Plagiarism Guidelines

Brochure for University Writing Program Faculty

Introduction

Academic honesty is taken very seriously at UC Davis. The Code of Academic Conduct emphasizes that students, faculty, and administration all share responsibility for maintaining a fair and honest academic environment. UC Davis has a strong tradition of upholding the student honor code and reporting suspected violations to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for adjudication. Faculty and students both express confidence in the fairness of the SJA process, which resolves more cases through informal meetings with students than through formal hearings and which emphasizes education rather than punishment when imposing sanctions. SJA holds students accountable for violations, but gives them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. To encourage prevention and consistent handling of suspected academic dishonesty by instructors in the University Writing Program, this brochure consolidates university policy, program guidelines, and experienced teachers’ advice. If you have questions that are not addressed in this brochure, please consult one of the authors, contact SJA at 752-1128 or sja@ucdavis.edu, or consult the SJA website: http://sja.ucdavis.edu.

Prevention

In keeping with UCD’s Principles of Community and the mission of the university, we believe that preventing academic dishonesty through education is preferable to establishing elaborate strategies to catch cheaters. This section contains suggestions for establishing and reinforcing a class culture that will encourage responsible scholarship and discourage academic dishonesty. Many of the suggested options are also good general teaching techniques.

Establish a class culture that values academic honesty.

In the syllabus

Inform students that writing courses require 6,000 words of original prose and that Academic Senate policy requires instructors to report any suspected plagiarism to SJA to investigate.
Attach copies of SJA handouts on plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration.
Distinguish clearly, using examples, between authorized and unauthorized collaboration both in and out of class.
Explicitly state your rules regarding use and citation of Internet sources. Roughly half of all new plagiarism cases involve the Internet.

On the first day of class

Emphatically state the university policy on plagiarism and inform students of the academic standards of integrity to which they will be held.
Explain that plagiarism often results from desperation and request that students contact you if they feel desperate, rather than do something they’ll regret.
Give students an in-class diagnostic writing assignment and retain a copy to serve as a sample of each student’s prose style and cognitive abilities.
Emphasize how well you will get to know students’ writing styles, making plagiarism easy to spot.
You might briefly describe a specific case of plagiarism that you have found in student work to drive the message home.

Repeatedly throughout the quarter

Teach and periodically review with students how to paraphrase and to quote from a source. Provide students with excerpts from, or direct students to, the most current edition of an appropriate handbook such as the MLA or APA handbook.
Frequently assign in-class writing to raise students’ comfort-level with composition and to familiarize yourself with individual writing styles.
Hold rough draft workshops to encourage students to treat writing as a process.
Assign a text that uses direct quotation, paraphrase, and summary and ask students to read closely for different ways of integrating material from sources; have students identify an effective example of each and discuss how each method functions as a way of introducing material from outside sources. Demonstrate appropriate techniques of citing sources for each method.
Discuss differences in perception of individual ownership of ideas and explain how citation conventions vary in different situations, for example, in feature journalism or standard business documents or reports. Explain why academic institutions value original writing so highly and insist on crediting authors for their research, ideas, and words. And explain the importance of grades being based on students’ own work.
Distinguish clearly between authorized and unauthorized collaboration. For instance, students may comment on each other’s work during peer review workshops, but may not correct errors or revise for their peers, unless specifically instructed to do so. Generally, most writing faculty say that only the student author should provide insert specific wording, fix grammatical errors, edit, or revise.
Direct struggling students to the Learning Skills Center, located in Dutton Hall, for an appointment with a peer tutor or a Learning Specialist.

Construct assignments to reduce plagiarism.

