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What is Lake Superior State University's policy on Plagiarism and Cheating?
- What is "Academic
Dishonesty?"
- What do you consider
plagiarism?
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Can
write papers in my Writing Courses for other classes?
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Why
should I acknowledge my sources?
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What are the most
common forms of Plagiarism?
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When should I
cite a source?
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Are there any situations in which a writer may use ideas provided by others
without acknowledging a source?
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What are the chances of getting caught?
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What are the most common penalties for “Academic Dishonesty” and plagiarism in
your classes?
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What is the LSSU Writing Studies Committee Policy on Academic Honesty?
According to the Lake Superior State
University 2000-2002 Catalogue, p 14 :
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“The assumption of the academic contract is
that the student does his or her own work: any breach of the contract is
considered cheating. The faculty member who detects a student cheating may
take appropriate action, such as assigning a failing grade for the entire
course.
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“A student who cheats is subject to dismissal
from the University. If, in the opinion of the faculty member involved, such
action is warranted, he or she will notify the chairman of the Scholastic
Standards Committee and the student in writing. The Scholastic Standards
Committee will then conduct a hearing in such a manner that the student is
given due process. If the committee decides that dismissal is warranted, the
student shall have five school days to appeal that decision to the provost of
the University.”
“Academic Dishonesty” is a broad term that refers to a violation of any of
the many standards for truth and honesty in research and education traditionally
associated with a college education. These standards are usually held to be
universal and apply to all your work at any university or college in North
America or Europe. Generally, these standards are:
 | All work
that students do must be their own. Representing the work of another as one’s
own work constitutes plagiarism; |
| Doing work for another student undermines their education, and therefore
preparing work for another student that they will represent as their own is
also a violation (and the other student would be guilty of plagiarism);
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| All the work that students do must be done honestly. Cheating by
any method or means (including copying, using crib notes, etc) on tests,
quizzes, in-class exercises or any other assigned work is a violation of these
standards; |
| The “honest work” standard also means that students who knowingly and
willfully falsifying or manufacturing scientific or educational data and
represent the same to be the result of scientific or scholarly experiment or
research have engaged in cheating; |
| The education process requires that your professors and instructors have a
very good idea, not only of what you know, but what you do not know. Thus,
knowingly furnishing false information to a university official relative to
academic matters is considered a form of Academic Dishonesty. This can
include anything from claiming to have “almost” completed an assignment in
order to receive an extension on a due date (when the student hasn’t “almost”
completed it), to falsifying transcripts from other schools to earn credit for
courses that the student hasn’t actually taken; |
| Finally, soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or attempting conduct
contrary to these standards is considered violations of it. |
Different professors and instructors have different interpretations of these
standards, of course. Nonetheless, there are several things that everyone seems
to agree constitute a violation of them. Among these are:
| Submitting a paper in fulfillment of an assignment that was written by
another person, such as a paper obtained from an internet paper mill. |
| Submitting a paper which contains deliberately uncited sources with the
intention of “passing off” the quotation as your own writing. |
| Falsifying data or research for any reason. |
| Repeated occurrences of “Academic Dishonesty”. |
These are also considered among the more grievous examples of “Academic
Dishonesty” and are usually prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. At LSSU,
this can mean dismissal from the University.
Since my background is in Rhetoric and Composition, my view of plagiarism is
based on two assumptions. First, I can’t help you learn to be a better writer
if the writing I am looking at wasn’t written by you. Second, as a beginning
writer you may have problems with things like citing sources, or have been
taught that a research paper is nothing more than a bunch of quotations from
other sources strung together with transitions written by yourself. This makes
my view of plagiarism somewhat more complicated than that of some people, and at
the same time, somewhat stricter.
So let’s start with a definition—plagiarism is the use of someone
else’s words or ideas as your own without giving appropriate credit or without
the person’s consent to use his or her words or ideas without acknowledgment.
This can be somewhat confusing, because at its core, plagiarism isn’t just about
stealing someone else’s words or ideas, but also about claiming to have done
work you actually haven’t. Thus, many professors, me included, would see using
a paper or research you have done for one course in fulfillment of an assignment
in another as plagiarism, even though you are the paper’s author. You
can plagiarize yourself!
There are several factors at work here, but primarily the thing you need to
remember is that you have been given an assignment in order to further your
education in a particular way. Turning in a paper you wrote for a high school
English course, for example, to fulfill an assignment in EN 110: First-Year
Composition would not help you further your education. This does not mean
that you can’t use your time in EN 110 (or especially EN 111) to work on
assignments from other classes. It does mean that you need the
permission of instructors from both instructors before you do it.
