Unintentional plagiarism leads to disciplinary action

La Vida
Page 5
Friday, Sept. 5, 2008
Unintentional plagiarism leads to disciplinary action
By Tina L. Arons
Staff Writer
Keeping up with the fast-paced
world college students live in may
increase the temptation to plagiarize
­— a decision that could lead to serious
consequences.
“The pressure to succeed in college
has grown and that can create anxiety,
which produces a motive to cheat,”
said David Callahan, author of “The
Cheating Culture.”
He said he believes students are
under a lot of pressure to succeed
because numerous scholarships and
grants have grade point average
requirements.
Callahan, who will present a lecture Sept. 8 at 3:30 p.m. in the Allen
Theatre, said students are also pressured for time when they are involved
in extracurricular activities or hold a
part-time or full-time job.
There may be additional pressures
for academic success for students
considering graduate school or a
professional program.
“Students may feel like the system
is stacked against them,” Callahan
said.
He said this may lead to students
plagiarizing or cheating to keep up.
But this is no excuse.
Ryan Van Dusen, assistant director
of the Texas Tech Student Judicial
PLAGIARSM
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
Turning in someone else’s work as your own
Copying words or ideas from someone else without
giving credit
Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
Giving incorrect information about the source of a
quotation
Changing words but copying the sentence structure
of a source without giving credit
Copying so many words or ideas from a source that
it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give
credit or not
Source: www.plagiarism.org
Programs, said disciplinary actions are
determined on a case-by-case basis,
but accidental plagiarism or
plagiarizing to complete
a last-minute assignment does
not equate
a free
pass.
Stud e n t
Judicial
Programs
handles
reported instances
of academic
dishonesty, which includes
cheating,
plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration between students, falsifying
academic records and misrepresenting facts.
“Our biggest of those five is plagiarism by far,” Dusen said.
Since 2000, Student Judicial Programs has received about 200 reported
cases of academic dishonesty — an
average of 25 per year.
Tech’s policy of academic integrity
states that a student’s first violation
can result in the professor failing them
for the assignment. The professor also
has the option to issue an “F” for the
entire course, which students have the
right to appeal.
Dusen said professors are also encouraged to submit an incident report
with Student Judicial Programs in addition to the
individual college or
department.
When his
department
receives
a report,
Dusen
said, an
appointment
will be made to
speak with the
student personally
and disciplinary actions
will be determined.
R e ports filed with the judicial program are kept for seven years.
After that, they are shredded.
Dusen said academic dishonesty is
not reported on a student’s transcript,
but a suspension or expulsion that
results from academic dishonesty
would be noted.
However, most graduate or professional programs will check with
judicial programs for information
regarding applicants.
Dusen said academic violations
may not be a large deciding factor
on whether or not a student gets into
a professional or graduate program,
but, if the decision is between two
students and one student has a vio-
lation on record, that might make a
difference.
He said serious offenses may result
in suspension or expulsion from the
university, but there have not been
any expulsions since the establishment of Student Judicial Programs
in 1999.
Dusen said it is important for
students to know what plagiarism
is and how to avoid it, because
he has seen several cases where
students were not aware they were
plagiarizing.
Susan Lang, professor of rhetoric
and technical communication and
director of first-year writing, said
part of the purpose of first-year composition is to educate or reacquaint
first-year students with what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Approximately 2,500 students
are enrolled in Tech’s first-year writing program each semester.
She said some students come
into the program familiar with what
plagiarism is and how to avoid it, but
others do not.
“Our job in first-year composition,” Lang said, “is to get people
off to a good start.”
She said knowing how to paraphrase properly and cite sources are
two good ways to avoid plagiarism.
“Ultimately,” Lang said, “students are cheating themselves more
than anything.”
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