Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Edward Eckel Engineering Librarian Waldo Library

On the Index Cards Are there times when cheating or plagiarism is justified? YES or NO Why or why not?

This Evening  What do we mean by academic integrity?  Why should you care?  How can you avoid plagiarism?  Brief discussion (if time)

Fundamental Values of AI  Respect  Trust  Honesty  Fairness  Responsibility Source: Center for Academic Integrity Clemson Univeristy

Plagiarism  Pretending that the words you write or the ideas you express are your original ideas  Also called academic dishonesty  Or research misconduct

According to McCabe (1990)  Undergraduates reported engaging in academic dishonesty…  Business 87%  Engineering 74%  Science 67%  Humanities 63%

Well-Publicized Cases in Engineering  Russ College of Engineering, Ohio University ( )  55 graduate theses  1 degree revoked, so far  Numerous theses will have to be rewritten  1998 – Engineering professor plagiarized grant applications to the NSF  Copied text and a figure without citing sources

Consequences  Embarrassment and inconvenience  Failure of course  Expulsion from school  Revocation of degree  Loss of job  Ruined career

Every school has policies…  Western Michigan University  “Student Code of Conduct”  Page 6: “Academic misconduct – Including but not limited to the following: Cheating, fabrication, falsification, forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity, or other forms of academic dishonesty.”  “Research Misconduct Policy”  Page 2: “Plagiarism: the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.”

Why Document Sources?  Make it easier for readers to consult them  Give credit to original author  Avoid accusations of plagiarism  Strengthen your argument

Quoting versus Paraphrasing  Quotes are not used much in technical writing  You will need to paraphrase or rewrite things in your own words, using proper citation.

Professors’ Expectations  “…internalize and spit back out in [your] own words, to provide [your] own ‘take’ on it…a personal reaction, not just paraphrasing.” Foster & Gibbons, 2007

Advice from McMaster University  Try to understand the idea as completely as you can  Pretend you are explaining this to someone who has never read about it before  Look at several sources (not just one) that discuss the idea so you can see different examples

What counts as plagiarism?

Is this plagiarism? “two heavy chains and two light chains”

Is this plagiarism?  “The evaluation and everyday work with VR systems and applications made it clear that the design space for Virtual Environments (VEs) is very manifold and difficult to understand.” - Szabo Szabo 1998

Is this plagiarism?  “The evaluation and everyday work with VR systems and applications made it clear that the design space for Virtual Environments (VEs) is very complex and hard to understand.”

Is this plagiarism?  “The evaluation and daily work with virtual reality systems and applications made it clear that the design space for Virtual Environments (VEs) is very complex and hard to understand.”

Is this plagiarism?  Working everyday with virtual reality systems, one realizes just how complex a process it is to effectively design a virtual environment (Szabo 1998). -Eckel 2007

Questions/Difficulties? Ask Your Librarian!  Edward Eckel  Phone: 

Bibliography 1  Allen, Charlotte. "Taste: Their Cheatin' Hearts." Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2007,  Center for Academic Integrity, Rutland Institute for Ethics. "The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity." Center for Academic Integrity, Rutland Institute for Ethics, Clemson University. f (accessed October 25, 2007). f f  Gibbons, Michael T. Engineering by the Numbers American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 (accessed October 26, 2007).  Hinman, L. M. "Academic Integrity and the World Wide Web." Computers & Society 32, no. 1 (March, 2002): 33-42, (accessed October 25, 2007).  McCabe, Donald L. "Faculty and Academic Integrity: The Influence of Current Honor Codes and Past Honor Code Experiences." Research in Higher Education 44, no. 3 (2003): 367.  ———. "Influence of Situational Ethics on Cheating among College Students." Sociological Inquiry 62, no. 3 (August, 1992): , (accessed November 1, 2007).

Bibliography 2  McCabe, Donald L. and Gary Pavela. "Ten [Updated] Principles of Academic Integrity: How Faculty can Foster Student Honesty." Change 36, no. 3 (May/June 2004, 2004): (accessed October 25, 2007).  McCabe, Donald L., Linda K. Trevino, and Kenneth D. Butterfield. "Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Research." Ethics & Behavior 11, no. 3 (2001):  McMaster University Office of Academic Integrity. Academic Integrity Page. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University, 2007, (accessed November 5, 2007).  Meade, Jeff. "Cheating: Is Academic Dishonesty Par for the Course?" ASEE Prism 1, no. 7 (March, 1992):  Office of Inspector General, National Science Foundation. Semiannual Report to the Congress. Semiannual Report to Congress., edited by Christine C. Boesz. 22nd ed. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, 2000 (accessed October 25, 2007).  ———. Semiannual Report to the Congress,  Szabo, Kornel. Virtual Reality Based Information Systems and their Applications in the Field of Tourism. Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, Universität Zurich,  Sterngold, Arthur. "Confronting Plagiarism." Change 36, no. 3 (May/June 2004, 2004): (accessed October 25, 2007).  Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester. Foster, Nancy Fried and Gibbons, Susan (Eds). Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries,  Tomsho, Robert. "Familiar Words: Student Plagiarism Stirs Controversy at Ohio University." Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2006, 2006, sec. A.  Western Michigan University. Research Misconduct Policy and Procedures. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, 2006.