Some Personal Thoughts on Academic Honesty
Charles Manekin
In "Writing a Philosophy Paper" we have a section called "Plagiarism and Sloppy Scholarship" that deals briefly with definitions and examples. Here I want to go into some detail.
First, remember that every written assignment has to have the honor pledge. Here is material taken from the Student Honor Council Webpage
- On every examination, paper or other academic exercise not specifically exempted by the instructor,the student shall write by hand and sign the following pledge:
- I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination.
- Failure to sign the pledge is not an honors offense, but neither is it a defense in case of violation of this Code. Students who do not sign the pledge will be given the opportunity to do so. Refusal to sign must be explained to the instructor. Signing or non-signing of the pledge will not be considered in grading or judicial procedures. Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.
If you are writing a paper, then it would read the same except "paper" replaces "examination" as the last word.
Let's start with the university definitions. These are taken from the Student Honor Council Webpage
Academic Dishonesty: any of the following acts, when committed by a student, shall constitute academic dishonesty:
- a. CHEATING: intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.
- b. FABRICATION: intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.
- c. FACILITATING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate any provision of this Code.
- d. PLAGIARISM: intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.
"Cheating" means using something you are not supposed to use when you are being tested, or writing a paper, etc. Sometimes this is obvious; at other times it is not at all clear. When in doubt, ask me.
"Fabrication" happens a lot more than one would think. It does not only cover out-and-out inventions, like making up a source for a bibliography, but also making up the page number for a reference that you don't remember. I perform random checks on footnotes, so that is a bad idea.
"Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: means helping somebody else to act dishonestly knowingly or intentionally
Plagiarism. Look at the definion: "Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise." That means not only copying from other people's work, which is obviously plagiarism, but making it unclear whether you are your source is being presented.
For example, look at the two following paragraphs, the second plagiarizing the second.
(1) For the via negativa to be successful at providing us with a concept that picks out the entity we call God, we need two assumptions. First, the kinds of entities must be finite, for were they infinite, we would never be able to arrive at one entity through a process of elimination. For Maimonides, who believes in a finite universe that is arranged hierarchically, the assumption is a reasonable one. Second, we must have some grasp of the meaning of the predicates that we deny of the entity. We cannot prove that God’s existence is incorporeal or inanimate, if we have no idea what “corporeal” or “animate” means when denied of God.
(2) Maimonides needs to assume that the kinds of entites are finite if we can use a process of elimination to get at a concept of God (Manekin, p. 32). He also needs to assume that we can have some grasp of the meaning of predicates. We cannot prove that God is incorporeal if we don't know what the latter means.
It is not enough to refer to 'Manekin, p. 32' because that only references the first sentence. But all the material of the first paragraph is from Manekin, p. 32. So if the writer put the reference after the last sentence, that would be fine. If the paragraph is long, then it would be a good idea to write: '(Manekin, p. 32)'
For some great examples of either plagiarism or sloppy scholarship (depending on you ask) in Alan Dershowitz's book, The Case for Israel, see the Dershowitz Hoax.
In the last few years several students have either bought papers off the web or have copied webpages when writing their papers. NOT ONLY IS THAT DISHONEST BUT YOU WILL GET CAUGHT. I have a software product that automatically searches all your papers and compares them with papers on the web and with webpages