How Should We Respond to
Plagiarism and Other Forms of
Academic Misconduct?
On-Going National Conversation with
Sense Problem is Growing
• Nationally –
– 70-80% of undergraduates say they have cheated
Reasons Often Mentioned
•
•
•
•
Internet access to papers and information
Pressure to succeed
Sense peers are doing it
Belief that there is low chance of getting
caught
– And punishment is minimal
Why Did You Cheat or Plagiarize
(CSB/SJU)
•
•
•
•
•
•
45.2%
44.2%
31.8%
27.9%
25.9%
21.8%
Under time constraints
Wanted to get good grade
Pressured to help friend
Easy to cheat
What some consider cheating, I don’t
I didn’t think I would get caught
– SJU 27.2%; CSB 17.4%
CSB/SJU
• How frequently do you think plagiarism occurs
at your institution?
– 14.1%
– 46.0%
– 37.6%
– 2.1%
“always/often”
“occasionally”
“rarely”
“never”
CSB-SJU
• How frequently do you think cheating on tests
occurs?
– 9.0%
– 35.8%
– 49.65%
– 5.4%
“always/often”
“occasionally”
“rarely”
“never”
Have You Ever Been Informed about
the Academic Integrity or Cheating
Policies?
• 88.8% -- Yes
• 4.9% -- No
• 6.1% -- Don’t remember
• 87% say they learned in classes
Academic Dishonesty Filings
with Dean – SJU only
•
•
•
•
•
2007-8
2008-9
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
22
23
39
42
39
(9/13)
(12/11)
(32/7)
(25/17)
(23/16)
FY Students (?) v. Others
• 94 of 165 cases (57%) were in 100 level
courses
• 55 of the 94 cases (58%) in 100 level
courses were in the Fall
Filers by Area- 100 level courses
F2007-S2012 (SJU only)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
THEO 111 29
CSCI 1xx 13
FYS 1xx 11
PHIL 1xx 10
HIST 1xx
8
ACFN 114
3
BIOL 1xx
3
11 other
14
Old Plagiarism Policy
• “Plagiarism can result from either deliberate
dishonesty or ignorance of citational
procedures. Deliberate plagiarism is especially
serious and warrants more severe sanctions,
but even plagiarism based on ignorance of
procedures is a punishable offense, especially
when it occurs more than once.”
New -- Distinction between Academic
Misconduct and Poor Scholarship
• PS – “inadequate understanding of scholarly
conventions…or inability to implement those
conventions…”
• AM – “…by the intent to deceive, by gross
verbatim use or limited alteration of another’s
work accompanied by explicit or implicit
claims that the work is the student’s own…”
Penalty for Poor Scholarship in New
Policy
• “An appropriate penalty, therefore, is the
same as for any other situation in which
students fail to achieve the goals of a course: a
reduced grade for the assignment in question
and further instruction to remedy the
deficiencies demonstrated by the student.”
Reactions to new policy?
• Improvement?
• Concerns?
• Grey areas?
How Do We Know the Difference?
• If a student lifts a couple of sentences from
the class text with no quotation marks, is that
poor scholarship or “gross verbatim use…of
another’s work accompanied by explicit or
implicit claims the work is the student’s own?”
What Should We Do with First Time
Poor Scholarship Offender
• Recommendation is lower grade and re-teach
What Should with Next Offense?
• What if the student turns in another paper
with poor scholarship in the same class?
• What if in a subsequent class of ours?
Questions Prior to Declaring Academic
Misconduct
• Has the student received instruction in the
Institution’s policy and how to avoid
misconduct, plagiarism, and poor scholarship?
• Was there intent to deceive?
• Does the incident represent a pattern of
misconduct?
• Was the incident sufficiently egregious to
warrant penalty?
Suggestions for Countering the
Problem
•
•
•
•
Affirm value of academic integrity
Don’t tempt them
Clarify what is acceptable, esp group work
Develop meaningful assignments, engage
students
• Negative aspects of hard line stance (Karon)
Teach it!
• Resources
– Fostering Integrity in Research Page
– http://libguides.csbsju.edu/research_integrity
• FYS Plagiarism Power Point
Papers Based on Class Material
• Make paper topic course/reading specific
– Emphasize need to integrate class
readings/discussion into answer
• Change some readings and/or question or rearrange prompt so old versions don’t fit
Research Paper
• Avoid “do it and turn it in”
• Topics connected directly to specific class
– Faculty approval
– Do not allow late change
• Require results in stages
– Thesis statement, lit review/bibliography, outline,
draft