PROFESSIONAL
AND ETHICAL EXPECTATIONS AND BEHAVIOR
All
students in the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership
Studies are expected to comply with professional and ethical
standards in all of their activities – in their classes
and research, as advisees, toward their peers, and as graduate
assistants. As such, they will honor commitments, keep confidences,
make and keep appointments, fulfill assignments in a timely
manner, avoid plagiarism, comport themselves with all ethical
standards in research, and be honest in their interactions
with faculty and students. Examples of misconduct include
but are not limited to cheating on examinations, signing another
person’s name on a form, submitting the same paper for
two or more classes, or submitting another student’s
paper as their own.
Students
are responsible for purchasing and following the appropriate
manual of style and reference in writing papers, articles,
and research reports. The student should consult with his
or her adviser as to the standard citation system for the
field. Not knowing how to give credit and cite sources is
not an acceptable reason for plagiarism or failure of attribution.
Students
are reminded that plagiarism and other misconduct is viewed
seriously by the faculty and can result in disciplinary action
by the Department, College, and University.
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AVOIDING
PLAGIARISM
This
section on "Avoiding Plagiarism" is quoted from
Kirszner, L. G., and Mandell, S. R. (1995). The Holt
Handbook (4th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt
and Brace, pp. 606-611.
Defining
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
is presenting another person’s words or ideas as if
they are your own. By not acknowledging a source, you mislead
readers into thinking that the material you are presenting
is yours when, in fact, it is the result of someone else’s
time and effort.
Some
writers plagiarize deliberately, copying passages word for
word or even presenting another person’s entire work
as their own. Student’s who do this are doing themselves
and their classmates a great disservice. They are undercutting
the learning process, thereby sacrificing the education that
they are in college to obtain. If found out, they are usually
punished severely. Many student have failed courses and some
have even had degrees withheld because of plagiarism.
Most
plagiarism, however, is accidental. It occurs when students
are not aware of what constitutes plagiarism, or when they
forget that a note they jotted down is really a direct quotation
or that an idea they are using is actually someone else’s.
Still, accidental plagiarism is often dealt with just as harshly
as intentional plagiarism. Plagiarism is not taken lightly
in education, business, or anyplace else. Plagiarism is
theft.
In
general, you must document all direct quotations, opinions,
judgments, and insights of others that you summarize or paraphrase.
You must also document information that is not well known,
is open to dispute, or is not commonly accepted. Finally,
document tables, graphs, charts, and statistics taken from
a source.
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Common
knowledge, information that you would expect most educated
readers to know, need not be documented. Thus, you can use
facts that are widely available in encyclopedias, textbooks,
newspapers, and magazines without citing a source. Even if
the information is new to you, if it seems to be generally
knows – for instance, if it appears in several of our
sources – you need not document it. Information that
is in dispute, however, or that a particular person has discovered
or theorized about, must be acknowledged. For example, you
need not document the fact that John F. Kennedy graduated
from Harvard in 1940 or that he was elected president in 1960.
You must, however, document a historian’s analysis of
Kennedy’s performance as president or a researcher’s
recent discoveries about his private life.
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Revising
to Eliminate Plagiarism
You
can avoid plagiarism by using documentation wherever it is
required and by watching for the situations that cause the
most common types of unintentional plagiarism.
Borrowed
Words Not Enclosed in Quotation Marks
Original:
Historically, only a handful of families have dominated
the fireworks industry in the West. Details such as chemical
recipes and mixing procedures were cloaked in secrecy and
passed down from one generation to the next….One effect
of familial secretiveness is that, until recent decades,
basic pyrotechnic research was rarely performed, and even
when it was, the results were not generally report in scientific
journals. (Conkling, John A. "Pyrotechnics." Scientific
American July 1990:96.)
Plagiarism:
John A. Conkling points out that until recently, little
scientific research was done on the chemical properties
of fireworks, and when it was, the results were not generally
reported in scientific journals (96).
Even
though the student who wrote this passage documented the source
of his information, he did not acknowledge that he borrowed
the source’s exact wording. To correct this problem,
the student should paraphrase the source’s words or
use quotation marks to acknowledge his borrowing.
Correct
(Borrowed Words in Quotation Marks): John A. Conkling
points out that until recently, little scientific research
was done on the chemical properties of fireworks, and when
it was, "the results were generally not reported
in scientific journals" (96).
Correct
(Paraphrase): John A. Conkling points out that research
conducted on the chemical composition of fireworks was seldom
reported in the scientific literature (96).
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Paraphrase
Too Close to Its Source
Original:
Let’s be clear: this wish for politically correct
casting goes only one way, the way designed to redress the
injuries of centuries. When Pat Carroll, who is a woman,
plays Falstaff, who is not, casting is considered a stroke
of brilliance. When Josette Simon, who is black, plays Maggie
in After the Fall, a part Arthur Miller patterned
after Marilyn Monroe and which has traditionally been played
not by white women, but by blonde white women, it is hailed
as a breakthrough.
But
when the pendulum moves the other way, the actors’
union balks. (Quindlen, Anna. "Error, Stage Left."
