Definition and Types of Plagiarism
How to prevent plagiarism before it occurs
What to do if you believe an assignment is plagiarized
Working with students suspected of plagiarism
College of Humanities Procedures for resolving cases of plagiarism
Additional Resources in Print or Online
Plagiarism is a form of cheating or fraud; it occurs when a student misrepresents the work of another as his or her own. Plagiarism may consist of using the ideas, sentences, paragraphs, or the whole text of another without appropriate acknowledgment, but it also includes employing or allowing another person to write or substantially alter work that a student then submits as his or her own.
Heywood Ehrlich of Rutgers University defines the following types of plagiarism:
Caveat: To us as faculty, plagiarism is a serious breach of academic honor, one that, when we discover it, may leave us feeling anything from disappointment and dismay to outright anger at the student’s attempt to deceive us. But many students plagiarize out of desperation, misunderstanding, and downright ignorance, and when we confront them, we should proceed with caution and be open to listening to their response.
One good practice that will help identify plagiarism: Early in the semester, collect some writing students have done in class and hold onto it for comparison purposes, if necessary, later. However, don't assume that, because a student's in-class writing is poor and his out-of-class writing shows marked improvement, the student has plagiarized; many students have learned to follow the steps of the writing process out of class to produce significantly better written, better proofread papers.
Also, if you assign multiple out-of-class papers during the semester, keep a simple record of the types of errors each student typically makes, so that you can note a sudden leap in ability.
Although most faculty have a fairly sensitive radar for the plagiarized essay, at times you may feel a generalized suspicion but not be able to put your finger on what's not right. Here are some things you might consider:
Despite the "bad news" that the Internet has increased the number of plagiarized papers we see, there is still "good news" as well: As easy as it is for students to find and copy information from the Internet, it is just as easy for us as faculty to find the source from which they've copied. Here is how you do it:
If nothing turns up through a search engine, you might look further on relevant newspaper or magazine sites, or on a database such as Lexis/Nexis, available through our library.
A number of online plagiarism detection services have sprung up in recent years, the most familiar being Plagiarism.org/Turnitin.com. Visit their site at http://www.turnitin.com to see what they offer. The gist of it is this: you have students submit their papers electronically to you; then you submit them to a site such as turnitin.com. They run the papers through their sophisticated search process (which includes databases of papers that you would have had to pay to look at) and send you a report identifying online sources for the paper, if any.
If you believe a student has submitted a plagiarized assignment, the following guidelines should be followed:
1) Meet with the student. If you have the source from which the assignment was plagiarized, confront the student and talk about the circumstances that led to the plagiarism (see "Why Students Plagiarize," for information). If you do not have the evidence but still are convinced the student plagiarized, follow the suggestions above for handling the situation. If the student admits to the offense, the next step is to set the penalty. (Note: This step is very important. Even if the plagiarism occurred on the final essay and the semester has ended, the student should hear from the teacher about what he or she has uncovered in the student's work.)
2) Grading. You have the option of giving a grade of "0" or "F" for the assignment in question; you may not, according to Academic Senate policy, ask the student to withdraw or give the student an "F" for the course as a consequence of the plagiarism. You may also, especially if your discussion leads you to feel the plagiarism was inadvertent, assign a lesser penalty and/or allow the student to redo the assignment.
3) Report to the Dean's Office. Please fill out a copy of the College of Humanities Plagiarism Report [Download PDF] and send it to Elise Wormuth in the College office. The report will be placed in a confidential file and will allow us to track repeat offenders and to get a sense of the magnitude of the problem.
4) Action by the Dean's Office. When we receive your report, the Dean’s Office will take the following actions, as appropriate:
- Send a letter to the student, informing him/her that the plagiarism has been reported and that their name will be kept on file. A list of names will periodically be sent to Donna Cunningham, Student Judicial Officer, who will take no action unless she receives a second report on the student.
- Meet with the student, to reinforce what the teacher said about the seriousness of the offense and to warn against further offenses.
University Policies Related to Plagiarism
The Student Code of Conduct: http://www.sfsu.edu/~helpdesk/docs/rules/conduct.html
Facuty Manual: http://www.sfsu.edu/~acaffrs/facman/fac-man.html#997852
The following books may be of interest:
And the following websites:
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