What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is making use of other people's ideas, words, creative works and expressions without giving credit or otherwise listing the source of the information.

Plagiarism is also misrepresentation and includes handing in someone else's work, ideas, or answers as your own. Regardless of whether it happens inadvertently through hasty research or on purpose through unethical choices, it is plagiarism just the same.

Examples of Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

Cheating

Obtaining information from another student during an examination
Communicating information to another student during an examination
Knowingly allowing another student to copy one's own work
Offering another person's work as one's own
Taking an examination for another student or having someone take an examination for one's self
Sharing answers for a collaborative project and take-home examination unless specifically authorized by the instructor
Using unauthorized material during an examination
Altering a graded examination or assignment and returning it for additional credit
Having another person or a company do the research, writing and/or rewriting of an assigned paper or report
Misreporting or altering the data in laboratory or research projects

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is to present as one's own, the ideas, words, or creative product of another. Credit must be given to the source for direct quotations, paraphrases, ideas, and facts, which are not common knowledge. Plagiarism also includes using print, electronic, or other source material without acknowledgment or in any way that makes such material appear as one's own.

Other Dishonest Conduct

Stealing or attempting to steal an examination or answer key
Stealing or attempting to change official academic records
Submitting all or parts of the same work for credit in more than one course without consulting all instructors involved
Intentionally impairing the performance of other students and/or a faculty member, for example, by adulterating lab equipment, by creating a distraction meant to impair performance, or by theft or mutilation of library material.
Forging or altering attendance records

Collusion

Collusion occurs when any student knowingly or intentionally helps another student perform an act of academic dishonesty. Collusion in an act of academic dishonesty and will be disciplined in the same manner as the act itself.

SBVC Statement on academic integrity in online courses:

All of SBVC's policies about academic honesty and intellectual integrity apply to online, hybrid, and ITV classes as well as more traditional on-campus classes. But there are some specific issues that need to be highlighted for these "Distance Education" courses.

The person doing the work is the person getting the credit

By using your unique userID and unique password to access the District-sponsored Learning Management System, you are affirming, in fact, that you are the person registered for the course, the person doing the work for the course, and the person getting the credit for the course. It is a violation of the academic honesty and intellectual integrity policies of SBVC to log in to someone else's account and pretend to be that person.

Plagiarism

Students have often been rewarded for copying and pasting something from the internet into their own papers without proper citation. But this practice is plagiarism. And plagiarism is a violation of the academic honesty and intellectual integrity policies of SBVC.

"The computer ate my homework"

It might be convenient to blame technology for everything. But that practice fails to recognize that students are responsible for their own computer access and stable internet connection. Although the District-sponsored Learning Manage System will, from time to time, have problems, students need to accept responsibility for their own actions, actions that might be conveniently blamed on an impersonal component of technology.

From the course syllabus:

A WORD OF CAUTION: Plagiarism includes copying or re-mixing someone else’s work – either from the textbook or the internet - and passing it off as your own. Additionally, the use of a paraphrasing tool, thesaurus, and other text modifiers is also plagiarism. Do not be seduced into using the Internet as a crutch instead of using your own thoughts/words. Simply changing a few words or punctuation is NOT using ones own thoughts/words, and will be considered plagiarized work.

The PLAGIARISM PENALTY: Students who plagiarize will receive a ZERO for the assignment and WILL NOT be able to make it up. Any secondary incident will lead to additional loss of points, including a FAILING grade for the class. Repeated incidents of plagiarism to the Dean for student code of conduct violations.

Good practices to avoid plagiarism: Some advice/best practices to avoid submitting plagiarized work: Do not use words/terms/places that you are personally unfamiliar with, or do not understand. Read first, close browser/book, then write – Do NOT read/write simultaneously. Work to minimize the content of your sources ie: For every 5 sentences of information read, write 1 sentence on your assignment. Proof-read, proof-read, and proof-read before you submit.