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Plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism is a serious
academic offense and students are responsible for educating themselves
about it. Every year, students are expelled from Rutgers
University for committing plagiarism. This site is designed to
explain what plagiarism is, why it brings severe penalties in
the university, and how to avoid it.
Plagiarism is a form
of dishonesty that occurs when a person passes off someone else's
work as his or her own. This can range from failing
to cite an author for ideas incorporated into a student's paper
to cutting and pasting paragraphs from different websites to handing
in a paper downloaded from the internet. All are plagiarism.
There are
three central things all Rutgers students should know about the consequences of
plagiarism: 1)
Plagiarism is a university offense. Professors are expected to report
all instances of plagiarism to the Office of Student Life, which then initiates
a review of its own. In other words, in addition to dealing with the course
instructor, students who plagiarize must also deal with the University.
Students found guilty of plagiarism will have this entered into their record and
may be expelled from the university.
2) Plagiarism in
most instances is easy to identify and expose. The
very force that makes plagiarism easy and tempting to some students--the
internet--makes its detection easy. Most professors can
locate the source of suspected plagiarism within a few minutes
of searching the web. In this context, plagiarism is as much
stupidity as it is dishonesty. Students should be aware that
all Rutgers professors have access to Turnitin.com,
a very effective resource for catching plagiarism.
3)
All parties to plagiarism are considered equally guilty. If
you share your coursework with another student and he or she plagiarizes it, you
are considered as guilty as the one who has plagiarized your work, since you enabled
the plagiarism to take place. Under no circumstances should a student make
his or her coursework available to another student unless the instructor gives
explicit permission for this to happen. In
other words, students who plagiarize are likely to be caught, and the consequences
will be severe and will include anyone who enabled the plagiarism to take place.
University policy will kick in, regardless of the feelings of either the students
or the instructor. Avoid plagiarism at all costs!
Rutgers-Camden's
Policy on Academic Integrity. All students should
familiarize themselves with this policy. Rutgers distinguishes
between five levels of violations of academic dishonesty: cheating,
fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and
denying others access to information or material. Procedures
and sanctions for the different levels of offenses are laid
out in this document.
Julie H.C.H.
Ryan, Student
Plagiarism in an Online World (an excellent article written for faculty
members but useful for students to read as well)
Avoid
Plagiarism by Citing Sources Properly Copying
someone's work is an extreme and straightforward act of plagiarism. More
commonly, however, students plagiarize without realizing they are doing so.
This generally happens when a student fails to acknowledge the source of an idea
or phrasing. While unintentional plagiarism is generally treated more leniently
than intentional plagiarism, it is nonetheless a sign of sloppiness and/or failure
to educate oneself about what plagiarism is. The following websites are designed
to help you avoid plagiarism.
New
Brunswick Writing Program Plagiarism Webpage. A very useful
explication of the concept of plagiarism and the subtleties
of its application. It recognizes that plagiarism is often unintentional
and gives useful hints about how to avoid it.
Information
on Plagiarism for Students in Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice,
by Jon'a Meyer. Detailed guidelines and advice for Rutgers-Camden students.
Plagiarism,
by Earl Babbie. This short essay by sociologist Earl Babbie explains in simple
language why plagiarism is wrong and gives practical advice about how to use (and
not to use) a source. Highly recommended. (Pdf file)
Academic Dishonesty - Plagiarism. This brief webpage from Oregon State University,
like Babbie's, gives examples of acceptable and unacceptable uses of sources in
student writing.
Plagiarism Movie. This flash movie from the Paul Robeson Library provides
an entertaining overview, complete with quiz show.
In
any specific case, if you are unsure about what is acceptable and what is not,
the best thing is to ask your teacher. In general, it is better to err on
the side of over-citation than under-citation. Besides, this shows that
you are taking seriously something you read--which generally warms a teacher's
heart! Avoid
Plagiarism by Mastering Social Science Skills
The
temptation to commit plagiarism often reflects lack of confidence
in one's own skills and knowledge. Ultimately this is a matter
of student effort and initiative, but we have developed our web-enhanced
curriculum to assist students in mastering the skills
that will enable students to do well in their courses. Familiarize
yourself with our online resources and take advantage of them!
Our goal is to help you master basic skills and to do well in
your courses!
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