According to MCC's Student Code of Conduct (page 4), the following is considered plagiarism:
a. Use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment;
b. Unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person;
c. Use of any agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials;
d. The use of artificial intelligence software or tools in homework, writing assignments, quizzes, tests, and other assignments unless otherwise authorized by the course instructor.
Tools like Grammarly started out as simple grammar and spelling checkers. However, Grammarly now uses generative AI to suggest phrasing, wording, language, tone, and more. When you accept those changes and submit your paper, the Grammarly version is no longer considered your original work and it will be flagged as plagiarism.
Microsoft Copilot will also suggest improvements to your writing and accepting those revisions will cause your work to be flagged as use of AI.
Use of these tools for grammar or spelling corrections may be considered ethical. Plagiarism is introduced when these tools rewrite, revise, or restructure your sentences and ideas. When in doubt, always check with your instructor about their AI policies.
Citation generators like EasyBib (from Chegg) use artificial intelligence to compile a citation based on the information the user gives it or the information that it pulls from the source. In either instance, citation information may be incomplete or inaccurate. Therefore, it's best to avoid using citation generators - they're only as good as the information you give it to start with! Accidentally leaving out citation information can still be considered plagiarism.
Be aware that you may need to correct minor formatting errors like hanging indents or capitalization.
MCC's writing tutors can review your paper for content and organization, grammar, and citations before you submit your paper for a grade! The writing tutors will not correct your paper for you, but they will provide specific feedback based on what you asked them to review.
To submit your paper for review by a writing tutor, go to your Canvas dashboard and click the MCC Tutoring tile. Click Writing and follow their instructions for submitting a paper to their Student Online Writing Lab (SOWL).
According to the information on Canvas from the Student Online Writing Lab, "You may submit for more than one type of feedback at once. You can expect to receive your paper returned within three days of your submission, based upon our Sunday through Friday schedule."