intellectual effort. Using such material without proper attribution constitutes a violation of intellectual property—and, as defined above, amounts to theft.

Examples

Let’s illustrate these principles with a few examples. It is widely known that S.Y. Agnon was the Israeli author who received the Nobel Prize. There is no need to cite the source of such commonly known information in a footnote. However, if your paper relies on an interpretation of Agnon’s work that was previously proposed by someone else, you are obligated to give credit to the original source of that interpretation. It does not matter whether that insight came from something you read, heard in a lecture, or discussed with a fellow student—you must cite the source.

It is worth noting that the boundary between others’ ideas and your own is not always clear-cut, especially when your thinking develops in dialogue with theirs. Precisely for this reason, it is your ethical responsibility to distinguish in your writing what you have drawn from others and what reflects your own original thought. You must present your work in a way that clearly shows readers which ideas are yours and which are borrowed.

Downloading from the Internet

A completely separate issue involves the partial or full download of papers from the internet, or the submission of an assignment that entirely or partially represents someone else’s ideas—whether with or without their consent. These are not cases of plagiarism, but rather acts of cheating, plain and simple. Such actions are as unacceptable as copying during an exam, and they will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Consequences

The penalties for plagiarism or copying are severe. Any student who uses the work of others—whether taken from a book, an article, the internet, or a fellow student—will receive a grade of zero for the assignment and may fail the course. These offenses will be documented in the student’s personal file in the departmental office. The department also reserves the right to file a complaint with the University Disciplinary Committee, which has the authority to suspend the student from their studies. It is important to note that those who assist in such actions—by allowing others to copy their work—will be subject to the same penalties.

For details on the Faculty of Humanities’ policy regarding these matters, please refer to the Student Administration website, or our Student Guide.

We wish to stress — in case of doubt about how an idea developed, whether a source should be cited, or how to properly reference it—we urge you to consult your instructors. They are there to guide you on such matters.

 

Below are downloadable files related to this topic. You may also refer to Section 18 of the University's Teaching and Study Regulations, which addresses copyright.

• Internal Faculty Disciplinary Procedure – In Hebrew – click here
• Intellectual Property and Plagiarism – Arabic version – click here
• Internal Faculty Disciplinary Procedure – Arabic version – click here