English Department Plagiarism Policy:

Syllabus Statement: Plagiarism occurs when you pass off someone else’s words or ideas as your own, and it is a form of stealing. I don't expect to see plagiarism in this class. If I do, each case will be dealt with on an individual basis and referred to the English Honor Council. For a first offense, the minimum penalty will be failure for the assignment in question. If you turn in plagiarized work a second time, you will fail the course. For additional details about this process, please consult the English department website. All confirmed cases of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management, Director of Campus Life, and Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs, as required by the University handbook. If you are doing research and are unsure how to incorporate someone else's work into your own in a valid manner, please ask -- I'll be more than happy to help you out so that there's no danger of confusion.

 

The English Honor Council (EHC) consists of three faculty members and one alternate. The members of the EHC will serve for one year. Faculty members will serve on the EHC in rotation. The EHC will convene as needed at the request of an English department faculty member. If a serving member of the EHC wishes to bring a case before the Council, the alternate member will serve in his or her place for that case. Should more than one member of the EHC wish to bring cases before the Council, those cases will be heard separately so that the alternate may serve in place of the interested faculty member in each case. The procedure for handling a case of suspected plagiarism is as follows:

  1. The faculty member will gather evidence and arrange to meet with the student to discuss the situation. All possible care will be taken to preserve confidentiality.
  2. If the student admits to plagiarism, the faculty member will submit the evidence, a recommendation for punishment, and a written letter of confession from the student to the EHC.
  3. If the student does not admit to plagiarism, the faculty member may submit the evidence and a recommendation for punishment to the EHC and ask the student to write a letter explaining his or her defense. The faculty member and student may also choose to appear before the council in person, with the council serving as moderator. In such cases, the student will be allowed to appear before the council in private, before the faculty member arrives to state his or her case.
  4. If a student drops the course to avoid meeting with the faculty member or the EHC, it will be construed as an admission of guilt and recorded as such in the EHC records (e.g. Student X was suspected of plagiarism by faculty member Y and dropped the course before the EHC could take action).
  5. After reviewing the evidence and consulting EHC records to determine whether the student has previously plagiarized, the EHC will determine an appropriate course of action. In general, the punishment for a first offense will be failure of the assignment in question and the punishment for a second offense will be failure of the course. The EHC may consider mitigating circumstances in reaching a decision.
  6. Once a verdict has been reached, the EHC will notify the faculty member in writing and place a copy of the decision in the EHC files. The faculty member will then be responsible for contacting the student in writing to inform him or her of the decision of the EHC and of the student’s right to appeal said decision. The EHC will also report their decision to the members of the administration named in the Faculty Handbook.
  7. Per the Faculty Handbook, the student will have 5 days to appeal the decision. The appeals process will be handled by the Provost’s office.
  8. At the end of five days, the faculty member will take the appropriate course of action (e.g., entering a failing grade for the assignment, reporting a failing grade for the course to the registrar, etc.). All EHC decisions will be recorded; only EHC members will have access to these records.