POLICY ON PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is defined as: "The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts of passages of his or her writing, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the products of one's own mind." (Black's Law Dictionary)
It is expected that all students will be evaluated and graded on their individual merit and all work submitted for evaluation should clearly indicate that it is the student's own contribution.
Students often have to use the ideas of others as expressed in written or published work in preparing essays, papers, reports, theses and publications. It is imperative that both the data and ideas obtained from any and all published or unpublished material be properly acknowledged and their sources disclosed. Failure to follow this practice constitutes plagiarism and is considered to be a serious offense. Thus, anyone who knowingly or recklessly uses the work of another person and creates an impression that it is his or her own, is guilty of plagiarism.
Plagiarism also includes submitting one's own essay, paper, or thesis on more than one occasion. Accordingly, it is expected that a thesis, essay, paper or a report has not been and is not concurrently being submitted for credit for any other course. In exceptional circumstances and with the prior agreement of the instructor, a student may use research completed for one course as part of his or her written work for a second course.
A confirmed incident of plagiarism will result in a sanction ranging from a verbal warning, to a loss of credit in the course, to expulsion.