Plagiarism and Policies

In my high school, there is a clear stance on the issue of plagiarism, and the policy regarding its definition and consequences are outlined specifically in the Student Handbook. This is a small book that serves as a hall pass, organizer, day planner, etc, and also contains all the policies and procedures of the school in the front. All students receive this on Day One. In summary, it outlines that plagiarism is borrowing or stealing the ideas of others, be they professional, published works or another students creation. As a professional, I believe this is a standard definition for all schools across the country. A few problems that I see fall under the category of consequence and consistency.

The Handbook outlines that a mark of zero is to be given for the plagiarized assignment, or the student must resubmit another, original assignment. It is really left up to the discretion of the teacher, which can be problematic in terms of consistency. If one teacher awards a zero and the mark stands, and another allows the student to resubmit, it can send a mixed message about the results of academic dishonesty.

A Policy that our department has adopted was one that I myself created after an instance of 6 senior students plagiarized a Hamlet assignment. As a teacher, I feel that consequences for plagiarism should involve the student. I created the Zero Form, which has the school letterhead and contains a brief paragraph about the mark that is being given and the assignment it is given to. The students are then provided with 6 options that consititute why they may be receiving the zero. Two of them are Plagiarism, one being form another student, one from an outside or published source. They must pick the one that applies to them. This is signed by myself, the student, and the parents. All of our department has started to use this, and it allows the students to feel responsible, included, but also accountable.

In terms of resubmission, out department usually stands firm that the mark will be given and kept, but we all have supplementary tasks that can be given to the student to make the grade up, which is a different task than the one they plagiarized. I believe this is also a sound practice, because the student is still allowed to academically grow, but also sends the message that cheating on a certain assignment has lasting consequences.

A wonderful site I plan to implement into my courses is at the link below:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~hexham/study/plag.html

I found it to be a comprehensive site that addresses this issue, but it is also easy to navigate and clear in its definitions and ideas. It answers any questions students may have, especially the ever challenging "what constitutes plagiarism."

Hope this is helpful - please give me feedback on the site or my policy :)