MIGUEL ROIG, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
Notre Dame Division of St. John’s College
St. John's University
300 Howard Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
Tel: (718) 390-4513
FAX: (718) 442-3612
In my classes, any student caught cheating on any examination will receive a "0" for that examination. Such examination will count toward the student’s final grade and the incident will be immediately reported to the Dean as per University policy. Cheating comes in many forms, but one of the most common occurs when a student cheats by glancing at a peer sitting near him/her and obtaining the exam answers.In many cases, it is not easy to tell if a student has been actually looking at the next paper or is simply reflecting on his own exams while aimlessly looking elsewhere. In those cases, the student will be warned once, IF THE EYES WANDER AGAIN IT WILL BE ASSUMED THAT THE STUDENT IS CHEATING.
After you have completed an examination do not read or start talking or looking around the room, etc. If you do it will be assumed that you are attempting to help someone else--a form of cheating for which you will be penalized exactly as outlined above. Unless specified by the instructor, all papers, notes, books, etc., must be placed under your chair while taking an examination.
Scholarly endeavors often rely on the ideas and findings of others. For example, the body of knowledge represented in most of the textbooks used in your classes is based on a summary and synthesis of the work of hundreds of researchers. You will notice that their contribution is acknowledged in the reference section at the end of the book. In a similar fashion, when you write a paper for a course, you must credit the sources you use by using acceptable documentation procedures typical of the discipline in which you are writing a paper. Failing to acknowledge the contributions of others in one’s work constitutes a serious type of academic dishonesty that is known as plagiarism.
Plagiarism occurs when a student leads others to believe that work submitted for a course (a term paper, an oral presentation, a homework assignment) is his/her own original work, when in fact portions of the project (even small portions), or the entire project, was produced by someone else. Most often plagiarism occurs in assigned papers when the student either fails to acknowledge the source of his/her ideas or text, or fails to properly paraphrase and/or summarize others’ work even when such works are acknowledged in the paper’s reference section. For guidelines for proper paraphrasing see the examples below.
Another common type of plagiarism, known as self-plagiarism, occurs when students take part of a paper, or an entire paper, that had been written for another course and submit it to another course. Under rare circumstances this type of activity may be acceptable if the instructors from both courses involved are aware of the extent of this type of borrowing and provide the student with written permission.
Keep in mind that there are many other forms of plagiarism. What follows are some of the most common types of plagiarism and other dishonest writing practices.
If you have difficulties writing a paper you should seek the services of the Writing Center. It is also generally acceptable to have another student examine your work, point out grammatical deficiencies in your writing and make suggestions for improving your paper. In fact this type of collaboration is usually encouraged in most classes. However, such help should be acknowledged in a footnote in your paper. In addition, and more importantly, keep in mind that, ultimately, the words used in your paper must be your own.
Imagine that you are in the process of writing a paper. In researching material for the topic you are writing about, you locate the following relevant paragraph in a published source:
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"If you have ever had your astrological chart done, you may have been impressed with its seeming accuracy. Careful reading shows many such charts to be made up of mostly flattering traits. Naturally, when your personality is described in desirable terms, it is hard to deny that the description has the ‘ring of truth’" (Coon, B. (1995) Introduction to Psychology: exploration and application (7th Ed.). New York: West., p. 29. |
It would be legitimate to include this portion of text in your paper by enclosing it in quotations and adding the Coon citation at the end of the paragraph just as it appears above, or in the form of a footnote, depending on the style of writing you use (e.g., MLA, APA). However, the use of direct quotes should be kept to a very minimum, perhaps one or two short quotes in a paper.
Let's assume that you want to include the information from the above paragraph in your paper but that you do not want to use a direct quote as shown above. Instead, you are considering the rewritten versions shown below. How different does the rewritten, paraphrased version have to be so as to not be classified as a case of plagiarism?
Please examine each rewritten
paragraph carefully, compare it with the original version above, and circle the
appropriate abbreviation to indicate whether, in your opinion, the rewritten
version constitutes a case of plagiarism (P), not plagiarism (NP), that is, the
paragraph has been appropriately paraphrased, or you simply cannot determine
(CD) whether the rewritten version has been plagiarized or not. Please indicate the reasons for your
decision in the space provided. Also,
in making your decision, assume that a correct citation (e.g., a footnote;
Coon, 1995) appears in the rewritten version and in the paper's reference
section or bibliography in accordance with the specific writing style used in
the discipline for which the paper is being written.
1. Naturally, when your personality is described in desirable terms, it is hard
P to deny that the description has the ‘ring of truth’. If you have ever had your
NP astrological chart done, you may have been impressed with its seeming accuracy.
CD Careful reading shows many such charts to be made up of mostly flattering
traits.
2. If you ever had your astrological chart done, you may have been
P impressed by how accurate it seemed. A careful reading indicates many
NP such charts to be made up of mainly flattering traits. Of course, when
CD your personality is described in desirable terms, it is hard to deny that the
description has the ‘ring of truth’.
3. If you have ever had your astrological chart done, you were probably
P impressed by how accurate it seemed. A careful reading indicates many
NP such charts to be made up of mainly flattering traits. Of course, it is hard to
CD deny that the description has the ‘ring of truth’, when your personality is
described in desirable terms.
4. According to Coon, if you ever have had your astrological chart done,
P you were probably impressed by how accurate it seemed. A careful reading
NP indicates many such charts to be made up of mainly flattering traits. Of course,
CD it is hard to deny that the description
has the ‘ring of truth’ when your
personality is described in desirable terms.
5. According to Coon, individuals who have had their astrological chart
P profiled may have been swayed by their apparent precision. If you study these
NP charts, however, you realize that they are primarily composed of complimentary
CD attributes. Obviously, as Coon notes, when one is described with positive,
laudable traits, it is difficult to argue against such a flattering portrait of oneself.
6. Individuals who have had their astrological chart profiled may have been
P swayed by their apparent precision. If you study these charts, however, you
NP realize that they are primarily composed of complimentary attributes.
CD Obviously, when one is described with positive, laudable traits, it is difficult to
argue against such flattering portrait of oneself.
Now, let’s see how your answers compare to ours. Remember that we have assumed that acknowledgement has been made in the reference section (works cited).
Paragraphs 1 and 2 are clearly plagiarized. In paragraph 1, the only modification made to the original text was changing the order of the sentences. In paragraph 2 the original order of the sentences was preserved and only a couple of words were changed. Paragraph 3 is similarly plagiarized. Although the third sentence was modestly changed, the modifications are not sufficiently substantial to be considered an appropriate paraphrase. Remember, just because you have acknowledged the original author in the bibliography or reference section, or even in the body of your paper (paragraph 4), you still need to use your own words in expressing someone else’s ideas or observations. Thus paragraph 4 is also plagiarized because it still reads too close to the original.
Paragraphs 5 and 6 have been sufficiently modified to constitute correct paraphrases. Some might argue, however, that these paraphrases follow too closely the structure of the original paragraph (i.e., the order of the sentences). Therefore, ideally one should not only change the words of the original source, but also the structure.
Remember, if you still have questions about what constitutes
plagiarism consult your professors.