• Cheating involves misrepresenting one's knowledge or experience. For example, if students use unauthorized materials during an examination (e.g. using crib sheets, looking at other students' exams, obtaining the questions in advance, etc.) they are falsely representing themselves as having recalled material or reasoned correctly, when, in fact, they did not do so. If students fake the data in a laboratory experiment, they are falsely suggesting that they acquired information in accordance with prescribed procedures.
   
• Inappropriate collaboration involves presenting academic work as one's own independent effort when it includes significantly the work of others. It is common and usually acceptable for students to study together for examinations. Students and faculty alike frequently discuss with friends and colleagues ideas they are developing for papers and presentations -- in order to gain encouragement and critical advice. Asking a friend to proofread a paper is a legitimate request. However, when important ideas or actual phrasings in an academic work belong to an unnamed colleague, misrepresentation has occurred. It is dishonest for one student to write some or all of another student's paper or presentation. It is equally wrong for one student to develop key ideas for a project that is represented as the work of another. In cases of inappropriate collaboration both parties involved are guilty of academic dishonesty.
   
• Plagiarism involves both theft and cheating. When someone appropriates, for use in formal course work, the wording, phrasing, or ideas of another and either accidentally or purposefully fails to acknowledge the debt, that is theft. Plagiarism is also cheating insofar as one is creating a false impression about one's own intelligence, ability, achievement.

There are times in an academic community when the nature of our "free exchange of ideas" seems to preclude clear source attribution and confound our attempts to acknowledge what words, phrases, and ideas we may have borrowed. At such times, students should seek help from their teachers, refer to appropriate handbooks, but especially test the instance against the provisions of the broad definition, "Am I stealing from another?" Does my use of words, phrases, or ideas create a false impression about the source of my information and about my ability and achievement?

Avoiding Plagiarism – Proper Citing of Sources

In borrowing from sources (books, articles, films, television, interviews, etc.), avoiding plagiarism is generally a matter of following three rules:

1. Keep a good (neat and tidy) record of the "exchange of ideas," taking place in the work you are doing. Most often this means taking good notes.

2. Clearly demarcate the beginnings and endings of your borrowed material, whether it appears as a quote, paraphrase, or summary. Most often, this means introducing your source in some way, and clearly indicating (through closure of quotation marks, parenthetical references, footnote/endnote numbers, etc.), that you are through using that source. No matter how tiresome it may seem, you have the responsibility to note each time you borrow words, phrases, or ideas.

3. There are several acceptable forms for citations but all citations should: a) provide sufficient information to enable readers to locate the original source of the borrowed material, and b) include enough information about the source so that an informed reader can begin to evaluate the validity of that source in your work (author, publication, date of publication, etc.).

What are the penalties for academic dishonesty at Monmouth College?

Academic dishonesty undermines the trust necessary to pursue our educational goals; it damages the reputation of the college and the worth of a Monmouth degree. While an assessment of the student's motive may influence the choice of punishment for acts of dishonesty, the claim that the act was unintentional does not excuse dishonesty. Monmouth students are expected to know how to avoid acts of dishonesty. When in doubt, ask a faculty member, include a citation, or avoid collaboration.

The rules of the Faculty of Monmouth College state that when a student has committed an act of academic dishonesty for the first time, the penalty for that act will be determined by the faculty member involved. You should be aware that many faculty members consider automatic failure in the course to be the normal punishment for first offenses involving academic dishonesty. In situations that do not involve a particular course (e.g. plagiarism in a student publication) the Academic Dean will usually act on behalf of the college. All offenses of academic dishonesty must be reported to the Academic Dean who keeps such descriptions of incidents on file until the student leaves the college.

If a student commits a second act of academic dishonesty during his or her career at Monmouth, the Academic Dean will refer the case of such a student to the Admissions and Academic Status Committee. For a second offense, suspension from the College is a likely minimum penalty and expulsion from the college is a possibility.

Source: modified from “Academic Dishonesty” on the Monmouth College Introduction to Liberal Arts webpage, Fall 2006
http://www.monmsci.net/~fasano/itla/.

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