New York Times 12 Aug. 1990, sec. 1:21)
Plagiarism:
Let us be honest. The desire for politically appropriate
casting only goes in one direction, the direction intended
to make up for the damage done over hundreds of years. When
Pat Carroll, a female, is cast as Falstaff, a male, the
decision is a brilliant one. When Josette Simon, a black
woman, is cast as Maggie in After the Fall, a role
Arthur Miller based on Marilyn Monroe and which has usually
been played by a woman who is not only white but also blonde,
it is considered a major advance.
But
when the shoe is on the other foot, the actors’ union
resists (Quindlen 21).
Although
this student documents the passage and does not use the exact
words of her source, she closely imitates the original’s
syntax and phrasing. In fact, all she has really done is substitute
synonyms for the author’s words; the distinctive style
of the passage is still the author’s. The student could
have avoided plagiarism by changing the syntax as well as
the words of the original.
Correct
(Paraphrase in Student’s Own Words; One Distinctive
Phrase Placed in Quotation Marks): According to Anna
Quindlen, the actors’ union supports "politically
correct casting" (21) only when it means casting a
woman or minority group member in a role created for a male
or a Caucasian. Thus, it is acceptable for actress Pat Carroll
to play Falstaff or for black actress Josette Simon to play
Marilyn Monroe; in fact, casting decisions such as these
are praised. But when it comes to casting a Caucasian in
a role intended for an African American, Asian, or Hispanic,
the union objects (21).
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Statistics
Not Attributed to a Source
Original:
From the time they [male drivers between 16 and 24] started
to drive, 187 of these drivers (almost two-thirds) reported
one or more accidents, with an average of 1.6 per involved
driver. Features of 303 accidents are tabulated in Table
2. Almost half of all first accidents occurred before the
legal driving age of 18, and the median age of all accidents
was 19. (Schuman, Stanley, et al. "Young Male Drives:
Accidents and Violations." JAMA 50 (1983): 1027)
Plagiarism:
By and large male drivers between the ages of 16 and 24
accounted for the majority of accidents. Of 303 accidents
recorded in Michigan, almost one half took place before
the drivers were legally allowed to drive at 18.
The
student who used this information assumed statistics are common
knowledge – because they may be found in many sources
and are accepted as accurate by many experts in a field. Statistics,
however, are virtually always the result of original research
that deserves acknowledgment. Moreover, readers will be interested
in the source of any statistics in order to determine their
reliability. For these reasons, you should always document
any use of statistics.
Correct:
According to one study, male drivers between the ages of
16 and 24 accounted for the majority of accidents. Of 303
accidents recorded, almost one half took place before the
drivers were legally allowed to drive at 18 (Schuman et
al., 1027).
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Writer's
Words and Ideas Not Differentiated from Those of the Source
Original:
At some college and universities traditional survey courses
of world and English literature…have been scrapped
or diluted. At others they are in peril. At still others
they will be. What replaces them is sometimes a mere option
of electives, sometimes "multicultural" courses
introducing material from Third World cultures and thinning
out an already thin sampling of Western writings, and sometimes
courses geared especially to issues of class, race, and
gender. Given the notorious lethargy of academic decision-making,
there has probably been more clamor than change, but if
there’s enough clamor, there will be change. (Howe,
Irving. "The Value of the Canon." The New Republic
2 Feb. 1991:40-47)
Plagiarism:
Debates about expanding the literary canon take place at
many colleges and universities across the United States.
At many universities the Western literature survey courses
have been edged out by courses that emphasize minority concerns.
These courses are "thinning out an already thin sampling
of Western writings" in favor of courses geared especially
to issues of "class, race, and gender" (Howe 40).
Because
the student who wrote this passage does not differentiate
his ideas from those of his source, it appears he borrowed
only the quotations in the last sentence. Actually, the student
is indebted to his source for the second sentence of the passage
as well. By blending his ideas with Howe’s, the student
passes off some of his source’s ideas as his own and
unwittingly commits plagiarism. He should have clearly defined
the boundaries of the borrowed material by placing a running
acknowledgment before – and documentation after
– the borrowed material. In the following correct example,
notice that both the summary and the quotation are documented.
(A quotation always requires separate documentation.)
Correct:
Debates about expanding the literary canon take place at
many colleges and universities across the United States.
According to the noted critic Irving Howe, at many universities
the Western literature survey courses have been edged out
by courses that emphasize minority concerns (40). These
courses, says Howe, are "thinning out an already thin
sampling of Western writings in favor of courses geared
especially to issues of class, race, and gender" (40).
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Guidelines
for Avoiding Plagiarism
- Take
careful notes. Make certain you have recorded information
from your sources carefully and accurately.
- In
your notes, put all words taken from sources inside circled
quotation marks and enclose your own comments within
brackets.
- In
your paper, differentiate your ideas from those of your
sources by clearly introducing borrowed material with
the author’s name and by following it with documentation.
- Enclose
all direct quotations used in your paper within quotation
marks.
- Review
paraphrases and summaries in your paper to make certain
they are in your own words and that any distinctive words
and phrases from a source are quoted.
- Document
all direct quotations and all paraphrases and summaries
of your sources.
- Document
all facts that are open to dispute or are not common
knowledge.
- Document
all opinions, conclusions, figures, tables, graphs, and
charts taken from a source (Kirszner and Mandell, 1995,
p. 610).
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