The Honor Code: Plagiarism and Journals CHARTERED 1693
What you should get out of this lecture: 1. What plagiarism is and isn t under The Honor Code. 2. Tips for preventing plagiarism in your work. 3. Consequences of plagiarism and Honor Council Procedures 4. Confidence
What you shouldn t get out of this lecture. Your Journal s specific methods and standards of citation. Your Journal s specific policies on reporting possible plagiarism. Your Journal s disciplinary policies. Your Journal s requirements for drafts.
Plagiarism will destroy your Journal s reputation, our law school s reputation, and YOUR reputation. Plagiarism is easy to avoid, and easy to catch. Ignorance of the Honor Code is not an excuse.
Plagiarism is Honor Code Definition: Plagiarism occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas, or phrasing of another as if they were his or her own and does not give appropriate credit to the original source.
The Mens Rea of Plagiarism There s no such thing as accidental plagiarism under the Honor Code. 1. Intent to Deceive E.g. I want you to think I wrote this, even though I know it s not my work. 2. Reckless Disregard for Proper Scholarly Procedure What is a Reckless Disregard? when a significant amount of improperly attributed material is presented as if it were the student s own work. What is Proper Scholarly Procedure? Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks, or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source.
Following Proper Scholarly Procedures Your Journal may have specific scholarly procedures and citation methods for you to follow. Remember plagiarism is not simply failing to follow scholarly procedure it s when doing so falsely attributes work that is not yours, as your own. The Honor Council is required to use the Code s definition of Proper Scholarly Procedures which is basic and simple. Meeting the Code s requirements does not mean you satisfy your Journal s requirements know both.
Determining Intent How does the Council determine whether a student acted with Intent to Deceive or Reckless Disregard? The Honor Code says: While any amount of improperly unattributed material may be sufficient to find plagiarism, a student may be presumed to have acted with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures when a significant amount of improperly attributed material is presented as if it were the student s own work. Determining what constitutes a significant amount is a case-by-case basis made by the Council. Thus, whether a submission rises to plagiarism often depends on how much material is falsely attributed to the student. Reckless Disregard is much more than an honest mistake we are all human, mistakes will be made. We are looking for a significant amount which could not be the result of an honest mistake.
Plagiarism isn t Quoted text, with proper citation The Yankees rule. Versfelt, Best Lecture Ever, THE HONOR COUNCIL (2011), at 10. Paraphrased text, with proper citation The Yankees boast a tradition of dominance. Versfelt, Best Lecture Ever, THE HONOR COUNCIL (2011), at 10. Unoriginal argument, with proper citation Versfelt argues that the fact that the Yankees generate obscene revenues is no reason to hate. Versfelt, Best Lecture Ever, THE HONOR COUNCIL (2010), at 10. Borrowed citation, with proper citation One scholar noted At least we can all agree to despise the Red Sox. Versfelt, Best Lecture Ever, THE HONOR COUNCIL (2011), at 10 (quoting Gordon, Second Best Lecture Ever, THE HONOR COUNCIL (2010), at 9). Proper Citation is the key
Why Some Students Plagiarize: The following are from From Matthew C. Mirow, Plagiarism: A Workshop for Law Students, LEXIS-NEXIS Legal Research and Writing Course Kit (1996): 1. a desire to be accurate and not to misstate the law; 2. not wanting to take the time, or not having the time, to analyze the law fully; 3. a false sense that the court expresses the law so much better than you can, so you should just use its words; and 4. a false sense that the rule from a case is so technical that if you change anything you will be getting the law wrong. OR: The student is ignorant of, or chooses to ignore, proper scholarly procedures. -Once again, Ignorance of the Code or Proper Scholarly Procedures is not an excuse.
Preventing Plagiarism: General Tips For Writing Your Note 1. Always cite. When in doubt, cite. When a statement does not have a cite, the reader assumes it is your original work! Most sentences in a journal article should have a cite. 2. Cite to all of your sources starting in the first draft. Do not wait and fill in your cites later, you might forget. Citing as you go saves time and ensures accuracy. The Honor Code applies to all submissions - while a draft might have relaxed standards of scholarly procedure, the code always applies. 3. Do not procrastinate. Rushing leads to citation errors, which can contribute to a reckless disregard. 4. Ask your Notes Editor. Your Journal may have specific policies about citation Your note editor will help you cite correctly and properly.
