[GSoC 2025] Important reminder about plagiarism policy

[seanlip]

Note: If you're not submitting a proposal for GSoC 2025, you can skip this announcement.

Hi all,

We are excited to see the proposals that you all are submitting for GSoC 2025!

As we come to the final week of proposal submission, the org admins would like to draw your attention to the plagiarism policy that Oppia has. See point 1 in https://github.com/oppia/oppia/wiki/Google-Summer-of-Code-2025#gsoc-proposal-template.

Here is the relevant text (with emphasis added):

• Your proposal must be original. During the selection process, proposals that are found to have passed off others' work as their own will automatically be disqualified.
• If you include any text in your proposal that is copied from the Internet or other sources (even if it is an Oppia doc), you must provide a link or reference back to the source.
• Note that you must attribute sources even if you paraphrase (i.e. re-write their content in your own words). In cases of doubt, we would encourage you to err on the side of citing your sources (since not doing so may be construed as plagiarism).

Our mentors have already reported several cases of plagiarism in draft proposals. If this is carried forward in your final submission then you run the risk that your proposal may be disqualified. We will not tell you before the application deadline whether we think that your proposal might be plagiarized or not. Instead, we strongly encourage you to ensure that you follow the guidance above by citing your sources, and making it very clear to readers of the document which part of the submitted proposal is your own work and which parts are derived from other documents.

Thanks, and good luck with your applications!