Promoting Academic Honesty and Avoiding Plagiarism in Legal Writing

TitlePromoting Academic Honesty and Avoiding Plagiarism in Legal Writing
Faculty/College/UnitAllard School of Law
StatusCompleted
Duration1 Year
Initiation04/01/2017
Completion03/31/2019
Project Summary

The goal is to impress upon all Allard School of Law students the importance of academic honesty and to instruct them on how to attribute or cite to sources in the context of legal writing, while avoiding plagiarism. An online tutorial will be created to address the specific rules of attribution in legal scholarship and other legal documents such as pleadings and opinion letters.

Legal writing relies heavily on primary and secondary authorities. Students must learn when and how to attribute authorities to avoid plagiarism, but the conventions that apply are often different from other fields. All Law students would be required to complete the tutorial during their first term.

Beyond the Allard School of Law, the tutorial would be beneficial as a model for other UBC faculties and for the B.C. legal community, with the possibility of adoption by other Canadian law schools and institutions that offer law-related programs.

Funding Details
Year 1: Project YearYear 1
Year 1: Funding Year2017/2018
Year 1: Project TypeSmall TLEF
Year 1: Principal InvestigatorGeorge Tsiakos
Year 1: Funded Amount31,634
Year 1: Team Members

George Tsiakos, Instruction Librarian / Acting Head, Law Library, Allard School of Law
Janine Benedet, Professor / Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Allard School of Law
Sandra Wilkins, Interim Associate University Librarian, UBC Library