E100 Notice on Academic Dishonesty

This is the basic E100 policy on academic dishonesty:

• Any student who is found to have cheated or to have plagiarized will receive an F for the course. The university defines cheating as: "dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, course assignments, alteration of records, or illegal possession of examinations." Plagiarism is defined as: "the offering of the work of someone else as your own," without full acknowledgment. If you have any doubts about what is acceptable in this course, ask your instructor.

This notice is on the printed syllabus and on the "Grading Policies" page.  Please be aware of the following facts about plagiarism and the way E100 policy is applied.

• The most common form of plagiarism is the use of verbatim passages from writings by someone else without using quotation marks and noting where the language comes from.  While we obviously can't put quotes around ordinary words or phrases just because others use them, we can signal whenever we're actually taking extended phrases, whole sentences, or larger units of writing from someone else.  When you add quote marks, you are saying, "I don't claim these are my own words."  When you omit the quote marks, you are making that claim.  If it's a false claim -- if you are actually borrowing someone else's words --  there are automatic penalties.  For a single small assignment, such as Homework, your assignment grade must automatically be an F.  If this happens on a larger scale, your course grade automatically becomes an F. 
   
• It's fine to quote other people so long as you 1) use quotation marks, 2) make sure the words you put in quotes are an exact match for what they said, and 3) state who said the words and what your source was.  When you're stating your own ideas, however, you should generally say them in your own words.  (Using someone else's words at length to convey a point usually earns less credit than formulating ideas in your own words, even when you use quote marks correctly.)
   
• For full information about IU's policy on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct, please check the following links for University policies and campus procedures:

  http://www.dsa.indiana.edu/Code/index1.html  (see Section II-G)

http://dsa.indiana.edu/Code/CodeProcedures2006-7.pdf

• Please follow this simple rule to make sure you comply with this policy:  If you have any doubts about what is acceptable, ask your instructor!