Prof. Moran - Eng. 101 FALL 2022: Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" ​Plagiarism.org.​ iParadigms, LLC, 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

A faculty member can assign sanctions, ranging from giving a reduced grade on the particular work in question to failing the student for the entire course.

Consequences of  Academic Dishonesty at WCC:

If a student is found guilty of academic dishonesty, faculty members have the right to either:

1. Fail the student for the assignment/test. 
2. Fail the student for the course.
3. File a letter of complaint describing the infraction with the Academic Dean of Student Personnel Services or any above combination. The Dean may elect to pursue College disciplinary action against a student reported to that office for a subsequent act of academic dishonesty. In addition, some academic departments and programs have policies for dealing with academic dishonesty.

A second reported infraction may result in suspension. A third reported infraction may result in expulsion at the discretion of the Vice President and Dean, Student Development and Support Services.

Plagiarism occurs when you use another person’s spoken or written words or text in your work without appropriately documenting the source of the borrowed words or text. The borrowed text could come from various places, such as a book, a newspaper, a magazine, a website, or even another student’s paper.

The WCC Academic Honesty Policy states:

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is presenting another person’s ideas, research, or writing as your own.  Examples include:

1. Copying another person’s actual words without both the use of quotations and documentation.

2. Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without documentation.

3. Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source.

4. Using a paper writing “service” or having a friend write the paper for you.

Note:  The guidelines that define plagiarism also apply to information secured on internet websites.  Internet references must specify precisely where the information was obtained and where it can be found. 

You may think that citing another author’s work will lower your grade.  In some unusual cases, this may be true if your instructor has indicated that you must write your paper without reading additional material.  But, as you progress in your studies, you will be expected to show that you are familiar with meaningful work in your field and can use this work to further your thinking.  Your professors write this kind of paper all the time.  The key to avoiding plagiarism is that you show clearly where your thinking ends, and someone else’s begins.

No matter where the text comes from, it must be documented accurately and follow the MLA (Modern Language Association) rules.