Rotate sets of assignments from quarter to quarter so that students can’t plagiarize from recent quarters.
Require that students get your approval for topics and email you thesis statements in advance of rough draft workshops. Don’t allow students to change topics after a set date without permission.
Break the assignment up into staged tasks. For example, ask students to summarize a key source for the assignment, to compare two sources, to synthesize or critically evaluate several sources, and/or to write a proposal or prospectus for a long assignment.
Require drafts before the final, graded assignment is due and/or collect rough drafts with final essays.
Before collecting essays, ask students to self-diagnose their writing performance on the assignment. Prompt them with specific questions that address, for instance, their writing approach, the sources they found most and least helpful, the ideas they had the most difficulty honing, and their perceptions of the essay’s strengths and weaknesses.
Ask students to write abstracts or audience analyses of their own papers before they hand them in, to assess their familiarity with their topics and arguments.
Require that students attach to their papers copies of all sources or the two or three sources that they used most.
If students are using Internet sources, check their lists of citations before accepting the papers to ensure they give complete website information.
Require academic citations and reference lists in pieces of writing that would not normally include them, e.g., a newspaper article or a business report, along with any references to sources typical for that format.
Make assignments distinctive in format or topic. For example:

Have the students apply a specific theory, approach, or theme discussed in their readings or in class to a personal experience or to another piece of writing.
Center the assignment on some event or date that is personally relevant to the students.
Require that students use only materials selected by you, e.g., essays in an anthology, specific primary sources, or particular data sets.
For a literary analysis, require students to focus on a specific aspect of the text, to answer a distinctive set of questions, or to compare two texts.
Base the assignment on personal reporting. Students could do interviews, observe cultural events, or participate in activities.

Investigation and Referral to SJA

Despite all of your efforts to create a culture of honesty in your class, you will inevitably encounter cases of suspected plagiarism. Try not to take this personally, as an insult or affront.

Common red flags signaling that the work may not be the student’s own include: failure to address the paper assignment; a last-minute topic switch; failure to turn in required staged tasks or draft; sudden improvements in sophistication of grammar, syntax, diction, organization, or ideas; and uneven quality of writing, particularly uneven grammar, poor transitions, or shifts in the quality of coherence or cohesion.

When you suspect that misconduct has occurred, you should take the following steps: 1) confer with a supervisor or University Writing Program administrator, 2) gather information regarding the case, and finally 3) if you still suspect that academic misconduct occurred, refer the case to SJA. Keep the original paper and return an ungraded and preferably unmarked copy of the paper to the student with a note asking the student to see you. If the student does not attend class, send an e-mail asking the student to make an appointment.

Do not accuse the student of plagiarism. If the student asks why you want an appointment, explain in general terms: "I have concerns about your paper" or "I’d like to discuss your use of sources." You may also ask the student to bring the sources to the appointment.

1) Confer with a University Writing Program administrator.

You are required to contact a University Writing Program administrator for each case of suspected misconduct for a number of reasons:

for the program to keep track of the number and nature of suspected cases
to discuss strategies and techniques for determining whether or not misconduct occurred
to discuss ways to approach the student and the types of information to gather
to review the procedures for investigating and referring cases
to provide continuity for cases that remain unresolved at the end of each quarter.

2) Gather Information.

You are not required to prove that misconduct occurred to refer an incident to SJA. You are simply required to gather information regarding the case. SJA can proceed with a referral based on the instructor's professional judgment that the student's writing is not his or her own.

Gather copies of all relevant materials that support your concerns (e.g., any statements you gave to students about plagiarism, the assignment requirements, the student's paper, a writing sample from earlier in the quarter).
Identify the passages or parts of the paper that seem questionable to you.
Provide a suggestion about or a copy of the source material if you can identify it. Many instructors have found borrowed passages by using the search engine at www.google.com to locate suspect passages(s). Google is uncannily good at finding the original source of a brief but distinctive phrase or passage entered in quotation marks. However, you do not need to find the source of the plagiarism to refer the matter to SJA. Some Internet-based strategies for finding the source material include:
Using the search engine at www.google.com to search for the suspect passage(s). Google is uncannily good at finding the original source of a brief but distinctive phrase or passage entered in quotation marks.
Using TurnItIn.com through SJA. TurnItIn.com maintains a database of student papers and can cross-reference excerpts, passages or entire papers. Since it is a subscriber-based service, you must contact SJA (752-1128) to use it.
Interview the student. Both SJA and the University Writing Program recommend interviewing the student in person, but this is not required. If you feel unsafe interviewing the student alone, you can do it in the presence of a program administrator supervisor or refer the case without interviewing the student.

