Dr Mc’s Advice on

AVOIDING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Perhaps you are new to University, and are not clear about what counts as plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. Perhaps you’ve been here a while and think you are clear. In either case, I urge you to read this and to follow the links. You are expected to be aware of the contents of this page and those linked to it. Most of the people I catch did not intend to cheat, but ignorance is no defence.

Professor Horban has an excellent page up outlining what plagiarism is and what the penalties are; click to see it. (Thanks, Professor Horban.) Scroll to the bottom to see his explicit characterizations. They are very useful.

The most up-to-date version of the policy is here. It expands the set of infractions listed on the page above, but that page is still applicable.

The library has an interactive tutorial available. It, too, is very useful, and I strongly urge all of you to do it. You are expected to have done it and understood the points it makes before starting to work on your paper, including before reading up on the subject matter. It should take less than thirty minutes—time well-spent.

The Library also has a page on Avoiding Plagiarism, with lots of useful links (including to the tutorial).

When writing an essay, it is important to know how to make appropriate use of the work of others. See Professor Horban’s advice on quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Please note that you must acknowledge sources in-text (not just at the end); the reader should know exactly where you are indebted to whom. The bibliographic details should not be in-text, but instead easy for the reader to find in your “Works Cited” or “Bibliography” page (or, in some styles, in footnotes or endnotes).

Some courses have assignments that are not essays. Academic integrity regulations apply to them as well. See this site (from Computing Science) for some clear talk about what is acceptable for assignments. (Thanks, Professor Baker.)

Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are treated very seriously. Department practice is to give (as the most lenient penalty) a ZERO on an assignment that contains plagiarism, in the case of a first offence. This often results in a failing grade for the course. Also, a form is filed with Registrar’s and in the Department, and if there is a second offence, consequences can be much more serious. I had a case of somebody who plagiarized twice in the same course, and my recommendation of a one-term suspension was raised to two terms by the relevant committee (UBSD). Hence I’ll be recommending the latter in future. So, if moral considerations are not sufficient for you, pragmatic ones should be! (I’m sure that most of you have absolutely no intention of cheating, but even you need to know what cheating is, so that you don’t do it unintentionally. Also, you should be relieved that cheaters will not prosper if I can help it, and be glad to learn that I value and expect academic honesty.)

If neither I nor your TA advises you to the contrary, it doesn’t matter what system of referencing you use, provided it is consistent and gives the reader all the information required to look at your sources. The Library has information on referencing and lots more besides: click here. Reliable web sources (of which there are not as many as you might think!) often have info on how to cite them.

That said, I urge you to focus on the topic of your paper and the assigned readings, and work from there. Sometimes, other sources are very useful and appropriate. But sometimes, especially at the lower-division level, the best papers involve no other sources. Spend time thinking about what you think and how to argue for it, instead of surfing for insight. If you cannot resist the temptation, keep scrupulous notes—one of the most common ways for students to plagiarize unintentionally is for them fail to remember that something they have jotted down came from somebody else. Even if you don’t yet know whether you’ll make use of some material, keep careful records so that, if you do use it, you can cite appropriately.

Finally, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me or your TA, and if you have any suggestions of items or links to include on this page, please let me know.

2019/02/03