Honesty and integrity are vital to the functioning of the academic process. Students are expected to follow the procedures established in each class, in each assignment. Each student will submit only his or her own work with the inclusion of proper attributions when appropriate. Faculty must be clear about their expectations for individual and collaborative assignments. Students who work collaboratively with other students must acknowledge the work of all students to a project. Students who plagiarize work from any source are subject to serious consequences ranging from failing an assignment to being dismissed from the University depending on the circumstances. Normally, students will not fail an entire course because of one incident, but repeated incidents will result in more serious consequences.
Definition of Plagiarism
The spectrum of plagiarism is a wide one. At one end of the spectrum is word-for-word copying of another’s writing without enclosing the copied passage in quotation marks and identifying it in a footnote or reference. More often, plagiarism results from patching together passages from various sources, the writers’s major contribution being the cement to hold the pieces together. Another example is the paraphrasing or abbreviation of someone else’s ideas or the restatement of someone else’s analysis or conclusion without acknowledgement that another person’s text has been the basis. Weaving these “borrowed” ideas inot the text without referencing the original source is plagiarism. Today’s electronic sources make it easier to download material and present it as one’s own without making any or only minor changes. It is the responsibility of each student to make himself or herself familiar with the definition of plagiarism and not commit this error out of ignorance.