6 Basic Rules of Citation (Your Journal may have more specific policies) Source: These are taken directly from The Committee on Academic Integrity, Citing Responsibly: A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism, George Washington University Law School, 2008-2009, available at http://www.law.gwu.edu/academics/documents/ Academic%20Integrity/0809_citingresponsibly.pdf 1. Cite the source of any direct quotation, and indicate that the material is quoted by enclosing it in quotation marks or using block quote format. 2. Cite any sources from which language, facts, or ideas have been paraphrased or summarized. 3. Cite the source of an idea; in addition, cite the source of information that might be considered common knowledge in two situations: a) when you learned of the information from the source, or b) when the reader might find the information unfamiliar.
6 Basic Rules of Citation, cont d Source: These are taken directly from The Committee on Academic Integrity, Citing Responsibly: A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism, George Washington University Law School, 2008-2009, available at http://www.law.gwu.edu/academics/ Documents/Academic%20Integrity/0809_citingresponsibly.pdf 4. Cite sources when they add relevant information to the topic or argument discussed in your work. Sources that add relevant information should be cited after your original text using an appropriate signal, such as see generally, and a parenthetical describing the relevance of each source. 5. Cite sources for information taken from specialized materials, such as lectures, recordings, films, interviews, letters, unpublished manuscripts, charts, [or] tables. 6. Cite only the sources upon which you directly rely for authority. For example, if you take information from a law review article, you should cite the law review article. It would be impermissible to cite directly to the sources in the article s footnotes. Only sources you have read yourself should be directly cited.
The Honor Code and Journal Procedures The Honor Code governs all submissions, including drafts, but context matters. For example if your journal does not require citation for a certain draft, then it s okay to follow your journal. We recommend citing on every draft, regardless of the requirements. Ignorance of your Journal s expectations is not an excuse. Always ask your journal what the requirements are if in doubt.
Prevention is our Goal We do not want to see accusations. If you are trying to avoid plagiarism, you will avoid it. When in doubt, ask your editors, ask us. Plagiarism will catch up to you as an attorney
The Consequences of Plagiarism The standard punishment for Plagiarism, as with all charges under The Honor Code, is Separation from the College, including expulsion. The Council has received at least one Plagiarism accusation per year for the last few years. The College Administration specifically asked the Council to assist the Journals in preventing plagiarism.
Honor Council Procedures for Plagiarism An accusation of plagiarism proceeds like all other Honor Code accusations. Your Journal may make policies on reporting and detecting plagiarism, but all accusations proceed the same way once given to the Council. Honor Code accusations are not optional if a student is suspected of plagiarism, an accusation must be made. Once the Honor Council receives the charge: 1. The Chief Justice will determine whether the charge is trivial 2. If the accusation is not deemed trivial, the Chief Justice appoints an Investigating Committee to investigate the charge. 3. The Investigating Committee submits a report to a Sufficient Evidence Panel. 4. The Sufficient Evidence Panel determines if the charge is sufficiently supported by the Evidence. 5. If the evidence sufficiently supports the charge, the charge goes to a hearing panel for a determination of guilt or innocence. 6. If the accused is declared guilty, a sanction is issued by the panel.
How the Council Investigates Plagiarism The Investigating Committee will thoroughly analyze any suspected piece of writing. Some of our methods for analyzing the paper include: Google every sentence in the paper Scrutinize student s sources and independent sources for plagiarized material Search all sentences or portions of sentences in Westlaw and Lexis Access student s Westlaw and Lexis history, investigate sources the student used. Use plagiarism detection tools such as SafeAssign
Resources Jimmy Dougherty, Chief Justice jamesiandougherty@gmail.com James Evans, Deputy Chief Justice jeevan@email.wm.edu Jordan Evans, CEC Chair w.jordan.evans@gmail.com Will Versfelt, CEC Journal Liaison wversfelt@gmail.com