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Guidelines for Plagiarized Work

Last Updated: February 2011

The most difficult decision regarding plagiarized work is how to deal with it, because plagiarism can occur under any number of situations and can negatively affect students at various levels in their academic careers.

This document provides information on:

• When to report the plagiarism

• How to determine if plagiarism is intentional or unintentional

• What every instructor should do and what every class syllabus should include

• Who should teach plagiarism

• How to determine teachable moments

• How to grade plagiarized work

• How to determine if a rewrite is allowed

• How to interpret ’s percentage numbers

• What constitutes plagiarism, including self-plagiarism

• How to differentiate between summarizing, paraphrasing, and rewriting

Davenport University’s goal is to reduce plagiarism incidences. Once students realize that all instructors are reporting plagiarism, students will be more careful about its avoidance, which becomes a plus for students and faculty alike.

Additionally, DU’s goal is to educate students, faculty, and staff so that understanding of its meaning, policy, and consequence is the same for all.

When to Report Plagiarism

All incidents of plagiarism will be reported immediately, no exceptions.

All incidences of plagiarism will be reported immediately. All reports will generate a letter to the student with the exception of the teachable moment report.

Graduate-level class assignments

• Report each incident immediately. Student will receive a letter.

Undergraduate-level class assignments

• Lower undergraduate level (100-200 classes)

o Report as teachable moment: student made mistakes, performed rewrites, final was clean of plagiarism. Student should not receive a letter. The purpose of reporting is should plagiarism occur in the future, a record shows student did learn properly, thus the new plagiarism is considered intentional.

o Report as unintentional: student made mistakes, struggled to learn; consequently the final paper/exam had plagiarism. Obviously, student requires more learning. Student will receive a letter.

o Report as intentional: student made mistakes, was absent a lot, didn’t participate in rewrites, didn’t do the work required, thus plagiarism continued. Student will receive a letter.

• Upper undergraduate level (300-400 classes)

o If teachable moments are allowed where the student made mistakes, performed rewrites, final was clean of plagiarism. Student should not receive a letter.

o If teachable moments are allowed where the student made mistakes and performed one or more rewrites, but the final was plagiarized, report as “unintentional.” Student will receive a letter.

o If intentional, report immediately by incident. Student will receive a letter.

o If unintentional with no rewrite opportunity, report stating how the student provided consequential assignments without plagiarism, which indicates self-correction. Student will receive a letter.

What happens if I have a repeat offender in the same class?

Deal with it immediately (!) if the repeat plagiarism occurs in any class other than a class designed for teachable moments, because teachable moments are reported at the end of the semester.

• For some classes, a second incidence could mean the failure of the class itself.

• For others, a second incidence may mean no rewrite opportunity, thus it needs to be reported immediately.

• If you’re not sure what to do, contact your department coordinator.

Intentional or Unintentional Plagiarism[1]

The first determination an instructor needs to make is whether the plagiarism is intentional or unintentional:

Intentional plagiarism occurs when:

• Student blatantly purchases, copies, or paraphrases information without proper citation and quotes where needed.

• Student chooses not to do the work. This choice is made due to lack of interest, doesn’t want to spend the time, and/or isn’t interested in real learning. (Example: In any class, especially English, where students are required to turn in drafts, the student turns in only the final draft and skips all the rest. Student chose not to do the work.)

• Student does not attend class regularly; thus, student chose not to receive instruction that could have prevented plagiarism.

• Student has a rewrite opportunity and fails to fix the plagiarism. Again, it was the student’s choice.

Unintentional plagiarism occurs when

• Student is in college for the first time since high school, whether traditional or non-traditional students. These students simply do not know the details of plagiarism, having never been taught them.

• Student is an international transfer student and comes from a country where copying another’s work without citation is practiced. (In these countries, copying is seen as a compliment to the original creator; the goal is to parrot what the expert states, rather than provide original critical thinking.)

