Statement of principles

• Honesty is one of Parkland's values. Collectively, we all have a responsibility to help students learn these values in addition to content.
• How should corrective action be addressed? Instances of academic dishonesty will be dealt with informally at the classroom level until the number or seriousness of the abuse reaches a level at which the dean's office must intervene. The intent of the policy is to be developmentally-oriented, so faculty are encouraged to select punitive actions that fit the case as judged by:

1. The seriousness of the incident (i.e. one misquote v. complete plagiarism of a paper; copy from another during an exam, etc)
2. The presence of evidence supporting the accusation.
3. The frequency of the incidents in the class.
4. Intentionality

• What should the incident report include? No formal incident report is needed, but an email should indicate the student's name and SS#, the class, term, and instructor, and the instructor's action regarding the incident. It is particularly important to know if developmental work (ie. instruction on academic honesty) occurred.
• Practice related to obtaining evidence from external sources. The policies are intended to protect both the student and the faculty member and communication between the two is paramount. While evidence can support the faculty members assertion of academic dishonesty, it can also exonerate the student. If the faculty member is suspicious of the evidence provided by the student (ie. a doctor or employer's note), s/he can request better evidence. In such cases, care should be taken, particularly with respect to external contacts. This is not a policy question, but a best practice question. One way to promote equitable treatment while ensuring valid evidence is to demand that the student have a supporting note sent directly from the authoritative body to the faculty member without utilizing the student as intermediary. The student can request this; the faculty member needn't address an external agency.
• Faculty autonomy in determining corrective action. The faculty member is in the best position to weigh factors when determining how to address an individual incident, but common actions range from requiring a rewrite or retake, to failure on the assignment, to failure of the course. The office of the Dean encourages counsel from colleagues, the department chair, or the Dean's office if a faculty member is uncertain as to the appropriateness of a particular corrective action or process. Click here to read Parkland College's Policy and Procedures related to Academic Honesty. The policies can be complicated, but, in general, Parkland attempts to keep the student appraised of progress at all times and tries to keep the process informal if possible. Therefore an accusation and possible punitive action should begin with the student, resolved informally. The chair should be notified in case the student and faculty member are unable to resolve their differences.
• Multiple offenses. All instances, however serious, should be reported to the Dean of Academic Services. The reports are used to identify multiple offenders. The Office will first determine if students have been instructed as to what constitutes plagiarism and intellectual property. If not, a developmental solution will be devised. The policies of Parkland College are silent on the issue of intentionality to allow faculty discretion.  However, it is helpful to know when students have unintentionally cheated, so that we may ascertain when students have been informed of the policy. Multiple offenders who have been instructed as to the nature of plagiarism and how to avoid it and persist in academically dishonest practices may be charged with a violation of the Student Conduct Code.

Recent News:

Chronicle article on speeches and plagiarism, June 24, 2005

ABCNews story "Big Cheats on Campus" November 19, 2004

Suggestions/Best Practices

1. Know the students writing- get a baseline sample (Lori Williams).
2. Discuss academic honesty explicitly. Add it to your syllabus. Require students to read and sign a copy of the Policy (Several). This form may be printed in duplicate from Reprographics so that the student retains a signed copy.
3. Write about current, local, and/or unique topics (Lori Williams).
4. Incorporate development steps in the writing process (outlines, drafts). Incorporate into the grade and course (Lori Williams).
5. Ask students to turn in references (ie. articles, copies of the passages used, etc) to allow comparison with written work.
6. Use "quirky" styles- vary audience and/or tone, require that a particular paragraph be a definition, etc (Lori Williams, Matt Hurt).
7. "Plagiarism is the crime of the procrastinator" (Linda Girard). Type the "well-turned phrase" into Google.com or other search engines or use commercially available software such as Turnitin.com (see readings below) to see if the phrase registers a hit.
8. Add an honor statement to all assignments and tests. Honors Codes do this routinely, but it can also be done by individual instructor. For example, the University of Virginia's Honor Code states, "On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received help on this assignment." This statement, present on all assignments, must be signed by students before work will be accepted. (Courtesy of Linda Tabb).
9. Go to the Library...they can help! (Francis Drone-Silvers)

Resources (with intended audience)

While a little out of date, this site has guidelines and exercises that will be good for educating students.

University of Washington (for students)

This site contains some good suggestions for taking educational responsibility and offers examples of acceptable and unacceptable academic behavior.

University of Georgia (for faculty and staff)

A nice example of a comprehensive academic honesty procedure including a "facilitated discussion form."

Online Writing Lab at Purdue University (for faculty and staff)

This site frames for students graphically the issues behind academic honesty and contains some "thought questions" that might be used in  a class.

How not to plagiarize (U. Toronto) (for students)

Uses a FAQ style to answer student questions.

Turnitin.com

Commerical site with products aimed to detect plagiarism. Worth a look!

Style Guides

[APA format][Electronic APA][MLA format][Bibliography Styles-UIUC Writer's Workshop]

Visit Parkland College's Writing Center for help with your writing.

Suggested Readings (Copies available from Dean's Office):

Colloquy Live (2001, July 6). Plagiarism and Plagiarism Detection Go High Tech. Chronicle for Higher Education. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2001/07/cheat/ .

Crews, K. D. (2003, November-December). Copyright and distance education. Change. pp. 34-39.

DeRussy, C. (2003, September 19). Professional ethics begin on the college campus. Chronicle for Higher Education. Retrieved January 5, 2004 from http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v50/i04/04b02001.htm .

Foster, A. L. (2002, May 17). Plagiarism-Detection Tool Creates Legal Quandary. Chronicle for Higher Education. 48(26): A37-38.

Harris, R. (2001, October 30). Anti-plagiarism strategies for research papers. Accessed by Linda Girard at http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm .

Lipson, A. & Reindl, S. M. (2003, July-August) The responsible plagiarist. About Campus.  pp. 7-14.

Moore, B. J. (2002, September-October). Truth or consequences. About Campus. , 25-28.

Royce, J. (2003). Has Turnitin.com Got It All Wrapped Up? Teacher Librarian. 30(4): 26-31.

Smyth, L. M. & Davis, J. R. (2003). An examination of student cheating in the two-year college. Community College Review. 31(1): 17-33.