Dear Parents and Students,
Each year you are asked to read and sign a document for the Irvine Unified School District about Academic Honesty. This signature means to the district, the school and the teacher that you understand the following: 1. Cheating on a test by looking at someone's papers or stealing the teacher's key is wrong and you will not do this. 2. Copying from a student, a textbook or from an online source without giving that source credit by placing these used words or segment of text in your work and claiming it as your own is wrong and you will not do this. Basically, all students are expected to do their own work. Group work has it's own guidelines but the majority of the work is to be done independently. If students need help, they must ask their teachers. If they ask their fellow students, it is only for guidance. If you, a student, are asked for help, never hand over your work to be copied or send a file containing all your hard work. If you do, then you are also cheating by giving away this to another student to use, even if it is for them to change it a little, it is still wrong. They are not learning what they are supposed to and if you are helping them by giving them the answers or the work, you are now part of the problem. In my class, students caught cheating or helping someone to cheat, receive a 0 for that assignment and a U in citizenship for the trimester. There are no exceptions. I speak all year long about being honest, and doing your own work. I cite all sorts of examples of how students have tried to cheat in the past and in the end hurt themselves. In high school, you can be removed from a class, and lose the credits. In college, you can be expelled from the college. The bottom line is cheaters do not prosper and it is best not to become one or help someone to cheat. I have included below a very comprehensive but easy to follow guideline from the University of Oregon Libraries which discusses the issue of plagiarism, and which source I properly noted at the bottom of the page. Sincerely, Mrs. Kay Gee*****************************************************************
"If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's
research."
Wilson Mizner, U.S. playwright (1876-1933)
Source: The Oxford dictionary of quotations edited by Angela Partington.
Rev. 4th ed. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996. p. 478.
Misconceptions about plagiarism abound, as you can see from the tongue-in-cheek quotation above, but it is a serious matter in academia and the professional world. Penalities for plagiarising can include receiving an 'F' for the class, academic probation, expulsion, or even degrees being withdrawn, among other consequences. In the professional world, legal suits and professional humiliation have ensued.
This web page is intended as a general primer on plagiarism, presenting definitions, examples, and resources to illustrate key concepts. In the case of differences between information presented here and UO Official Policy, UO Official Policy takes precedence. If you have further questions, please contact your Instructor/GTF, Office of Student Life (346-3216), Office of Student Advocacy (346-3722), or a Reference Librarian (346-1818).
The following is quoted from the Office of Student Life's Academic Dishonesty Policy:
"Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone else's product, words, ideas, or data as one's own work. When a student submits work for credit that includes the product, words, ideas, or data of others, the source must be acknowledged by the use of complete, accurate, and specific references, such as footnotes. Expectations may vary slightly among disciplines. By placing one's name on work submitted for credit, the student certifies the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgements. On written assignments, if verbatim statements are included, the statements must be enclosed by quotation marks or set off from regular text as indented extracts....
Unauthorized collaboration with others on papers or projects can inadvertently lead to a charge of plagiarism. If in doubt, consult the instructor or seek assistance from the staff of Academic Learning Services (68 PLC, 346-3226). In addition, it is plagiarism to submit as your own any academic exercise(for example, written work, printing, computer program, art or design work, musical composition, and choreography) prepared totally or in part by another.
Plagiarism also includes submitting work in which portions were substantially produced by someone acting as a tutor or editor."
It should go without saying, but it is academically dishonest to submit a paper that someone else wrote (unless you are working on a group project). The paper should be your own work.
Maxine Hairston and John Ruszkiewicz define common knowledge as, "...[the]
facts, dates, events, information, and concepts that belong generally to an
educated public. No individual owns the facts about history, physics, social
behavior, geography, current events, popular culture, and so on."
Source:The Scott, Foresman handbook for writers by Maxine Hairston, John
J. Ruszkiewicz. 3rd ed.
New York, NY : HarperCollins College Publishers, c1993. p. 614.
Therefore, common knowledge does not need to be cited - the difficulty is knowing when something is, in fact, widely known. An added twist is that each discipline has its own common knowledge, e.g. psychologists will be familiar with the work of Jean Piaget so you do not need to establish who he was. If you are not sure whether or not something is common knowledge, ask your instructor/GTF.
These tips were originally published on the Hamilton Writing Center webpage by Sharon Williams
Source:
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students/
Created by Robin Paynter
Maintained by Andrew Bonamici,
bonamici@uoregon.edu
Last revision: 09 March 2004