Unintentional plagiarism allows for teachable moments, so while the plagiarism is reported, so are the teachable moments.

What Every Instructor Needs to Do

• State your plagiarism policy clearly in your syllabus. Be as detailed as possible regarding consequences. If you have a rewrite policy, state this policy clearly.

• Give all plagiarized work a zero regardless of the rest of the work. Any grade above a zero tells the student that plagiarism is not serious. How to proceed from there is provided in directions below, under “How to Grade Plagiarized Work.”

• Make a copy of the plagiarized work for yourself. You may want or need to show this work to a supervisor, or you may need to submit it as documentation. You may want/need to use it when rechecking the student’s work if a rewrite is allowed. In addition, keep a semester-long record of who plagiarizes, the date, the assignment, rewrite grades, and so forth.

• To aid the University in tracking the student’s global behavior, instructors must report all cases of plagiarism via the Incident Report form on the portal. As a part of the incident report, the instructor will categorize the incident as a major or minor violation of academic integrity or as a teachable moment.

Per University policy as stated in the catalog, a minor violation occurs the first time the student has a breach of academic integrity and typically involves an assignment or activity that does not represent a major part of the course grade. For example, the student knowingly and intentionally cheats on a weekly assignment; copies a source without proper citation; cheats on an exam (not the final); etc.

A major violation can occur in one of two ways: (a) the second time a particular student has a breach of academic integrity involving an assignment or activity that does not represent a major part of the course grade as described above or (b) the infraction is a first violation that occurs on an assignment or activity that is a major part of the course grade like the final exam and major paper.

If you need assistance, contact your supervisor.

Who Should Teach Plagiarism?

In all cases, instructors have a responsibility to point out plagiarism to the student and briefly explain how plagiarism can be avoided in this particular instance. If you believe the student has no concept of plagiarism at all, then you can do one of the following:

• Request the student see a tutor, with the student taking all assignment documentation (syllabus, assignment sheet, and so forth) with them to the tutoring session.

• Suggest the student perform a web search about plagiarism and then show you what they learned.

• Request the student seek out the English Department Coordinator or an English instructor, who can instruct the student.

o If you send the student to someone else other than a DU tutor or instructor for plagiarism instruction, it is reasonable that the student give permission (in writing) for that non-Davenport individual to provide information to the instructor regarding the tutor session. This permission would be in accordance to FERPA.

• Request that an English instructor visit your classroom to provide a plagiarism tutorial.

• Provide a plagiarism exercise, one you create or obtain from another instructor or your Department Coordinator.

How to Determine Teachable Moments

Teachable moments on plagiarism can occur when:

• The class is designed to create teachable moments, such as the English 021, 109 classes. These English instructors are supposed to be teaching about plagiarism and how to avoid it.

• The class is a first-year 100-level class, such as Diversity or Freshman Seminar, and the instructor discovers that the students have not yet taken or are currently taking English 109.

• The bulk of the class is transfer students into Business 210 and the instructor learns that none of them had plagiarism instruction from the previous English teacher.

• The student is an international transfer student, in an American classroom for the first time.

How to Grade Plagiarized Work

All plagiarized assignments need to receive a zero grade. The class number will determine if a student is allowed a rewrite or not. If any grade is provided other than the zero, the message to the student is that they can plagiarize and still get a passing grade.

Regardless of how well a paper may be written, no assignment should receive points if there is plagiarism within that body of work.

Graduate-level class assignments

The original zero grade stands. No rewrite is allowed. By the time students reach graduate-level work, they should be cognizant of plagiarism and its implications. The only exception could be an international transfer student, in an American classroom for the first time; in this case, one rewrite could be allowed with a penalty. (Ideally, any instructor with graduate-level international students will want to determine what these students know about plagiarism early in the semester and then provide assistance for the student(s)).

