As defined by the St. Petersburg College Student Manual under "Student Affairs - Academic Honesty Guidelines" (which all students at SPC agree to abide by), PLAGIARISM is "The attempt to represent the work of another as the product of one's own thought, whether the other's work is published or unpublished, or simply the work of a fellow student. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, quoting oral or written materials without citation on an exam, term paper, homework, or other written materials or oral presentations for an academic requirement; submitting a paper which was purchased from a term paper service as your own work; submitting anyone else's paper as your own work."
Plagiarism is a constant and unfortunately growing problem, especially with the widespread access to the Internet. As professors, we are very concerned about this, especially in our online courses, and are taking rigorous steps to prevent it.
In some cases, plagiarism is unintended. Students are horrified to learn that they have plagiarized because they have not been taught how one submits a paper based on the work of someone else. Of course, some students are less honest and deliberately copy work to seek the easy way out.
This page lays forth what will be considered plagiarism in this course and how it will be dealt with. This is so that all students, both the accidental and the deliberate plagiarist, are instructed as to what not to do and are also given fair warning about the results should they be caught plagiarizing.
What I consider plagiarism
1) The direct copying of sentences or paragraphs from someone else's work without directly citing the person and placing the citation in quotes. Changing a few words in a sentence or eliminating one sentence from a paragraph is STILL plagiarism if you do not provide attribution!
Here is an example from a paper submitted to me by an Oceanography student last semester:
Meanders can form in both northward and southward directions. Rings form when a meander in the Gulf Stream becomes a loop, lengthens and constricts upon itself, then pinches off and separates from the current. These turbulent rings are also called eddies. If the meander heads southward, into the Sargasso Sea, the center of the loop is composed of colder, more productive water from the continental shelf. If a ring forms by this process, it is called cold core eddies, because the center of the ring will be a captured portion of cold water surrounded by warm water circulation in a counterclockwise motion. If the loop forms northward into cold waters of the north, a portion of warm Sargasso Sea water is in the center. The center of the warm water is then surrounded by cold water circulation is a clockwise motion. These are called warm core eddies.
Here is the information from the student's source:
Meanders can form in both
northward and southward directions, and the formation of these
features can be observed regularly in sea surface temperature
data. If the meander projects southward, into the Sargasso Sea,
the center of the loop is composed of colder, more productive
water from the continental shelf. If a ring forms by this process,
it is termed a "cold core" ring, because the center
of the ring will be a captured portion of cold water surrounded
by warm water circulating in a counterclockwise direction. In
contrast, if the loop forms northward, a portion of warm Sargasso
Sea water is entrained in the center, and the feature will be
termed a "warm core" ring, with a center of warm water
surrounded by cold water circulating
in a clockwise direction.
While there are alterations, the student has not actually translated the copied material into the student's own words, the original is merely somewhat condensed. In this particular case, only this portion of the paper was plagiarized, and the student could have avoided the problem and subsequent embarrassment by placing the paragraph in quotations and directly naming the author study in an introductory sentence.
2) Excessive use of quotes. This is the lazy students approach, and is also impermissible because while it is true you are quoting the sources, you are letting the sources be the majority of the paper.
Here's an example of this from another of my students on a paper about lobsters:
…"Their bodies
usually have between 16 and 20 segments" (Garrison; 374),
which are used for a variety of things including "sensing,
food handling, walking, fighting, defense, and so forth"
(Garrison; 374). They have many feelers around the face, but the
"two most important ones are the antenna that sprout from
their heads and stretch for about 12 inches in front of them"
(N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries).
The Maine lobster requires cold water to live, so its normal habitat
is the area of the North Atlantic around Maine and Canada, although
it can sometimes be "found living as far south as North Carolina"
(Gulf of Maine Aquarium). Lobsters prefer to dwell in areas with
large concentrations of stones, or cobble, so that they can "hide
from predators in the small spaces between the rocks and still
catch falling food" (Gulf of Maine Aquarium). Lobsters co-exist
with other creatures on the ocean floor, such as "algae,
sea urchins, crabs, mussels, and sculpin" (Gulf of Maine
Aquarium), but they are extremely territorial towards each other
and often fight to determine who is the dominant creature in the
area.
A Maine lobster's diet generally consists of about 100 different
organisms and some plants. Some creatures that a lobster consumes
include "crabs, clams, mussels, worms, and the occasional
sea urchin or slow-witted flounder" (Gulf of Maine Aquarium).
On the other hand, lobsters have several predators as well. These
include "cod, flounder, sculpins, wolffish, eels, rock gunnels,
crabs, seals, and humans. Even raccoons have been known to raid
coastal lobster pounds" (Gulf of Maine Aquarium). "Lobsters
reproduce only when the female is molting, or shedding her skin.
A female that is ready to reproduce will seek out the largest
or dominate male in her area and release a pheromone in his general
direction. The male will come out of his den aggressively, but
the female will calm
him down by engaging in a "brief boxing match or by turning
away" (Gulf of Maine Aquarium).
While the student correctly quoted and cited the sources, more than 50% of the information is in someone else's words. This is also unacceptable!
My Requirements for Written Work
TEXT - The papers are short, usually about 2-3 pages maximum if double spaced. There is little reason for not being able to write these assignments in your own words! You may directly quote someone's work, but quotes are used for EMPHASIS and should constitute about 10% of the paper, i.e., a few well chosen sentences, or, in rare instances, a quoted paragraph.
FIGURES and CITATIONS - If you incorporate figures into your work, you must provide an exact citation of where you found the figure, including page number, if appropriate.
Since you will always be required to list the web addresses (URL's) of ALL online resources that you referenced, BE SURE that I can type in that URL and go directly to the site. If I cannot access it, you will have points deducted from your score! Also, do not think that you can copy from a source and simply not include it on your list. There are ways to still find the source! If you are in doubt about how to cite Internet sources, contact your SPC campus library. The staff there will be more than happy to help you with the correct citation procedures.
If You are Caught Plagiarizing
Since this page will be required reading and will be placed in every assignment sheet, you can not say that you did not know you were plagiarizing. Therefore, if caught plagiarizing on ANY paper, your written assignment TOTAL score (25% of your grade) will be recorded as 0%, you will NOT be permitted to withdraw from the course in order to avoid a bad grade, and your name, student number and offense will be reported to the administration of the E-Campus and your home campus. If this sounds harsh, so be it. In most universities and colleges, evidence of plagiarism results in automatic expulsion. Why risk your potential career and reputation over a paper?
The Bottom Line?
Don't risk it - it is NOT worth it! You can avoid the temptation to plagiarize by doing the research and preparing the paper in a timely fashion. Do not wait until the last possible second to submit something. You will ALWAYS be given ample time (a MINIMUM of two weeks) to prepare these short assignments. By learning to synthesize and paraphrase the works of others, you will find that you actually learn more!