Plagiarism

SECTION I: TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT PLAGIARISM AND HOW TO AVOID IT

As teachers of writing, we are also teachers of the conventions of source usage and citation, and the norms of academic integrity in our particular North American university context. Therefore, all courses in the WR sequence should discuss source usage and plagiarism early and return to these topics at key points in the semester. 

Students and faculty should review the relevant sections of the Academic Conduct Code, which is also linked on all syllabi templates for WR courses. However, a “one and done” admonition to avoid plagiarism is not sufficient to teach students to use sources appropriately. Indeed, teaching students to use sources appropriately is a goal of every assignment we give; the Teaching Writing site contains resources that can help us as instructors, including Flipped Learning Modules and exercises designed to help students learn to use sources carefully and appropriately. Librarian partners working with WR 15x sections can also provide excellent guidance to students who are actively doing research about the appropriate usage of sources for their particular projects. Plagiarism checking programs or apps, such as Turnitin or SafeAssign, are available to you as instructors if you choose to use them. 

Note that as of Fall 2023, the Writing Program has a standard policy on the use of generative AI in courses. Please refer to our syllabi templates (Section 2) for that common language; review the “AI Syllabus Language Heuristic” when thinking about additional guidelines tailored to your own class; and look at our Teaching Writing resources on generative AI to learn more about teaching students about AI-mediated writing and responding to unauthorized uses of AI.

 

SECTION II: RESPONDING TO CASES OF SUSPECTED PLAGIARISM

When faced with a case of suspected plagiarism, instructors should consider how they wish to approach the situation. In many cases–particularly early in the semester, or on paper drafts, or with some international students who are new to the conventions of source usage at BU–instructors may decide to approach a case of “plagiarism” as an opportunity to teach, clearly and contextually, appropriate usage and citation of sources to an individual student.

In other cases, instructors may feel that they wish to levy a grading penalty and/or proceed to a full hearing before the Academic Conduct Committee. CAS has developed a carefully articulated protocol for formally reporting and adjudicating cases of suspected plagiarism. The protocol is described in detail in the CAS Academic Conduct Resources website along with additional resources, instructions, and the Instructor Report for Academic Conduct online form you will need to officially report to CAS. 

  • For students, first reported offenses that instructors choose to settle with a grade penalty do not go on their record, but second reported offenses automatically lead to a hearing before the committee. This process is summarized in a student-facing page here. 
  • Therefore, for instructors, reporting a case to CAS–even if you recommend a relatively minor grading penalty such as a C on the paper in question–can be a check against repeat offenders and might be a consideration. 
  • Note that, for plagiarism cases that occur at the very end of the semester, you might need to give a student an incomplete grade while CAS is finishing the process. Be sure that you have been in touch with a Writing Program director and staff member in this situation.

PLEASE NOTE: The Writing Program guidelines outlined below do not in any way attempt to contradict or work against the CAS policy. Rather, we hope to contextualize the CAS policy within our particular setting, as teachers of writing and information literacy, and support our instructors through the steps of this process for each individual case.

 

Review the CAS policy and resources here. Assemble all evidence that has led you to suspect plagiarism. Reach out to one of the directors to provide an overview of the situation, talk with the student to gather information, and then follow up with the directors to discuss the following:

  1. What does the student have to say about the situation? You may want to begin by asking the student how they went about completing the assignment. Sometimes students immediately confess to plagiarism; sometimes they do not, for varied reasons. If they don’t, you can show them what makes you suspect plagiarism and discuss it together.

    TALKING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT SUSPECTED PLAGIARISM

    Plagiarism in Writing Program classes may be either intentional (perhaps as a result of desperation, when students either feel pressed for time or challenged by the particular language and/or research requirements of an assignment) or unintentional (sometimes as a result of inefficient reading, research, or note-taking strategies, or sometimes as a result of different cultural understandings of the acceptable scope of borrowing words or ideas). Shawna Shapiro, in her January 2022 talk to Writing Program faculty, reminded us of the importance of “distinguish[ing] between intent and outcome” when discussing cases of suspected plagiarism, and not “mak[ing] assumptions about the former.” Approaching the idea of plagiarism from a Critical Language Awareness framework, Shawna noted, means “recogniz[ing] that there are particular academic cultural values at play,” including the boundaries between “textual ‘ownership’ and ‘borrowing,’ […and] ‘collaboration’ versus ‘stealing.’” You might also want to consider watching the short video at the bottom of this page, illustrating a way of discussing source use pedagogically rather than punitively (Tomas & Marino). 

     

  2. After conferring with the student and the directors, do you feel that this is a case of plagiarism that warrants adjudication and/or a grading penalty? 
    • If not, you should discuss the case again with the student and ensure that they understand the problem with their use of sources. This approach may be especially appropriate when you believe the plagiarism occurred accidentally or without the student’s full understanding of the norms of academic citation. In these cases–if you are not reporting officially to CAS–you may not penalize the student with any sort of grading penalty, though you may ask students to redo the assignment. You may want to check back in with the directors to confirm that you consider the case appropriately settled and that the student will be continuing with the work of the course.
    • If yes, proceed with the steps below.What kind of penalty do you think the case warrants? Decide whether to recommend a grading penalty (and if so, what: an F/0 on the paper, a D in the course, an F in the course, etc.) or (for more serious cases) to recommend that the case be forwarded to the Academic Conduct Committee for a hearing which might result in suspension and/or expulsion. Remember that if you recommend a grading penalty and the student agrees, the incident will not appear on the student’s official record nor be distributed to graduate schools, employers, etc.; it is considered to be a learning experience for the students with appropriate instructional guidance.
      • Use this CAS form to report the misconduct to the Dean. CAS will review the case in a timely manner and then send you several documents that will need to be reviewed and filled out with the student. Note that even if you recommend a grading penalty, if the student already has a violation of the Academic Conduct Code on record with CAS, CAS will require the student to proceed to a full hearing by the committee for this second offense.
      • Arrange a meeting with the student to discuss the plagiarism in question and to ensure that they understand the Academic Conduct Code violations. Review and complete the necessary documents. In order to accept the grading penalty, your student will need to admit to plagiarism during this meeting. If a student disputes the charge of plagiarism, or your suggested grading penalty, they may choose to proceed with a hearing by the committee. Otherwise, they will sign the Admission of Academic Misconduct form and you are free to proceed with the grading penalty. For your information, here is an example of the letter students receive from the Dean after admitting to plagiarism. CAS Advising will also advise students directly on their best course of action.
      • Follow the CAS directions to submit the form and all supporting documents, and send a copy of all correspondence and documents to wpadmin@bu.edu for the directors to review. 

 

SECTION III: GENERAL REMINDERS ABOUT PLAGIARISM

To review: if you want to levy a grading penalty of any sort for the suspected plagiarism, you must go through official channels and report to CAS. If you believe that this is a teachable moment, you may consult with a director. In either case, you as an instructor make the decision about how to proceed.

Plagiarism or academic misconduct cases in WR classes vary widely, but might include any of the following, among other examples. Remember, too, that student intent might vary in all of these cases.

      • A student purchases a paper on the internet or otherwise hires/asks someone else to write their paper.
      • A student submits someone else’s paper as their own, either the paper of another student or a paper posted online and freely available.
      • A student uses parts of one or more websites, books, or academic articles in their paper, changing some of the words but still including large chunks of sentences from other sources; these sources may or may not appear in the student’s list of works cited, but the words are not in quotation marks in their text.
      • A student uses ideas from one or more sources without directly attributing the ideas to a source; again, these sources may or may not appear in the list of works cited, but when reading the student’s essay, there is confusion about which ideas are the student’s.

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