Undergraduate-level class assignments

• Lower undergraduate level (100-200 classes)

o These classes are designed for teachable moments.

o Instructor determines rewrite policy. Student can be allowed a rewrite opportunity for one or more assignments at the instructor’s discretion.

• Upper undergraduate level (300-400 classes). While the assumption is that these students are juniors or seniors, students take classes out of order, or they could have transferred in lower-level classes and are here as freshmen.

o Instructor determines if teachable moments can occur.

o Rather than allowing several assignment rewrites at this level of class, one assignment is allowed as a rewrite.

In all cases, the course syllabus must clearly state the instructor’s rewrite policy.

How to Determine if a Rewrite is Allowed

A rewrite provides an opportunity for students to learn from their mistake.

Depending on the class level (100 versus 400 level) and depending on the type of class, as the instructor you decide what your policy of rewrites will be. There are as many different scenarios as there are students and classes. If you’re unclear what position you should take regarding rewrites, contact your department coordinator.

Here are a few different examples:

• Social Science 201 class like Diversity in Society or Freshman 100 class, and other classes like LEGL 210, BUSN 120, 210, CISP 111, 112, HLTH 100, 101, 110, MGMT 211, or MKGT 211 may have first-semester students who are also taking an English class but haven’t yet learned about how to cite properly in that class. The assignment should receive a zero, with the student given a solid opportunity to fix the plagiarism issues with you, the instructor, teaching the class about how to cite and use sources, having an English instructor come into the class to teach that lesson if an instructor is available, or having the student(s) see a tutor. The instructor may choose to allow the student to fix the entire paper or just limit the fix to plagiarism issues and then receive the original grade had there been no plagiarism in the first place. Depending on how many writing assignments there are a 100-200 level class like this will depend on whether the student has more opportunities to practice avoiding plagiarism. Report at the end of the semester as a teachable moment.

• An English 109 or English 110 instructor will be reporting those students who had plagiarism incidents and had teachable moments, finally able to get to papers that had no plagiarism; and, reporting those students who had early teachable moments but still had plagiarism issues in their final papers. Any student in these classes who missed important peer reviews and conferences with the instructor, who failed to do the work, excessive absences, and turn in papers with plagiarism, should be reported as intentional plagiarism. It is not advisable to report plagiarism with each paper in these two classes as these are the classes where students are supposed to be taught how to avoid plagiarism and provided lots of practice. Instead, make your report at the end of the semester. An English 311 class may have more first-semester students than usual due to transfers, thus more rewrites than normal provided for the class because the instructor is teaching more about plagiarism than normal for this class. Should a student plagiarize on the final assignment, that final assignment should receive a zero. Report at the end of the semester all students who plagiarized during the semester, identifying those who stopped plagiarizing and those who did not.

• An Accounting 420 class or Management 440 class is writing a short paper and students are required to turn in a draft before turning in the final assignment. No rewrite is allowed due to the draft process. Report immediately.

• A MATH 381 or HINT 350 class has two papers: one short mid-term paper and a longer final paper. Students plagiarize on the first, are provided plagiarism instruction and are allowed a rewrite opportunity, and then they plagiarize on the final paper. Each plagiarized final paper automatically receives a zero. The instructor waits to report at the end of the semester and then determines whether to report the final paper as unintentional (student proofed the work carefully and/or still may not understand) or as intentional (student hurried, didn’t take time to proof the work).

• A Business 265, Networking 235, or Social Science 231 class has first papers with just a few students plagiarizing. Each plagiarized paper should receive a zero. The instructor has a policy that no rewrites are allowed. The instructor should conference with the students individually to determine their situations, and then either provide plagiarism learning or send the students to someone who can help. Instructor would report as unintentional or intentional depending on each circumstance.

• A different Business 265, Networking 235, or Social Science 231 class has most all first paper submissions with plagiarism issues. All papers receive a zero, but this instructor allows rewrites because the problem appears to be one of ignorance, for which the instructor provides instruction, telling students that no further rewrites will be allowed on subsequent papers. Instructor could then choose to wait until the end of the semester to report to see what the final outcome will be.

