Plagiarism: Policy and Discipline

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Plagiarism Policy and Discipline

• University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Edwin Greenlee
• Associate Director for Public Services
• Biddle Law Library
• egreenle_at_law.upenn.edu

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The policy from the law schools student handbook
follows. Note the acts which constitute
plagiarism and the various levels of
intent.(Code of Student Conduct
Responsibility-Policy on Plagiarism)
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B. It shall constitute a violation of this Code
for any student enrolled in the Law School
purposefully, knowingly, or recklessly to engage
in the following conduct 13. The submission of
plagiarized work in an academic pursuit including
any use of another's work without attribution,
whether such use be verbatim or merely conceptual
or structural.
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TYPICAL PROBLEMS

• Directly taking one of more sentences from the
  source document without both the use of quotation
  marks and dropping a footnote
• Directly taking one or more sentences and
  changing a few words without both the use of
  quotation marks and dropping a footnote and
  indicating the changes in the text.
• Borrowing ideas (concepts, structural elements)
  directly from the source without dropping a
  footnote.

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Sample Error

• Changing a few works in a sentence and then
  lifting it without quotation marks or dropping a
  footnote.

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Student essay In striking down the right of the
courthouses to offer these displays, the court
examined the trial court record for the
progression of evidence leading to the display of
the Commandments. --------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
------------------- Source article In
affirming, the Court majority examined the
District Court's issuance of an injunction
barring the two displays under the only case in
which it addressed a similar issue, Stone v.
Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980). It examined the
record for the progression of evidence leading up
to the third display of the Commandments. No
secular purpose justified the counties' third set
of displays, despite the fact that the
Commandments were displayed with important
government documents, since no evidence showed
the counties had modified the religious objective
so clearly set forth in the prior displays, the
majority reasoned.
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Other errors

• Borrowing conceptual or structural elements from
  a source document without attribution

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Typical Excuses

• It was a common fact so I did not think I needed
  to use quote marks and a citation
• Its only an early draft
• The editors will add the footnotes later
• Its part of the culture
• Everyone does it

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Punishment

• Set out in the Code of Student Conduct-Policy on
  Plagiarism

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XII. Punishment and Publication A. For each
act of misconduct in violation of the Code of
Student Conduct and Responsibility, a student may
be punished by any regulation of the offending
student's connection with the University.
Possible punishments include, but are not limited
to warning, reprimand, probation, exclusion from
one or more specified Law School activities,
deprivation of credit, suspension or expulsion.
Punishment shall be determined by a majority vote
of the Committee.
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B. If necessary to redress the misconduct, the
Committee may require notification of the
judgment of the Committee be provided to parties
who have been subject to the misconduct. C.
Upon a finding of guilt, the Committee may order
that any part of the proceedings, including the
judgment and opinion, be entered in the student's
official Law School file. Further, in accordance
with applicable law, the judgment and opinion may
be disseminated to bar examiners and employers. A
statement summarizing the nature of the
misconduct and its punishment shall be published
upon final judgment without identifying the
accused student, except where, for good cause
stated in a report to the Committee on Student
Conduct and Responsibility, the Dean or Dean's
representative decides to delay said publication.
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Cautions

• Take care in note taking keep the bibliographic
  information
• Use quotation marks when you use all or part of a
  sentence from the source document
• Footnote concepts or structural elements borrowed
  from another writer
• ASK QUESTIONS if you are uncertain