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[anthroid]

Hi everyone,

I'm drafting a new plagiarism policy for my department and will be showing it to my faculty in the fall.  I wonder what you think of the language.  Any comments?


***

Plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating are growing problems in the academy.  As scholars and teachers, the Department of XXX at YYY University is taking a zero-tolerance approach to academic dishonesty of any kind.  We recognize that students enter YYYU with different levels of exposure to writing and research instruction but believe that all instances of plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating must have clear consequences whether the student “meant to” perform academic dishonesty or not.  College-educated people have the privilege of using their brains, their words, and their ideas to make a living; if those brains, words, or ideas cannot be trusted to be original, a college degree from this department is worthless.  We take plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating very seriously.

Departmental instructors should attach a copy of this policy to all syllabi and follow the policy as closely as possible.

While sanctions attached to specific incidents of academic dishonesty, by university policy, remain up to the individual professor, the Department encourages all instructors for the department to punish academic dishonesty appropriately, and we encourage all instructors to report incidents of academic dishonesty to the department chair as well as the University Academic Integrity Committee.  The department chair will attempt to counsel the accused student and the instructor making the accusation will have to show evidence of plagiarism.  If the student contests the allegation, the Departmental Academic Practices Committee will decide the matter and the sanction for the Department.  The department chair has the option of reporting academic dishonesty to the University Academic Integrity committee.

Suggested Departmental consequences for plagiarism, academic dishonesty, or cheating (with no opportunity for revision, retesting, or rewriting) include the following:

1.   Incorrect but inadvertent elimination of quote marks, incorrect or incomplete citations clearly in a mistaken manner, citing material that is not common knowledge without attribution:  One letter grade reduction for the final draft.
2.   Continual use of quotes without quote marks after being told about academic dishonesty issues for a draft, or the incorrect or incomplete citations after being told:  Failure of the paper
3.   Use of unauthorized materials during a test, first offense:  failure of the test
4.   Use of unauthorized materials during a test, second offense:  failure of the course
5.   Continual use of quotes without quote marks after being told about academic dishonesty issues, or the incorrect or incomplete citations after being told, final draft:  Failure of the course
6.   Copying portions or the entirety of another person’s research paper:  failure of the course
7.   Lending a paper for any reason to another student:  Failure of the paper
8.   Using a paper in one course for another course without the instructor’s clear, written permission:  Failure of the paper.
9.   Making up citations, data, quotes, statistics:  Failure of the paper.

The YYYU Academic Integrity policy, found at http://www.pretend.website/, defines academic dishonesty as follows in this direct quote (in a different font):
***

And then I quote the University Policy pretty much in its entirety, making sure to cite the university policy.

[georgia_guy]

My personal policy is somewhat stricter. All except for #1 would lead to course failure under my policy.

Additionally, your first paragraph comes off as sort of sarcastic, and demeaning. I would just state that cheating and plagiarism are prohibited, define both, and be done with it.

It honestly sounds like you wrote this when you were angry. Take a day away from it, and re-read it, or have an impartial colleague go over it.

[anthroid]

My personal policy is somewhat stricter. All except for #1 would lead to course failure under my policy.

Additionally, your first paragraph comes off as sort of sarcastic, and demeaning. I would just state that cheating and plagiarism are prohibited, define both, and be done with it.

It honestly sounds like you wrote this when you were angry. Take a day away from it, and re-read it, or have an impartial colleague go over it.

I wrote it about an hour ago, and I'm happy as a clam.  I don't see the anger, but thanks for the input.

[georgia_guy]

College-educated people have the privilege of using their brains, their words, and their ideas to make a living; if those brains, words, or ideas cannot be trusted to be original, a college degree from this department is worthless. 

It was mainly these two sentences that I found problematic.

[anthroid]

College-educated people have the privilege of using their brains, their words, and their ideas to make a living; if those brains, words, or ideas cannot be trusted to be original, a college degree from this department is worthless. 

