ESSAY REGULATION
Preample:
Any written text (and supporting
materials), whether printed (e.g. a book, an article, a pamphlet) or
“manuscript” (e.g. ms for a scholarly paper, or a dissertion), IS THE PROPERTY
OF ITS AUTHOR(S). Therefore any
use of any part of such materials MUST BE ACKNOWLEDDGED. This
includes all materials from the World Wide Web and other Internet sources. When the use is “indirect”, as in a summary of contents
and/or idea, the “borrowing” is acknowledged with a footnote. When the “borrowing” is “direct”, that
is when a portion (legally seven or more consecutive words) of the text or of
the supporting material is quoted verbatim, the “borrowing” is
acknowledged in two ways: (1)
Quotation marks around the material quoted, and (2) a footnote. It is worth repeating that BOTH forms
of acknowledgement are MANDATORY when the material is copied directly.
Definition:
Plagiarism, simply defined, is a form of theft. Where the plagiarized material to be subsequently published it could well lead to legal action against the culprit. Plagiarism generally takes one of two forms (with infinite variations). “Flagrant plagiarism” occurs when portions of one or more written texts are copied, but no quotation marks are used to indicate the borrowing…although a footnote may appear, which, as indicated above, is not sufficient. “Disguised plagiarism” occurs when the original text is paraphrased in such a way as to “disguise” the theft…changing a word here and there, etc., even if a footnote is provided. Example: The original text reads – “The Cabinet met three times in an effort to resolve the issue”; the “paraphrased” text reads – “The Cabinet met on three occasions in an effort to resolve the problem”
Penalties:
- Inadvertent plagiarism results in a warning, followed by a discussion of the problem with the student.
- “Flagrant plagiarism” results in a “0” for the assignment.
- “Disguised plagiarism” results in a “0” for the assignment.
- Submission of an assignment, which is also being submitted in another course (or has been submitted in another course in a previous year), results in a “0” for the assignment.
- Submission of an assignment prepared by someone other than the alleged author results in a “0” FOR THE COURSE.
- Instances of plagiarism may be reported to the Dean.
N.B. SOFTWARE IS NOW IN PLACE THAT WILL DETECT UNATTRIBUTED MATERIALS COPIED FROM THE WWW.
Maintained by: W. McKercher <wmckerch@uwo.ca>
Last update: 2001-02-18