Finally, there are things about citations and quotations of other people’s
work that you probably don’t know. And you may not even be sure whether or not
you need a citation in a specific case (such as when paraphrasing or using
statistics). We’ll talk about these things throughout your course, and I’ll
point out problem areas in your rough drafts. (I only apply penalties for
plagiarism to final drafts, not rough drafts. The penalties for Academic
Dishonesty may apply to rough drafts and final drafts.) If you have
questions after that, ASK!
It’s possible, and in EN 111 (starting in the Fall of 2002), it may even be
required, especially if the content of your paper is of a highly technical or
discipline specific nature. But remember that the crucial word is permission.
And you'll need it from both me and the instructor of the other course.
If you would like to explore this option, let me know and I’ll provide you
with the necessary paperwork and an overview of the approval process. Provided
that the instructor of your other course and I can reach an agreement about
grading criteria and so forth, you can use a Writing course as a chance to work
on projects for other courses. (see also the Writing FAQ)
Remember, it is critical that you receive permission from both
instructors to do one project for two classes, otherwise it will be treated as
plagiarism or cheating!
There are three main reasons most writers acknowledge their sources:
| Acknowledging your sources allows you to do justice to those who have
provided you with material for your writing. |
| It helps readers to place your work within the context of a larger
discussion of the issues you are raising. In other words, it helps to ground
your writing in a discussion that is larger than just your paper and thereby
helps you establish credibility as a writer. |
| It saves you from the embarrassment and consequences of being accused of
stealing the ideas of someone else. |
| The unacknowledged word-for-word copying of someone else's writing or
speech, in whole or in part, intentionally or unintentionally. This is
considered the most flagrant and criminal kind of plagiarism. (Yes, it’s
illegal in the United States.) |
| The assumption of responsibility for a composed text (written or oral) or
any significant portion of a composed text that you have purchased, stolen,
been given or loaned, or simply found. Even with the consent of the author,
the fraudulent claim of ownership of a text or significant portion of a text
that you have had no hand in composing is plagiarism. For many professors, me
included, this includes writing a research paper more than 30% of which is
quotations from cited sources. |
| The unacknowledged paraphrasing of someone else's ideas and/or sentences.
Even if you put the ideas in your own words, citing the source of these ideas
and/or sentences is necessary. |
| The unacknowledged use of another's ideas, analyses, or interpretations,
no matter how different the presentation is from the source. Unless you have
the consent from the source to use the ideas without citing him or her, you
must cite the source. |
| The failure to acknowledge another person's crucial collaboration in the
production of a text. If someone provides you with a good idea for additional
content for your writing, you need to cite that person. |
All of the following require citation:
| Direct
quotations |
| Facts not widely known or assertions that are arguable. |
| Judgments, opinions, and claims of others. |
| Statistics, charts, tables, and graphs from any source. |
| Sources that you found particularly useful or crucial to your writing.
Belief in ideas and written texts as intellectual property--and a distaste for
academic dishonesty--are strongly held values in Western society. |
Different academic disciplines have different standards in this regard, but
generally the safest course is to follow the strictest guidelines. These
require that:
| Consent is given or implied. Consent to use someone else's ideas and/or
language without acknowledgment can be explicit or implicit. Explicit consent
is given when someone tells you directly that you may use his or her idea(s)
or repeat material he or she has composed without citing him or her. Explicit
consent, however, only applies to ideas; research; thoughts about the
organization, style, wording, grammar, and punctuation of a piece of writing;
and short quotations, amounting to no more than a sentence or two. As noted
above, you commit plagiarism if you take credit for an entire text or any
significant portion of a text that you have had no hand in composing. Implicit
consent most often occurs in situations of collaboration. Plagiarism is
not meant to inhibit collaborative exchanges in the classroom, which research
strongly suggests can be important learning experiences. If someone offers
minor help with your organization, style, grammar, or punctuation, you do not
need to cite that person. Such assistance usually is given with implicit
consent to use and not cite the source. Writers, however, often do acknowledge
sources of such help because they are grateful for the help. Writers
frequently credit such help in a footnote to the title of the piece. Such
footnotes may take the following form: "I want to thank Roger Graves and Carol
Papper for their careful reading of an earlier draft of this paper and their
helpful advice in improving it." In addition, writers co-authoring a single
piece of writing need not cite each other since both are taking responsibility
for all the ideas in the piece and will be named as co-authors of the text.
