Search: Pages People

Quicklinks: -- Select One -- About the College Academics Admissions Alumni Athletics Blackboard Campus Bookstore Career Development Center Center for the Study of Democracy Directory Dining Services E-mail Employment Events Calendar Events Management System (EMS) Financial Aid First Year Experience Health Sciences Advisory Committee International Education Library News & Events Office of Information Technology Portal Public Safety Student Life Study Abroad Support the College Title IX

Preventing and Reporting Academic Misconduct

Prevention

Research shows that students plagiarize when they feel trapped.

That happens -

• If they feel the assignment is too huge to them;
• If they don't have clear guidelines or models of excellent work;
• If they get minimal or no feedback on prior assignments;
• If they sense the professor is "out of it", checked out, not engaged, disorganized.

You can reduce plagiarism by:

• Allowing students to use other sources prior to turning in their assignments- peer review, peer editing, writing center visits, librarians to discuss finding and citing sources.
• Giving students models of good papers, models and examples of how to cite.
• Making students turn in all drafts of writing assignments, you may want to have them include copies of the first pages of sources cited (not abstracts).
• Recognizing that assignments that require individual analysis or evaluation make it harder to plagiarize.
• Asking students, early in the semester, to produce an in-class writing sample of several sentences or paragraphs.

Prevent cheating by:

• Calling for laptops down, all cell phones, iPods and listening devices off and out of ears during exams, quizzes, in-class writing assignments, etc.
• Giving different tests to different sections- slightly vary questions or vary the order.
• Having the Instructor present during significant portions of exams and quizzes.
• Using exams and quizzes that require critical thinking, analysis or evaluation and individual reflection.

Reporting

Steps to Reporting Academic Misconduct.

Step I: Gather all evidence to support the allegation, such as photocopying similar exam answers, printing excerpts from web, etc.

Step II: Faculty member may call the Provost's office or consult with the Vice President for Academic Services on possible actions to take without disclosing the student's name.  Faculty may also consult other colleagues without disclosing the student's name.

Step III: Fill out the Academic Misconduct Incident Form and make three copies

Step IV: Confront and talk to the student about the misconduct and give them a copy of the incident form.  Keep a copy for your records.

Step V: Submit a copy of the form to the Provost with documentation along with the evidence supporting the allegation.

For a more detailed reporting procedure and information, consult  the Judical Procedures for Academic Misconduct in "To The Point"

Further Thoughts on Academic Misconduct for Faculty