Overall, a rewrite should not allow a student to receive an A grade, because the student had extra time to work on the project. The goal of a rewrite is to fix the plagiarism, not rewrite the entire assignment; therefore, some kind of penalty needs to be invoked.

How to Interpret ’s Percentage Numbers

has limitations. In order to grade fairly, you want to become aware of those limitations.

• Never provide a grade based on Turnitin’s percentage number. That number can easily be a false number that includes legitimately cited quotes and the reference page.

• Always go into the document’s report and review what is non-original material and what is not.

• Remember: Turnitin’s database does not contain everything ever published. Some examples of excluded materials are:

o Older books not in electronic format on the Internet.

o Older magazines not in electronic format.

o Sources behind a password entrance, such as online journals or web sites.

o Proprietary sources behind a password entrance, such as an organization or company web sites.

o Journals that do not provide current issues on the Internet and are not part of Turnitin’s subscription database.

What Constitutes Plagiarism?

• Three or more words are copied verbatim from another source and used without quotes.

• Quotes are used but no citation is used.

• A paraphrase is used

o without a citation

o with only a few words changed (synonyms are substituted), same sentence structure, with a citation

o all words are changed, the sentence structure remains identical to the original.

• Media is used incorrectly.

o For written media (cartoons, graphics, tables, figures, and so forth) only 10% of the whole can be used without the author’s[2] permission, even though there is a citation. Author permission must be obtained when more than 10% is used.[3],4

▪ Example: Ten graphics are shown on a web page. The student can only use one graphic in whole, with proper citation under the graphic.

▪ Example: Only one table is provided on a web page. The student can use only ten percent of that table’s material, with proper citation under the table.

o For visual media (Internet sound files and videos, music, films, and so forth), how the material is used depends on how much can be used. A PowerPoint presentation with visual media has different rules versus an online website or portal. To determine proper usage, see the Technology & Learning document, “Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers” PDF chart, located at .

• The work is nothing more than a cut and paste, with or without a citation.

• Someone else has done the work for the student.

• Self-plagiarism.

Ideally, while students use about 10% of the material from someone else’s written or visual media, the students need to create their own graphics, figures, tables, and so forth in such a way that it does not look like the original material. Because source material is being used, a proper citation needs to accompany the students’ newly created medium, underneath that medium.

Note: We have aligned with the fair use guidelines set forth by the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (i.e., 10% max from a source). Even if we were to choose a different percentage, higher or lower, the purpose remains the same. We are not setting a rigid threshold to spring as a trap upon them. We want to help students integrate their research into their own thought and ideas which, in turn, is reflected in their writing.

Obviously, it is possible to make exceptions, particularly when the source material is quite small (i.e., it is almost impossible to use less than 10% of the referenced item). Also, please keep in mind that the copyright consequences for exceeding general fair use standards are much more likely to be imposed on an instructor using items as part of course material than for a student integrating material into a paper or project.

Special Note: If Davenport University or an instructor wants to use a student’s work further, such as posting it on the Davenportal, permission from the original creator of that media material must be obtained first.

Students may not use graphics from websites or texts that implicitly state that author permission must be obtained before using. Students must obtain author permission in these cases; otherwise, plagiarism occurs.

Paraphrasing correctly

• Sentence structure is changed.

• Only a few words (as single or double use words) are retained, and these are words that cannot be changed, such as nouns and proper nouns.

• The author’s expression of an idea is retained but presented in a different way.

Rewriting correctly

• The writer takes the idea and makes it his/her own by using all new words and structure.

• There should be no similarity between the two writings, whatsoever.