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| When the
information being used is common knowledge. For example, no one needs to
credit a source for a statement that George Bush was elected president in
1988. On the other hand, you would need to acknowledge the source of the exact
number of popular votes he received. |
| When the information is available in a wide variety of sources. |
| When the information takes the form of findings from your own field
research. If you conduct an interview, you naturally will cite ideas and
quotations from your informant, but you do not need to cite your own study
when reporting your findings. |
Extremely high, my track record is between 90% and 95%. While I don’t check
every single paper that comes across my desk for plagiarism, there are some
“symptoms” of a plagiarized paper that are dead giveaways. You should also be
aware that all of the major paper mills in North America (both those on
and offline) have papers on file that I have written; so if you
use a paper mill, you stand a fairly good chance of turning in a paper that I am
the author of. (I’ve poisoned the well, you see.)
I will not, of course, make an accusation of plagiarism unless I have proof.
But if I suspect that a paper has been plagiarized, a significant effort will be
made to prove it.
My official line is:
- Depending on the severity of the offense, plagiarism and Academic
Dishonesty can result in a grade of "F" for the paper in question; forced
withdrawal from the course; a final course grade of "F"; or dismissal from
the university. In appropriate cases of plagiarism, the appropriate
authorities will be notified, including scholarship and financial award
committees.
Here’s the scale of severity I generally rely on (though individual
applications may vary, according to circumstances):
Extremely grievous: Use of a paper from a paper mill or copying a paper
from another student; falsification of library research or field research;
quoting sources without citation and thus representing another’s work as one’s
own. In a writing class, this includes all assignments, not just formal
papers, but also annotated bibliographies, journals, quizzes, and in-class
exercises. Penalty: unless there are extenuating circumstances, the minimum
penalty is an “F” for the course, or forced withdrawal from the course if the
offense occurs before the drop date; the maximum penalty is forced withdrawal
from the University.
Grievous: Failure to properly cite sources on a final draft when the
student was notified of the problem at the rough draft level as part of a
lecture, response to a rough draft, or during an in-class lecture over
problems common to all rough drafts of the assignment. Penalty: unless there
are extenuating circumstances, the minimum penalty is an “F” on the
assignment, and the maximum penalty is an “F” for the course. Repeated
violations at this level will be treated as “Extremely grievous”.
Severe: Submitting the final draft of a research paper that is more than
30% quotations from other sources (cited or not). Penalty: the paper is not
graded. Student must rewrite the paper after an individual conference with
me. If the paper is not resubmitted for grading after the due date
established in conference, the grade for the paper becomes an “F”.
Problematic, but not severe: Improper citation format, including spelling,
grammar, mechanics, and style. Penalty: depends upon the course. In English
110, for example, I am less likely to get hyped up about these things (since
we will have only introduced citation in the course) than I am in English 410,
a senior level course where you’re expected to have gained mastery over such
things. Generally, the penalty involves resubmitting the paper after
corrections have been made, or a reduction in your final grade of the paper by
one letter grade (e.g. an “A” paper which contains frequent errors on the
Works Cited page would receive a “B”.)
Again, these standards apply only to final drafts, and certainly not
every case of plagiarism is covered here. If I have questions about your rough
draft of a paper, we’ll discuss them in conference so you will have a chance to
correct your mistakes. (But if you do not correct your mistakes in the final
draft, then the penalties will apply.)
In recent years, Academic Honesty has become a major issue at American
universities--largely as a result of the growth of the Internet. In
response to growing concern among the full- and part-time faculty in the Writing
Program, the LSSU Writing Studies Committee developed a detailed statement on
Academic Honesty in the Spring of 2002--a policy that was approved by the Dean's
Council later that semester. The policy is enforced in all writing
courses, and in any other course when the instructor so chooses. In my
courses, the policy is always enforced--even when the course is not a
writing course.
Your instructor will provide you with a copy of the policy on the first day
of classes. Alternately, a copy of the policy can be found in the Course
Materials Archive.
If, after reading this FAQ, you still have questions, don’t hesitate to
schedule an appointment to discuss them with me.
[This FAQ on Plagiarism was adapted from Lunsford and Connors, The St.
Martin's Handbook (3d ed. NY: St. Martin's, 1995); the SIUC Department of
Computer Science Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism; the SIUC Department of
English Policy on Plagiarism; Homewood-Flossmoor (IL) High School Policy;
Fowler, The Little, Brown Handbook (2d ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983);
and the SIUC Student Conduct Code.]
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