ACADEMIC INTEGRITY When Honesty IS the Best Policy

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY When Honesty IS the Best Policy Kimberly Armstrong Silcox, J. D. University Judicial Officer Eastern Connecticut State University

What is Academic Integrity? n n Being honest in your academic work , assuring that everything you identify as your own work actually is. Often, students get into trouble through lack of understanding and proper caution.

ECSU Student Rights and Responsibilities Academic Misconduct – including all forms of cheating and plagiarism. Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for academic evaluation including papers, projects and examinations; and presenting, as one’s own, the ideas or words of another person or persons for academic evaluation without proper acknowledgement.

Procedure n n n If a faculty member accuses a student of academic misconduct, the faculty member may : file a Judicial Complaint Enter a grade of “F” for the work or for the course

Disciplinary Hearing n n Hearing or informal meeting may be held If the student is found responsible, he/she faces possible suspension or expulsion from the University and all CSU System Universities.

How can I avoid academic misconduct? n LEARN WHAT CONSTITUTES CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM!

Cheating n Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise.

Examples of Cheating n n n Working with other students on projects without permission of faculty member Using another student’s materials when not authorized Using unauthorized materials when taking a test Using a “Ringer” Using a “Stooge”

Examples of Cheating, Continued n n Turning in stolen or previously prepared test as test taken in class Changing answers or grades on tests Copying from work submitted by others in previous semesters Using an “expert” to prepare work

Plagiarism n Plagiarism is the intentional use of ideas, words or statements of another person as one’s own without acknowledgement.

Examples of Plagiarism n n n Using a paper from a Paper Mill Using material from Internet Sites without citation Improper paraphrasing without citation Improper summarizing without citation Faking a citation

When Should You Cite? Is it your original idea? Yes No No need to Cite Is the information Common Knowledge? Yes No Need to Cite No Must use proper Citation

Examples Taken from The Plagiarism Handbook by Robert Harris (2001) When quoting a phrase, the author must be identified. n An expert in the field of psychology has referred to it as “the absence of personal attribution”. (Sherwood, 1995, p. 354) n “Survival of the fittest” was seen to be a way of explaining evolution. (Darwin, 1884, p. 32)

Parts of sentences must also be cited. n Michael Treacy (1995) has indicated that successful businesses “can no longer raise prices in lockstep with higher costs…” (p. 9)

When quoting complete sentences, it is best to identify the author in front of the material that is being summarized, ending with the page number after the quote. n Carmichael (1998) suggest that cycling is one of the most popular sports in America: ”The total number of cyclists who exercise regularly is estimated at more than 50 million. ” (p. 4)

Longer material should be identified by an indented block quotation. n In emerging adulthood theory (Arnett, 2000), the period between ages 19 and 25 is one of exploration: Emerging adulthood is distinguished by relative independence from social roles and from formative expectations. Having left the dependency of childhood and adolescence, and having not yet entered adulthood, for emerging adults, this is a time of independent exploration. (p. 469)

Even if summarizing material, mark the beginning of the summary to identify where the author’s ideas are being used. n The transition between childhood and adulthood is often described merely as adolescence. However, Arnett (2000) proposes a distinct period of time which he names “emerging adulthood”, a time when young adults start to gain independence. (p. 469)

Improper Paraphrasing Lack of appropriate quotations Source: As with a typical superhero, Judge Robertson thought it his duty not only to establish justice but to wreak equity. Smith, 2000, p. 345. Paraphrase: Judge Robertson felt dutybound not only to labor for justice but to wreak equity (Doe, 2000 p. 345). n

Improper Paraphrasing Using too many words and phrases from the original Source: In a typical search strategy, Boolean operators can be used to control both the scope of the search and the required proximity of search terms. The operator OR expands the search by allowing the return of documents containing either search term, while the operator AND restricts the search by requiring both terms to be present in the document. n

n Paraphrase: When searching, you can use Boolean operators to control the scope of the search and how near each other the search terms are. For example, the operator OR expands the search by returning all documents containing either search term, while AND restricts the search by requiring both terms to be present.

Appropriate Paraphrasing n According to John Smith (2000), using the appropriate forms of Boolean logic can allow the searcher to “control both the scope of the search and the required proximity of search terms. ” The word OR produces a hit (a matched document) when either term is present, while AND produces a hit only when both terms are matched in a document.

Sources: Harris, Robert A. (2001). The Plagiarism Handbook. Los Angeles: Pryczak Publishing. Kibler, William L. , Nuss, Elizabeth M. , Paterson, Brent G. , Pavela, Gary (1988). Academic Integrity and Student Development: Legal Issues and Policy Procedures. College Administration Publications, Inc.