Policy on Plagiarism

Note:  This policy statement is included in the SLIS 5600/4600 Syllabus and the instructors explained in class the policy and penalties for violation of the policy.

SLIS 5600/4600 instructors have a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious violation of the policies of University of North Texas and the School of Library and Information Sciences. This document serves as our policy and states penalties for plagiarism in SLIS 5600/4600.

UNT Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is a serious violation of UNT’s code of academic conduct. The UNT Code of Student Conduct and Discipline, Policy Manual, Graduate Catalog, and Undergraduate Catalog explain specific policies, penalties, and the appeals process.  The UNT Policy on Academic Misconduct provides definitions of plagiarism and states that the instructor can assign penalties for violations of the policy. 

The Graduate Catalog states:

The term plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. Plagiarism also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.

The UNT policy further states that all students:

are responsible for making themselves aware of the definitions and implications of academic misconduct. For further information on academic misconduct, penalties and appeal procedures, the student should refer to the "Code of Student Conduct and Discipline."

Penalties are assigned by instructors and can range from reducing the grade for a test or assignment to revoking an academic degree already granted. 

Plagiarism in SLIS 5600/4600

Plagiarism is copying: retyping, cutting and pasting, or paraphrasing. All students in this course are warned as follows: 

·         Do not quote or paraphrase published sources, including assigned readings and Web-based sources, without explicit reference to the original work. Credit the source using appropriate citation style according to one of the required academic style manuals listed in the syllabus. 

·         Do not insert parts of class lectures, online modules, or tutorials, including examples, into your own work. These are published by the instructors, who properly cite the sources of any external published sources.

·         Do not insert parts of previous students' work into your own work. The previous students have given written permission for their work to be displayed for illustrative purposes only. A warning about plagiarism precedes each example.

·         Do not insert parts of current students' work into your own work. If the current student is your project draft exchange partner, that student trusts you to respect his/her intellectual product.

You are expected to study and learn from the materials provided, then to use your own words in your assignments, or clearly credit sources using appropriate citation style. It is wrong to blindly copy another person's intellectual content or syntax. It is particularly shortsighted--and glaringly obvious--when a student copies another student's errors. You do not have to police every word you write, just be aware of your sources. It is not necessary to credit sources for definitions of basic concepts that are general knowledge in the field, but it is wise to reword them.

SLIS 5600/4600 Penalties for Plagiarism

Plagiarism is illegal, unethical, and unacceptable. Any instances of plagiarism in student work will result in the following penalties:

• First offense: Final course grade reduced by one complete grade
   
• Second offense: Assignment of F (Fail) for final course grade

These penalties reflect the seriousness of violating UNT and SLIS 5600/4600 plagiarism policies.

[Page last updated December 2, 2001--WEM]