This guide aims to help students be informed on the different types of plagiarism so that they can avoid committing plagiarism themselves. In addition, there are resources available for professors to integrate into their classes to combat plagiarism and to educate their students. The format and material for this research guide was taken from the Rowan College Plagiarism research guide.
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Mid-Atlantic Christian University aims to help students think biblically in all areas of life. Thinking biblically requires an individual’s genuine engagement with information and ideas in the light of Scripture. Truthfulness, honesty, and integrity are, therefore, essential in education as they are the foundation of mutual trust and respect. For these reasons, Mid-Atlantic Christian University expects the highest standards of integrity and honesty in academic work. This policy explains those expectations so students will know what is acceptable and what is not in their academic assignments.
Definitions:
Dishonesty: This lack of integrity includes lying, cheating, fabricating information, or deceiving. Examples include copying from the examination paper of another person or letting one’s own examination paper be copied, using unauthorized aids to complete assignments or tests, submitting the same paper in different courses without the instructor’s knowledge, or showing an examination to a student who has not yet taken it.
Plagiarism: This type of dishonesty is intentionally or unintentionally representing the words or ideas of another person as one’s own in any academic exercise. Examples include submitting an assignment as one’s own work when it was written by someone else, failing to state the sources of ideas, or failing to provide citations for quotes. This includes the use of AI.
Self-plagiarism: Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of presenting one's own previously submitted work as though it were new. Examples include submitting the same written product for different courses, or slightly modifying a prior work for submission to a different course.
Levels of Plagiarism: Since plagiarism covers both intentional and unintentional dishonesty, an instructor may distinguish between minor and major plagiarism before prescribing a penalty, as follows:
Minor Plagiarism: This is the use of a small amount of another person’s words or ideas without citation, revising another person’s material only slightly to appear as one’s own ideas, or using quotations without citing the source.
Major Plagiarism: This is the use of larger amounts of another person’s words or ideas without citation or revising this larger amount of another person’s material only slightly from the original. Complete Plagiarism: This is the use of the overwhelming majority of another’s person’s words or ideas without citation or revising. Examples include submitting a paper or other work obtained from a Website or other source; submitting another person’s work for an assignment.
Penalties: The penalty for minor plagiarism or any other academic dishonesty deemed minor by the instructor may be determined by the instructor. The instructor may decide to counsel the student, issue a verbal warning about the meaning and consequences of plagiarism. In addition, the faculty member may, at his/her discretion, do one or more of the following: give the student a written warning using the Academic Dishonesty Notice, lower the grade for that assignment, and require the student to rewrite and resubmit the assignment. The penalty for major plagiarism or any other academic dishonesty deemed major by the instructor is to report the offense to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by using the Academic Dishonesty Notice form and to produce the evidence for the offense. For the first offense the instructor will normally issue a grade of zero for the assignment and no opportunity to resubmit the assignment. For the second offense (in the same or more courses) the instructor will normally give a failing grade in the course. For the third offense the VPAA will normally dismiss the student from the university. When the major plagiarism or cheating violation is a complete instance of violation the penalty will likely go straight to steps 2 and 3. The offense will be placed on the student’s permanent record only if he or she is dismissed from the university.
Appeals: The student may appeal the penalty for major plagiarism by submitting within seven days a written request to appear before the Academic Dishonesty Committee made up of faculty members and the VPAA. The student may make his or her case for reduction or elimination of the penalty to this committee. The committee will notify the student of its decision in writing and that decision will be final.
This section was directly taken from the MACU Student Handbook.
Below are definitions to help you understand the different types of plagiarism
Copying Word-for-Word: This is the most straightforward and intentional form of plagiarism. This is copying another's work and passing it off as your own, with no citation or credit. This can involve knowingly copying the material and/or not citing portions of your work that should be in either a block quote or quotations. In addition, this could be buying a paper online, using a friends work, and/or many different possibilities.
Unintentional Plagiarism: This is where the student unknowingly commits plagiarism by paraphrasing material they learned from a source without citing the source they learned the information from. The student usually writes the sentences and paragraphs themselves without realizing that they are committing plagiarism. In addition, this form of plagiarism can occur when a student does not use the correct sign phrase when introducing a paraphrased paragraph.
Prohibited Collaboration: This occurs when two or more students work together on an assignment and share their answers for the assignment. The assignment is not a group project and was not the collaboration was not pre-approved by the instructor.
Patchwork Plagiarism: This occurs when multiple sources are copied and compiled into one source without providing citations for the sources used, thus trying to pass multiple sources of information as your own authentic work.
