Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Plagiarism
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Final Report of the Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism Dalhousie University May 13, 2004 Membership Lesley Barnes (Chair) Faculty member, School of Health and Human Performance Philip Cox Faculty member, Faculty of Computer Science (Co-Chair of the Senate Discipline Committee from July 2003) Katherine Fierlbeck Co-Chair Senate Discipline Committee/ Political Science Ron Hoffman Chair, Senate Computing & Information Technology Planning Com- mittee/ Psychology Joanne Macrae Dalhousie Student Union undergraduate representative Jessica Mason Dalhousie Graduate Student representative (June 2003 – October 2003) Ann Morrison Co-Chair Senate Committee on Learning and Teaching/Faculty of Law (from February 2003) Fran Nowakowski Killam Library, author of Dalhousie web tutorial on plagiarism Jessica Squires Dalhousie Graduate Student representative (January – June 2003) Denis Stavrou Dalhousie Graduate Student representative (November 2003 – January 2004) John Yogis Panel of Student Discipline Officers/Faculty of Law (January 2003 – January 2004) Louise Young Director, Writing Workshop Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism i Final Report — May 13, 2004 Acknowledgements Writing this report would not have been possible without the support of Denise Sommerfeld, Minnie Clements, Andrea Power, and Cheryl DeLorey of the Dalhousie Senate Office. For this review of plagiarism at Dalhousie, they developed the Terms of Reference for the Committee, gathered most of the information about the policies of other institutions, provided key reports from the Senate Dis- cipline Committee files for the past five years, and worked to make it possible for the Committee to host several full day meetings. During the process of our work, they developed a database and pro- duced preliminary reports about Senate Discipline Committee decisions, previously unavailable. Their expertise and assistance informed significant pieces of our final document. We also extend our thanks to the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost for making it possible to conduct the Academic Integrity Survey at Dalhousie. Its support for the project enabled the gathering of the statistical data appearing in the report. Similarly, we thank the Office of the Vice- President, Student Services, for informing the students through its contact lists and for supporting the principles of this endeavour. The Dalhousie Student Union also deserves special thanks for appointing Joanne Macrae as the student member of our committee. Her work on behalf of students was critical to the completion of our task. The Dalhousie Student Union encouraged students to participate in all aspects of information gathering for this report, and promoted academic integrity issues whenever possible. Dr. Don McCabe from Rutgers University was also an important part of this process. He guided the implementation of the Academic Integrity Survey and provided preliminary analysis of responses. We look forward to further analysis and to Dalhousie’s participation in the Center for Academic Integrity. As the Chair of the Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism, my heartfelt thanks go to the mem- bers of the Committee for their outstanding contributions. It was a delight to work with members of the Dalhousie community who represented such diverse interests and expertise. Their dedication, enthusiasm, and mostly importantly, great humour, made this a rewarding process. It is a rare com- mittee that experiences such compatibility. Most importantly, we express our gratitude to all those who met with us, participated in various surveys we conducted, or otherwise communicated with us. Their candour was very much appreci- ated, as was the time they took to get involved with our efforts. There are a variety of views held, and we have no illusion about being able to please all, but the widespread interest gives us hope that actions based on our recommendations will have strong support. Lesley Barnes, Chair on behalf of the Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism ii Final Report — May 13, 2004 Contents 1. Introduction........................................................................................................3 2. Methodology.......................................................................................................5 3. Extent and Frequency of Plagiarism and other Forms of Cheating......................7 3.1 Plagiarism .............................................................................................................................7 3.1.1 Self-Plagiarism............................................................................................................9 3.2 Cheating on Tests ...............................................................................................................10 3.3 WebCT, On-line Distance Education Courses, Take-home Exams.....................................12 3.4 Other Forms of Cheating....................................................................................................12 3.4.1 Unauthorised Collaboration .....................................................................................12 3.4.2 Falsification of Laboratory Reports...........................................................................13 3.4.3 Falsification of Research Data...................................................................................14 3.4.4 Falsification of Bibliographies...................................................................................14 3.5 Special-needs and International Students ............................................................................15 3.5.1 Special-needs Students..............................................................................................15 3.5.2 International Students ..............................................................................................15 3.6 Who Cheats?.......................................................................................................................15 3.7 Summary.............................................................................................................................15 4. Educational Strategies and Resources................................................................17 4.1 Establish an Academic Integrity Office................................................................................17 4.2 Informing Students .............................................................................................................18 4.2.1 Registration and Calendar ........................................................................................18 4.2.2 Website ....................................................................................................................19 4.2.3 Required Writing Classes – First year .......................................................................19 4.2.4 Continuing Students ................................................................................................20 4.2.5 International Students ..............................................................................................21 4.2.6 Faculty as Sources of Information about Academic Integrity ....................................21 4.2.7 Teaching Assistants as Sources of Information about Academic Integrity..................22 4.2.8 Students Informing Students about Academic Integrity............................................22 4.2.9 Writing Workshop ...................................................................................................23 4.3 Informing Faculty ...............................................................................................................24 4.3.1 Centre for Learning and Teaching............................................................................25 4.4 Informing Teaching Assistants ............................................................................................25 4.5 Summary.............................................................................................................................26 5. The Discipline Process......................................................................................27 5.1 Offences..............................................................................................................................27 5.2 Detection of Academic Offences .........................................................................................29 5.3 Reporting Infractions ..........................................................................................................30 5.3.1 Faculty .....................................................................................................................30 5.3.2 Part-time Faculty and Sessional Instructors...............................................................31 5.3.3 Student Discipline Officers.......................................................................................31 5.3.4 Teaching Assistants...................................................................................................32 Senate ad hoc Committee on Plagiarism iii Final Report — May 13, 2004 5.3.5 Students Reporting other Students ...........................................................................33 5.4 Are the Procedures and Hearing Processes Effective? ...........................................................34 5.5 Are the Procedures and Hearing Processes Efficient? ...........................................................34 5.6 Are