Plagiarism

PLAGIARISM

Definition

Plagiarism is the use of another's original ideas or exact words without proper citation. It is illegal and unethical, and amounts to both theft and cheating. Penalties are swift, severe, and irrevocable.

REFER TO THE UNIVERSITY'S POLICIES ON PLAGIARISM --links are shown below

I will not tolerate even the suspicion of plagiarism in my students' work. If you do this, and I catch you (and I usually do), you will get an F for the assignment, possibly an F for the course (at my discretion) and, at the discretion of the Provost's office, dismissal from the university with the reason permanently stamped on your transcript. It's really not worth it.

Citations

Whenever you use a quotation from another written source, it must be included in quotation marks and have either a footnote or an in-text citation. The simplest method is to insert in the text, directly after the quote, in parentheses, the author's name and the page number. The source, with all bibliographic data, should be cross-referenced in a bibliography attached to the end of the paper.

Original material, even when not quoted directly, should be cited the same way, though quotation marks are not used.

For the proper form for these citations, consult Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers and Theses, which is in the bookstore.

Websites also need to be cited, using the website name and URL. Extensive quotations--even when properly cited--used as filler are unacceptable.

Internet

The internet provides all sorts of opportunities for abuse. Bear in mind that much of the information to be found there is simply someone's personal opinion and often more damaging to your paper or argument than not. It must be used with discretion and care.

Websites providing papers and essays for students to crib are usually more trouble than help. For one thing, the quality of the material found there is often quite poor. For another, instructors are familiar with what's out there, and recognize this stuff when they see it. Moreover, instructors typically design assignments so they do not fall into easy categories; cribbed papers usually do not respond directly to the assignment, giving themselves away immediately. Finally, there are programs that immediately and accurately detect internet plagiarism in student papers, and I have and use them. All in all, taking papers from the Net is generally a stupid, as well as unethical, procedure.

On the other hand, the Web is an excellent source of information if it is used wisely. Pick websites that are objective, "official," and reasonable-sounding. Be sure to cite them properly, with complete URLs.

Policy

Plagiarism is cheating. It is fairly easy to detect. If I suspect you have used someone else's paper or directly quoted from another source, you will receive a grade of F for the assignment.

I may require you to provide me with your original notes and outline for the paper, as well as photocopies of the sources you consulted. If you cannot provide these, you will get a grade of F for the assignment.

Egregious (in my opinion) or repeated cases of plagiarism may result in a grade of F for the course. In extreme cases, you may be expelled from the University.

I reserve the right to make judgments about plagiarism based on my expertise and experience, and the evidence in the piece of writing itself.

Students who remain in my courses agree contractually to abide by this policy.

For more information about the University's academic misconduct procedures, please go to the

Academic Misconduct website:

http://www.fiu.edu/~oabp/misconductweb/unitinstructions.htm
Code of Academic Integrity:

http://www.fiu.edu/~dwyere/academicintegrity.html