Sample paraphrasing and rewriting:

Here are a few quoted sentences taken from College Writing Skills with Readings 7e by John Langan, published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008, page 706. The article is written by Ann McClintock, entitled “Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising.” This quote does not use quotes marks as it is longer than four lines; the indentation indicates that the material is being quoted. Because the emphasis is on the author of the article, the Reference page entry would look like this:

McClintock, A. (2008). Propaganda techniques in today’s advertising. In J. Langdan, College writing skills with readings (7th ed.) (p. 706). NY: McGraw Hill.

Americans, adults and children alike are being seduced. They are being brainwashed. And few of us protest. Why? Because the seducers and the brainwashers are the advertisers we willingly invite into our homes. We are victims, content—even eager—to be victimized. . . . Propaganda is a systematic effort to influence people’s opinions, to win them over to a certain view or side. Propaganda is not necessarily concerned with what is true or false, good or bad. Propagandists simply want people to believe the messages being sent. Often propagandists will use outright lies or more subtle deceptions to sway people’s opinions. In a propaganda war, any tactic is considered fair (McClintock, 2008).

Paraphrasing examples:

• Bad: Americans, adults and children are being swayed by advertisers, all because we allow these advertisers and their propaganda into our homes willingly. [Problem: synonyms are substituted while using the same sentence structure, plus there is no citation.]

• Better: Propaganda is a way that advertisers brainwash and seduce Americans, both adults and children, which allow them to become victims in their own homes (McClintock, 2008). [While a number of McCormick’s words are being used, they are not strung together and the sentence structure (order) has changed.]

• Best: McClintock states that the goal of any advertiser is to have consumers purchase their projects; therefore Americans as consumers, whether the consumers are children or adults, need to be watchful of what we watch and read through advertisements (McClintock, 2008). [The only words retained are advertiser, children, adults, all of which are acceptable as the words are nouns, and there aren’t any better substitutes.]

Rewriting example:

The goal is to make this a new expression of the same idea. Ideas are not copyrighted; therefore, ideas can be used without permission. Propaganda and advertisers is the way McClintock expressed her main idea, so our goal is to use the idea but without her words of expression.

• Best: No advertisement is really bad; after all advertisements are about selling a product. What is bad is that often consumers fail to educate themselves on how to think critically about the advertisements that bombard them in newspapers, on television, at the movies, whether they are at home or at work. Even worse are parents who fail to educate their children on how to become critical consumers. [Notice there is no reference to propaganda, being victimized, being brainwashed. Instead, the idea was flipped upside-down. Because this is now a new expression of the idea, there is no need to quote, cite, or reference.]

Self-Plagiarism

• Anytime a student quotes from his/her own work, he/she must list that work—be it published or not—on a reference page and cite as if it came from any other source.

• Students are not allowed to use a paper written for one class and use it for another class. The goal is for students to build upon their work, upon their written papers. While research can be reused, the original ideas need to be re-slanted and involve deeper critical thinking. Students building upon former papers should be required to submit the previously written paper with the newly written assignment as proof of the new work.

What is the difference between summarizing, paraphrasing, and rewriting?

• To summarize means to reduce the entire idea, concept, paper, story, etc., into a smaller form, which means only the most important points are retained, and the entire summary is in the writer’s own words.

• To paraphrase means to keep the original author’s idea with the student writing in their own words, which means changing the structure (format) and most of the words.

• To rewrite means all words are changed except for those specific nouns that have no other substitutions like turkey, sun, tree, steering wheel and so forth. Words like car, road, tire, and icon are words that can be changed. Rewriting also means that the structure of the sentence/paragraph does not duplicate the original. The writer makes the idea their own and in their own words. (Ideas are not copyrighted; the express of an idea is copyrighted.)

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[1] Blum, S. B. (2010, March 18). Plagiarism and College Culture. Lecture at Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo, MI. Blum is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Notre Dame.

[2] The word author throughout this document refers to the original creator of the material.

[3] See United States Copyright Office Circular 21.

4 See Consortium of College and University Media Centers “Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia”

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