It was mainly these two sentences that I found problematic.

OK.  I'm trying to figure out how to explain to our students why, exactly, plagiarism is bad.  This is, to be honest, what I say in face to face meetings, though with a whole bunch more words and facial expressions and checking in ("do you see what I mean?" I'll say).  Is there a more elegant way to explain why plagiarism is bad other than "stealing is wrong"?  I'm trying to make it more pragmatic than that.

[ipse_dixit]

The audience for this document is unclear to me. Perhaps I am misreading, but I get the sense that the document you posted was to be shared with faculty and some (perhaps shorter?) version thereof attached to all syllabi.

If that is so, you probably do not need the first paragraph, as all faculty know (or should know) that plagiarism is bad, devaluing, etc.

If you're trying to educate students about why plagiarism is bad with that first paragraph, then I agree with gaguy: it comes off as somewhat angry and pontificatory.

Were it me, I would use the first sentence (demonstrating problem), followed by a short definition of what plagiarism comprises, followed by a zero-tolerance statement, followed by the suggested list -- keeping it pretty short if you want it attached to syllabi.

I am also a bit confused by the idea that instructors should "follow the policy as closely as possible" but actual sanctions "remain up to the individual professor." I assume you mean that the policy is no tolerance for academic dishonesty/plagiarism/cheating but the faculty members may define what that means for themselves.

[anthroid]

Thanks for the comments.

[beacon1]

Hi everyone,

I'm drafting a new plagiarism policy for my department and will be showing it to my faculty in the fall.  I wonder what you think of the language.  Any comments?


***

Plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating are growing problems in the academy.  As scholars and teachers, the Department of XXX at YYY University is taking a zero-tolerance approach to academic dishonesty of any kind.  We recognize that students enter YYYU with different levels of exposure to writing and research instruction but believe that all instances of plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating must have clear consequences whether the student “meant to” perform academic dishonesty or not.  College-educated people have the privilege of using their brains, their words, and their ideas to make a living; if those brains, words, or ideas cannot be trusted to be original, a college degree from this department is worthless.  We take plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating very seriously.

Departmental instructors should attach a copy of this policy to all syllabi and follow the policy as closely as possible.

While sanctions attached to specific incidents of academic dishonesty, by university policy, remain up to the individual professor, the Department encourages all instructors for the department to punish academic dishonesty appropriately, and we encourage all instructors to report incidents of academic dishonesty to the department chair as well as the University Academic Integrity Committee.  The department chair will attempt to counsel the accused student and the instructor making the accusation will have to show evidence of plagiarism.  If the student contests the allegation, the Departmental Academic Practices Committee will decide the matter and the sanction for the Department.  The department chair has the option of reporting academic dishonesty to the University Academic Integrity committee.

Suggested Departmental consequences for plagiarism, academic dishonesty, or cheating (with no opportunity for revision, retesting, or rewriting) include the following:

1.   Incorrect but inadvertent elimination of quote marks, incorrect or incomplete citations clearly in a mistaken manner, citing material that is not common knowledge without attribution:  One letter grade reduction for the final draft.
2.   Continual use of quotes without quote marks after being told about academic dishonesty issues for a draft, or the incorrect or incomplete citations after being told:  Failure of the paper
3.   Use of unauthorized materials during a test, first offense:  failure of the test
4.   Use of unauthorized materials during a test, second offense:  failure of the course
5.   Continual use of quotes without quote marks after being told about academic dishonesty issues, or the incorrect or incomplete citations after being told, final draft:  Failure of the course
6.   Copying portions or the entirety of another person’s research paper:  failure of the course
7.   Lending a paper for any reason to another student:  Failure of the paper
8.   Using a paper in one course for another course without the instructor’s clear, written permission:  Failure of the paper.
9.   Making up citations, data, quotes, statistics:  Failure of the paper.

The YYYU Academic Integrity policy, found at http://www.pretend.website/, defines academic dishonesty as follows in this direct quote (in a different font):
***

And then I quote the University Policy pretty much in its entirety, making sure to cite the university policy.