Do not accuse the student of plagiarism. Express concern about the paper and give the student an opportunity to respond. Alternatively, you may simply tell the student you have concerns and have referred the matter to Student Judicial Affairs.
If the student asks about the nature of your concerns, state them in a descriptive, nonaccusatory tone, e.g., "The use of language or syntax seems uneven," or "It seems that you may have used some sources that are not properly cited."
You might ask the student directly whether or not she or he used any unacknowledged sources or received any assistance in writing the paper. Ask the student to provide copies of the sources the student claims he or she used to write the paper. You may also query the student about the content or any specialized language, to see if the student seems knowledgeable about the subject.
Again, you are not required to prove the case to SJA or to the student. Simply tell the student that you are required by university policy to refer the paper to SJA.
If the student admits misconduct, you are still required to refer the case to SJA.

3) Refer the Case to SJA.

Referrals can be made to SJA via a memo sent through interdepartmental mail, by e-mail to sja@ucdavis.edu, or in person (3200 Dutton Hall). Please send a copy of the memo to the appropriate University Writing Program administrator. Your referral should include the following information:

Name and contact information for the referring party
Name and contact information for the appropriate supervisor or Program administrator
The student(s)’ name(s) and ID numbers
Name and course number of the class where suspected misconduct occurred
A brief description of the situation detailing your concerns and the results of your investigation
Copies of all materials you collected during your investigation (delivered in person or to SJA via interdepartmental mail).

After receiving a referral, SJA sets up a disciplinary file and contacts the student. You will be given the name and contact information of the SJA Officer handling the case and may contact him or her if you have any questions or wish to discuss the matter at any time. As the referring party, you have a number of responsibilities after making the referral:

Inform the student that you have referred the case to SJA and that SJA will contact him or her within a few days.
After your initial interview, avoid a prolonged discussion or e-mail exchange with the student. You may tell the student that it is not appropriate to continue discussing a case after it has been referred to SJA.
Evaluate the student’s performance on subsequent assignments with impartiality. Consult with a supervisor or University Writing Program administrator if you find this difficult or impossible.

Adjudication and Resolution

Referred students must meet with a Judicial Officer to discuss the concerns. If the student fails to do so, SJA will place a hold on the student's records. During the meeting with the Judicial Officer (Informal Disposition), the student is informed of the concerns and allowed to respond to them. Most disciplinary referrals (more than 97%) are resolved at this stage of informal disposition. If the student admits to the violation, the Judicial Officer will inform you of the proposed disciplinary sanction.

Due to SJA’s educational approach, a student is usually not removed from school after a first offense unless the violation was particularly serious. Rather, he or she is placed on a probationary or deferred separation status. Often the student is referred to a writing specialist at the Learning Skills Center and may also be required to complete community service or another learning project. Repeat offenders are usually suspended or dismissed from school.

If the case cannot be resolved by informal disposition, it may be referred to a formal hearing in which you and the accused student will present evidence to a panel of students and faculty. The panel decides whether or not a violation occurred and recommends sanctions.

Grading

These guidelines for grading a student who has been found to have committed academic misconduct balance several important goals: recognizing that misconduct has occurred, treating the student fairly, and standardizing the treatment of violations in the program and across the campus.

