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March 31, 2008
A Plagiarized Honor Code? Oops.
Students trying to set up an honor code at the University of Texas at San Antonio may have unintentionally done what they set out to prevent: They lifted whole passages from other documents without credit.
Even the draft document’s definition of plagiarism was plagiarized, tracking nearly identically a section of the honor code at Brigham Young University.
For example, the draft honor code at San Antonio defines:
Inadvertent Plagiarism. Inadvertent plagiarism involves the inappropriate, but nondeliberate, use of another’s words, ideas, or data without appropriate attribution, failure to follow established rules for documenting sources or from being insufficiently careful in research and writing.
Brigham Young’s honor code includes a similar definition:
Inadvertent Plagiarism: Inadvertent plagiarism involves the inappropriate, but nondeliberate, use of another’s words, ideas, or data without proper attribution. Inadvertent plagiarism usually results from an ignorant failure to follow established rules for documenting sources or from simply being insufficiently careful in research and writing.
Akshay Thusu, the student who inherited the effort to draft an honor code, told the San Antonio Express-News that the draft was probably adapted from materials at a 2003 conference organized by the Center for Academic Integrity, and that the online draft may be missing its citation page.
Mr. Thusu assured the Express-News, which first reported the ironic copy-and-paste job, that the final document would be properly cited: “We don’t want to have an honor code that is stolen,” he said. —JJ Hermes
Posted on Monday March 31, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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With all due respect, this is silly. An honor code, like a law or ordinace, cannot be plagiarized. It is not a work of creativity. It is a rule. If it were found that, e.g., Pennsylvania’s fair housing statute contained much of, say, New York’s, that would not be plagiarism. Indeed, many states adopt word for word certain “model laws” proposed by one body or another. There may be plagiarism at UTSA, but this is not it.
— Dan Larkin Mar 31, 03:32 PM #
Notice how the UTSA students omitted the “ignorant failure” phrase from the BYU honor code? I guess they don’t want to come off sounding, you know, judgmental on a matter of honor.
— J. Ward Mar 31, 03:43 PM #
I agree with Mr. Larkin. I wonder if the Express-News journalists will be investigating whether their mothers’ have plagiarized directions of how to boil an egg from The Joy of Cooking.
— Michael Matthews Mar 31, 03:45 PM #
With due respect, this is funny. Honor codes, like llaws or ordinaces, are not be plagiarized. It is not an original work. It is a rule. If it were found that, for example, Ohio’s fair housing statute was the same as Puerto Rico’s, that is not plagiarism. Indeed, attorneys adopt verbatim “model laws” proposed elsewhere. There may be plagiarism on the Chronicle Blog, but this is not it.
— Ken Lee Mar 31, 03:48 PM #
I would seriously doubt BYU’s code was a work free of “cutting and pasting”
— seth Mar 31, 03:50 PM #
Mr. Lee (#5)—THAT is funny!
— Bob Rosenberg Mar 31, 03:54 PM #
This is more sad than funny, really. Kudos to the student who, upon discovering the situation, brought it forward. It doesn’t make the original omission of attribution any less distasteful, but at least they’re now owning up to the mistake – would you? And folks, please keep in mind – this was a DRAFT. The attribution will be there in the final document. Problem solved.
I agree with Bob – Ken’s comment in #5 made me smile.
Seth #6 – Harbor some negative feelings toward BYU? I invite you to back up your claim with some proof.
— MHogan Mar 31, 04:06 PM #
Colleges and Universities borrow parts of policies and I suppose entire policues from each other all the time—it’s hardly plagiarism when policies and procedures are actually based on best practices and are in reality a product of groupthink.
Most should be adjusted to fit local culture and circumstances but these policies are hardly original works of scholarship.
— Eyeshade Mar 31, 04:51 PM #
Seth. If you care to follow the link in the article to the BYU Honor Code, you will see that it includes references to the sources BYU used in developing its Honor Code statement. I agree with other commenters, however, that this is probably an unnecessary precaution as colleges and universities frequently and freely borrow and share policies and proceedures with each other without asking for or expecting attribution.
— Erik Mar 31, 04:59 PM #
No wonder students have difficulities with plagerism if those who are supposed to know apparently are unable to figure out the difference between rules and original thought.
— RG Mar 31, 05:42 PM #
“Colleges and Universities borrow parts of policies and I suppose entire policues from each other all the time—it’s hardly plagiarism when policies and procedures are actually based on best practices and are in reality a product of groupthink.
“Most should be adjusted to fit local culture and circumstances but these policies are hardly original works of scholarship.”
— Eyeshade Mar 31, 04:51 PM #— Jason Mar 31, 05:54 PM #
I googled “Inadvertent Plagiarism” and got 35,400 hits. Has anyone checked to see how many colleges other than BYU have the same definition?
— richard Mar 31, 11:33 PM #
Why would anyone with a shred of common sense think this falls under any concerns about plagiarism?
I guess I have my answer.
— John Apr 1, 06:44 AM #
Inadvertent is nondeliberate. This is a joke of a definition, and this “definition” appears repeated in many “codes”. This is not plagiarism, this is deliberate policy allowing ANY interpretation and ANY outcome of investigations with no regard to the truth of the matter, but with the regard to politics, corruption and bribes.
The definition of plagiarism that I proposed several years ago and still not tired to repeat (falsification of the fact of authorship) is ignored. I should write an article now, but I guess no one would publish it.
— Michael Pyshnov Apr 1, 09:46 AM #
Nice find, JJ. Funny stuff.
— Daniel Noll Apr 1, 10:37 AM #
This is and was a non-story. The original reporter contacted the CAI, from which BYU and UTSA both borrowed language, and which intended its words to be used by anyone who might find them useful in formulating a code of conduct. The reporter was told that rules and guidelines are not the subjects of plagiarism. Indeed, in the case of rules, there is value in uniformity. The reporter did not like this answer and so sought out a person who sold plagiarism detection services and was glad to support the notion that something terrible was going on.
It was no surprise that the AP picked up the story. It was too cute for USA Today to ignore. It was a disappointment, however, when the NY Times ran with it, without checking facts. Just as here, a multitude of bloggers responded to the Times piece, using the forum to trumpet their own preconceptions.
I doubt I’ve ever generated an original thought, but if I do ever publish one, I don’t want it plagiarized. At the same time, I want the stop sign at the end of my block to look and read like every other stop sign I encounter.
— RAW Apr 1, 04:56 PM #