Plagiarism and Pitt

‘ ‘ ‘ Borrowing a sentence or two from the Internet for that midterm paper that’s due in 20… ‘ ‘ ‘ Borrowing a sentence or two from the Internet for that midterm paper that’s due in 20 minutes can be tempting, but Pitt takes plagiarism seriously. ‘ ‘ ‘ Using material from another source or failing to properly cite such material is considered plagiarism. Once a student has been suspected of plagiarizing, the student’s instructor then notifies both the student and the dean’s office of the offense. ‘ ‘ ‘ Should the student plead guilty, the instructor is free to decide the punishment. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘There’s no standardized set of penalties here,’ said Frederick Whelan, assistant dean of undergraduate studies for Arts and Sciences. ‘Individual faculty members can decide what penalty they think is appropriate.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Whelan, who is also a professor at Pitt, added that some professors will give the student a zero for just the assignment, while others won’t hesitate to fail the student for the course. ‘ ‘ ‘ The severity of the penalty often depends on the extent of incriminating material. A single plagiarized sentence or citation error may be treated more lightly than an entire copied paper, he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Students generally plead guilty upon an accusation, he said. However, if a student wants to appeal, the department chairperson hears the case. If a student is still unsatisfied, he can appeal to an academic integrity officer, such as Whelan, and then to the Academic Integrity Hearing Board. The board is composed of both students and teachers. ‘ ‘ ‘ A final appeal can be made to the provost, said former academic integrity officer, George Bandik. But the system is designed for students and instructors to come to terms on an offense. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘If the student and faculty member can reach an agreeable sanction for the offense, we consider the case closed,’ said Bandik. ‘ ‘ ‘ Students who push an appeal to higher levels face a greater risk of harsh penalty if their plea fails. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Once the complaint reaches the dean’s level, then the sanction has to be an ‘F’ in the class if the student is found guilty,’ said Bandik. ‘ ‘ ‘ The policies on plagiarism are outlined in the Academic Integrity Code. The four undergraduate schools at Pitt each have their own code. ‘ ‘ ‘ Most plagiarism cases are straightforward and involve a student copying a document from the Internet. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The professor, to make the charge, has to have found the document from which the student’s paper was plagiarized, and these days, that’s almost always online,’ said Whelan. ‘ ‘ ‘ Carelessness is a common defense for students accused of plagiarizing. Students claim to have forgotten they copied and pasted sections or did not remember to cite something. But this defense won’t hold. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Carelessness is no excuse. Plagiarism is simply the objective fact that you have copied somebody else’s work,’ said Whelan. ‘Intention does not have to be proof for a plagiarism charge.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Convicted student plagiarists are kept on file with the University. A plagiarism charge stays with the University. Prospective graduate schools or employers will not see it. Cases are kept on file to check only if students are repeat offenders. A second plagiarism charge results in suspension while a third means dismissal from the University, said Whelan. ‘ ‘ ‘ But keeping tabs on plagiarism cases is not always easy. Some professors have handled cases under the table. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Faculty members are supposed to file a report,’ said Whelan. ‘They’re not supposed to settle these things privately, mainly because we’re concerned to make sure it’s not a second offense.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The School of Arts and Sciences encounters around two dozen plagiarism cases per semester. Whelan said most cases stem from the humanities and social sciences departments as compared to the natural sciences. Bandik, who is also a chemistry professor, said the majority of plagiarism instances in the sciences involved copied lab reports. ‘ ‘ ‘ Though they are relatively rare, Whelan has seen plagiarism cases concerning editing. If a friend edits or revises a student’s paper, it is considered plagiarism to a degree. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Can you use a human editor? Well, that’s kind of a gray area,’ said Whelan. ‘Of course at some point, editing can carry over into actually having that person rewrite the paper. At some point it becomes plagiarism.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ These cases are more difficult to prove. To avoid such instances, Whelan advised that teachers define the extent of editing allowed by friends. They could permit, for example, only basic spelling and grammar checks. ‘ ‘ ‘ Communications professor John Lyne said he even saw a student plagiarize from a textbook used by the course his paper was for. Not all cases are as easy for professors to identify, but there are clues to look for. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The first tip-off is if [the paper] sounds uncharacteristic of the student’s voice,’ said Lyne. ‘ ‘ ‘ Certain online sites exist where professors can crosscheck student’s papers against other material on the Internet, Lyne said. Some professors favor a Google search.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Whelan said the amount of plagiarism cases has declined slightly throughout the past several years. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Given the size of the student body and the number of courses, the number of cases actually coming to this office is not terribly large,’ he said. ‘And that, in a way, is encouraging.’