What happened to just offering the Merriam Webster definition of plagiarism? It seems like you are saying that there are degrees to cheating and only after you have cheated enough do you get banned from the course. I would word it without all the personal reactive words - "Here is what plagiarism is... If you break this rule you will be reported to the academic review counsel and will be dealt with accordingly."

[science_expat]

We've spent a lot of time on this at my institution and have found that a clear set of sanctions makes things much easier for the staff member and much more clear for the student.

Hence I strongly support the motivation behind the OP although I too agree that the penalties may be too soft. However, I would not make the penalties "suggested". Additionally, I think it is vitally important to establish a mechanism for tracking repeat offenders and penalizing them more harshly.

We've been implementing this type of strategy in my dept. for 2 years now and have seen a marked decrease in plagiarism.

[iomhaigh]

It works for me, and I do not see the anger in the quoted bits that bother gaguy, but that just might be because my plagiarism policy includes all sorts of metaphorical language. 

I wonder if #1 needs to be harsher, but that's my only thought. 

Many policies are like this in terms of providing options/standards, but then still allowing the professor to have final say.  I like them, because it makes me seem like less of a rogue hard-@ss if there are guidelines.

Plus, if someone screws up and misses one closing quotation mark, then you can penalize them without killing their overall grade.  Graduated guidelines allow for true typos to be dealt with on a different level than a paper full of quotes with parenthetical citations but no quotation marks.   

[science_expat]

Iomhaigh raises a good point.

We deal with the discretion issue with a statement along the lines that minor offenses can be considered to be "incorrect referencing". This retains academic discretion but still gives us the easy option of dealing with students along the lines of "sorry, this is university policy".

[snowbound]

I don't understand why you would want to say "Plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and cheating"--as if they are three different things.  I am diligent in taking plagiarists to task.  Many's the meeting I've had with all kinds of students who have passed off as their own pages or paragraphs or sentences lifted straight off the internet.  Very few of these students think of themselves as dishonest (all they did, after all was copy something off the internet and everyone does that, right?).  So I make a point, in plagiarism meetings, of referring to their offense as unethical, an act of dishonesty, an act by which they've put themselves in the category of cheat.  Students are often quite shaken by being viewed (and having to view themselves) in this light--surprisingly often, they are more affected by that than by the penalty I also always impose (comparable to OP's penalties).

My point is that I suggest you avoid any wording that suggests that plagiarism and cheating (or plagiarism and dishonesty) are different animals. 
 

[anthroid]

Thanks.  My university makes a clear differentiation between plagiarism and cheating, as we do think they are different animals.  For instance, plagiarism for us is the unauthorized and uncited use of materials authored by other people without quotes, attribution, etc.  Cheating (on a test, for instance) is bringing in your own unauthorized materials (among other activities) to be able to answer test questions with an advantage others don't have.  I think there are clear differences between the two. 

But thanks for your thoughts!

[verbena]

I agree it sounds a little angry - maybe because it's a bit repetitive. I also think it would be helpful to indicate on the syllabus some sense of the structure of ... retribution. How about this, which you are welcome to plagiarize use:

The Department of XXX at YYY University takes a zero-tolerance approach to plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty. All instances of academic dishonesty, intentional or not, will have clear consequences. University policy requires instructors to determine the sanctions following specific incidents of academic dishonesty; the Department expects instructors to report such incidents to the Department Chair as well as the University Academic Integrity Committee.

Departmental instructors should attach a copy of this policy to all syllabi.

[verbena]

A few other thoughts:

- the parts in #2 and #5 about "after being told about academic dishonesty issues" are unnecessary if the policy is announced on the syllabus, right?

- maybe add a definition of plagiarism in that original paragraph? something like "Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own."

- I don't like "Lending a paper for any reason to another student:  Failure of the paper." What if a student wants to lend a paper to another student because it's ... worth reading?