By campus-wide policy, the grade a student receives for plagiarized work is considered separate from any disciplinary sanctions imposed by SJA.
After referring a case to SJA, do not assign a grade to the work in question or for the course until the matter has been resolved. If the quarter ends prior to resolution, give the student a ‘Y.’
By campus-wide policy, a student found to have violated rules of proper academic conduct on an assignment does not automatically fail the course. The student fails the course only when the average of all the student’s grades for the course falls below the passing level. In virtually all cases, a grade of "F" (a "0" on a standard 4-point or 11-point scale) should be assigned to the paper. If you and SJA determine that the plagiarism was a genuinely unintended and minor misuse of sources, you may have the student rewrite the assignment and then average his or her new score with the "F" received on the first attempt. Confer with a University Writing Program administrator if you wish to allow the student to submit a revised draft for regrading.
If the student fails to meet the minimum word requirement for the class because of the violation, he or she must be given one opportunity to rewrite the paper satisfactorily in order to complete the minimum word requirement. The student will not receive an improved grade for the rewritten paper, in most cases, but satisfying the word requirement allows the student to pass the course.
Using different grading scales, averaging in a "0" on a major assignment may have very different implications and unfairly impact a student’s grade. For instance, a "0" on a 4-point or 11-point scale will affect a student’s average much less than a "0" on a 100% scale. By program policy designed to ensure consistent treatment across sections, when a "0" is being averaged in for academic misconduct, instructors who ordinarily grade on a percentage scale (in which a D is a 65%, for example) should use a 4-point or 11-point scale to calculate the student’s final course grade. The easiest way to do this is to calculate the grade for the other coursework (say, 80% of the course grade), translate that to a 4-point or 11-point scale, then average in a "0" for the remaining 20%. Alternative standard grading scales are available from a University Writing Program administrator.

Frequently Asked Questions

If a student plagiarizes on a draft, must I report it to SJA?

Not necessarily. If you suspect academic misconduct on a draft, take this opportunity to educate the student about plagiarism and appropriate citation conventions. If the student denies having used sources, warn the student that you must report suspected misconduct in work submitted for grading.

If a student admits to misconduct in our interview, may I give him or her a failing grade on the assignment and not report the case to SJA?

No. Even if the student admits to misconduct you must still refer the case to SJA for adjudication and wait for the case to be resolved before assigning a grade for the assignment and the course.

How long will it take SJA to contact the student and resolve a case after I refer it to them?

SJA will attempt to contact the student via e-mail within two days of receiving a referral. The amount of time required to resolve the case depends upon the nature of the charge and the degree of cooperation from the student and referring party. On average, it takes 2-3 weeks to resolve a case, not including the completion of any community service or special projects.

What if I’m not happy with the way SJA resolves the case?

SJA does its best to keep the student and referring party informed during the disciplinary process so that an instructor can voice any concerns prior to the resolution of a referral. Ordinarily, cases are resolved during the informal disposition when the student, instructor, and SJA reach mutual agreement on a resolution. If this is not possible, then the case may be referred to a hearing panel including faculty and students to determine the appropriate resolution. SJA welcomes any feedback from the involved parties about the disciplinary process before, during, and after any disciplinary referral. Please contact SJA at 752-1128 to schedule an appointment.

Can the student take legal or administrative action against me if I refer a case to SJA?

Yes, but cases in which students file administrative grievances are very rare. Cases in which students seek legal remedies are even rarer. This should not discourage an instructor from confronting academic dishonesty. The best protection for an instructor dealing with student problems is to follow established University policies and procedures. The University administration will support and defend these policies, and courts rarely interfere when a University follows its established policies.

If I determine that a student has turned in work that is not his or her own and the student reports receiving help on the work from the Learning Skills Center (LSC), should I still refer the case?

The distinction between helpful tutoring and unauthorized collaboration is often difficult to define. You should first verify that the student visited the LSC by calling them (752-2013) or asking a University Writing Program administrator to contact them. If the student did visit the LSC and you feel she or he received too much assistance, you should still refer the case to SJA. The SJA Officer will consider the LSC’s role when resolving the case. You should also report this to a University Writing Program administrator, who may discuss the matter with LSC staff.

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