Plagiarism and Academic Honesty
The following information is taken directly from the Student Conduct Code of Ithaca College, Appendix II.
Standards of Academic Conduct
A. Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to the traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (i.e., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.
B. It is the responsibility of instructors to inform students clearly in writing of specific rules, procedures and/or expectations pertinent to their particular course that differ from those identified in paragraph A of this section. In those courses where limited consultation among students is permitted in the preparation of assignments, it is extremely important for instructors to clarify the guidelines for appropriate conduct.
C. In situations where a student may have difficulty in distinguishing between acceptable behavior and academic misconduct, it is the responsibility of the student to confer with the instructor. This is particularly important for avoiding plagiarism when written sources are used in the preparation of papers or take-home examinations.
Because Ithaca College is an academic community, ignorance of the accepted standards of academic honesty in no way affects the responsibility of students who violate standards of conduct in courses and other academic activities.
D. All members of the academic community are expected to assist in maintaining the integrity of Ithaca College, which includes reporting incidents of academic misconduct. Such instances may be reported to a faculty member, the dean of the school involved, or the director of judicial affairs.
Whether intended or not, plagiarism is a serious offense against academic honesty. Under any circumstances, it is deceitful to represent as one's own work writing or ideas that belong to another person. Students should be aware how this offense is defined: Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's published or unpublished ideas, whether this use consists of directly quoted material or paraphrased ideas.
Although various disciplines follow styles of documentation that differ in some details, all forms of documentation make the following demands:
- That each quotation or paraphrase be acknowledged with footnotes or in-text citation;
- That direct quotations be enclosed in quotation marks and be absolutely faithful to the wording of the source;
- That paraphrased ideas be stated in language entirely different from the language of the source;
- That a sequence of ideas identical to that of a source be attributed to that source;
- That all the sources the writer has drawn from in paraphrase or direct quotation or a combination of paraphrase and quotation be listed at the end of the paper under "Bibliography," "References," or "Works Cited," whichever heading the particular style of documentation requires.
A student is guilty of plagiarism if he/she fails, intentionally or not, to follow any of these standard requirements of documentation.
In a collaborative project, all students in the group may be held accountable for academic misconduct if they engage in plagiarism or are aware of plagiarism by others in their group and fail to report it. Students who participate in a collaborative project in which plagiarism has occurred will not be held accountable if they were not knowledgeable of the plagiarism.
What, then, do students not have to document? They need not cite their own ideas, references to their own experiences, or information that falls in the category of uncontroversial common knowledge (what a person reasonably well-informed about a subject might be expected to know.) They should acknowledge anything else.
Other Forms of Academic Dishonesty
Other violations of academic honesty include, but are not limited to, the following behaviors:
- Handing in to a class a paper written by someone else;
- Handing in as an original work for a class a paper one has already submitted to another course;
- Handing in the same paper simultaneously to two courses without the full knowledge and explicit consent of all the faculty members involved;
- Having someone else rewrite or clean up a rough draft and submitting those revisions as one's own work;
These offenses violate the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect necessary to the process of learning.
Note: Students who would like help in learning how to paraphrase or document sources properly should feel free to come to the Writing Center in room 228 of Roy H. Park Hall for assistance.