Plagiarism

The purpose of any assignment connected with this class is to indicate how well the student understands (1) assigned materials, (2) empirical evidence, and/or (3) arguments made in connection with an explanation. Whatever the objective of the assignment, it is essential that the work submitted by the student be their own work. All assignments require that the student engage in relevant research, reading, and thinking about the subject(s) involved, and then prepare the written work for the assignment using their own ideas, their own words, and their own organization for the material. Anything else is not acceptable for a student claiming to be doing the work for this course.

In the process of preparing to do an assignment, the student is expected to undertake varieties of research that will bring them in contact with relevant work by other people. Such work may be textbooks, scholarly journal articles and books, newspapers and magazines, web sites, or original sources. Such sources may shed a great deal of light on the subject and the assignment, but their use is to educate the student, i.e. inform the student about the subject. Such work by others is not to be and cannot be appropriated and used by the student as their own work for purposes of completing a course assignment The work submitted by the student to complete the assignment, must be the student’s own best efforts at synthesizing, organizing, and presenting their ideas, their structure, their analysis in connection with the subject.

Any use of the explicit or paraphrased words, ideas, or data of others is considered to be plagiarism unless it is clearly identified as such and it is of limited (small) amount in relation to the completed assignment. Plagiarism can be defined in a variety of ways. However, no matter what the definition, it is unacceptable. Among the definitions of plagiarism are the following:

to steal or to pass off as one’s own (the ideas or words of another); to present as one’s own an idea or product derived from an existing source. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (G.&C. Merriam Co., 1963)

[to] use (a created production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (G.&C. Merriam-Webster Co. 1977).

[to] take or use as one’s own (the thoughts, writings, inventions, etc. of another person); copy (literary work ideas, etc.) improperly or without acknowledgement; pass off the thoughts, work, etc. of another person) as one’s own (The Oxford English Dictionary, 1993).

It is important to note that these definitions do not prohibit the use of the work of others, but rather they mark plagiarism as passing the work of others (any other person, fellow student, academic scholar, or public figure) off as if it were your own work. That means, without quotation marks and a complete reference, the words of another or, without attribution, the ideas of another cannot be used in the completion of an assignment. However, if the work is clearly identified and attributed to the original source, such words or ideas can be used in connection with completing an assignment.

{See, e.g. Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for the Writers of Term Papers, Theses, or Dissertations  6th ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1996) for clear directions in how to attribute the work of others.}

While attributing and using the works of others is permissible, no assignment should be composed largely or primarily by using the works of others.  All assignments in this course are to be the student’s own, best effort at completing each assignment. That best effort cannot be the patching together of quotes (lengthy or short) or ideas from other sources, no matter how clearly identified. The excessive use of such materials will not be permitted for completing assignments in this course. The instructor reserves the right to determine when the work of the student is overpowered by the use of the work of others. At that point, the value of the student’s own work on the assignment is lost, and such a submission for the assignment will be rejected.

One particular feature of plagiarism that should be noted is that students cannot makeup sources or references. That is, any reference cited must be a legitimate one that an instructor could locate and consult. Imaginary or “madeup” sources clearly violate standards of academic honesty will be treated accordingly.

If you do not understand the problems involving plagiarism, the Instructor for this course will explain them to you. You need only come in during regular scheduled office hours. Before you come to have this discussion, you must do the following:

o Read the assignment

o Read and understand the paper you are submitting.

o Write the Paper!

o Develop the specific questions about your use of sources in your paper.

o Identify the source(s) of each statement that you make in the paper.

o Carefully review the University's Regulations regarding academic honesty that were distributed to you in class.

The University's Dean of Students Office has published a very useful and important document relating to Academic Integrity. You are to read this document, and remember and follow it, since you are bound by it.