SETON HALL UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM POLICY

CHEATING means the giving, receiving, taking or purchasing of any information or written work not your own during exams or on any written assignments.

PLAGIARISM means copying the ideas and/or language of any source without acknowledging that source, without proper quotation of any language (even single words or short phrases) taken directly from that source, and without citation of all paraphrased as well as quoted ideas from that source. Plagiarism occurs when anyone attempts to present the published or unpublished work (ideas and/or language) of any person as his or her own.

PENALTIES:  Those found to be guilty of cheating or plagiarism the first time will receive a 0 (zero) for the assignment; the second time, automatic failure for the course; the third time, recommendation to the dean for expulsion.

PROCEDURE professors will follow when they have found any evidence of CHEATING among students on written assignments:

  1. The students’ teachers will meet with the students, along with a member of the Executive Committee or the Director of Freshman English.
  2. Students will be shown the papers and asked to explain their similarities.
  3. Students will be required to bring in past papers to check for similar instances of copying. Students must keep all returned papers with professors’ written comments and be able to produce them at any time during the semester. Students should also keep all preparatory notes, outlines and drafts to prove, if necessary, that the paper is their own.
  4. In instances of cheating between students, distinction will be made between the "borrower" and the "lender" of
  5. written work. The borrower will receive a 0 (zero) on the assignment, but the committee will determine whether the lender is a deliberate cheater who knowingly gave his or her work to be copied, a misguided or confused student who (albeit wrongly) gave his or her paper to a friend without realizing that it would be copied, or a totally innocent student whose paper was taken without his or her knowledge. In the first case, the lender will also receive a 0 (zero) on the assignment. Penalties in the second and third class will be decided by the professors.

  6. A list will be kept of the students involved for the period of one year. Further infractions will definitely result in the more serious penalties listed above.

 TIPS to avoid any involvement in cheating:

  1. Do not lend your work to anyone. If you wish to help a friend, go over the work together and do not leave any copies in his or her possession.
  2. Do not leave your work in any public place. Put your papers in an envelope and leave it in the professor’s box. Give them to the Secretary of the English Department if you cannot locate the professor.
  3. Students using campus computers must be especially careful to disguise files name or keep files only on personal disks (A: drive, not C: drive). Students must also be aware that every print command will result in a printed copy, even hours later. Be sure to pick up all printed copies of your work, or delete any extra print commands when you are finished.

PROCEDURE professors will follow when they find any evidence of PLAGIARISM of published sources on any written assignments:

  1. The professor will determine whether the plagiarism is deliberate or unintentional. Deliberate plagiarism of published works will result in the same penalties listed above.
  2. Unintentional plagiarism occurs when a student attempts to acknowledge, quote, and/or cite sources but does so inadequately or incorrectly. In the case of unintentional plagiarism, the professor may give a "D" or an "F" instead of a zero, and may allow the student to rewrite the paper. These decisions are up to the discretion and educated judgment of the professor, in consultation with other faculty members when necessary.

TIPS for students who wish to avoid unintentional plagiarism:

ACKNOWLEDGE: Any ideas, facts, or language taken from a source must be acknowledged. We acknowledge the work of others by providing a "Works Cited" list (bibliography) and by citing (providing author's name and relevant page numbers) all paraphrased ideas and quoted language. The English Department requires usage of the MLA methodology of parenthetical citation on all written work. If you are unfamiliar with this, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers in the bookstore or library, consult you grammar handbook, or ask your professor.

QUOTE:  Any language taken from your original source, even key words or short phrases, must be within quotation marks and quoted accurately. Reorganizing a sentence, substituting a synonym, or altering a word or two does not make it your own work.

PARAPHRASE:  Paraphrasing means summarizing the source in your own words. Remember:  paraphrased ideas must still be acknowledged! Good paraphrasing requires: 1) reading carefully enough to thoroughly digest ideas; 2) being careful not to paraphrase during the note-taking stage (i.e. take notes in direct quotes and paraphrase in the draft stage); 3) not writing with the source in front of you; 4) proofreading carefully to be sure no language from the source has slipped in unintentionally.