Plagiarism in English Classes
at Maricopa Community Colleges
Definition: In an
instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses
someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge)
material without acknowledging its source.
Council of Writing Program Administrators
English instructors in the Maricopa
Community Colleges are expected to take plagiarism seriously; it is
academic misconduct. Since the real goal is prevention, instructors
should take special care in providing instruction to help students
understand what plagiarism is, keeping in mind the level of the class
and the need to distinguish careless or inadequate citations or use of
the words of others from deliberate acts of plagiarism.
Some common examples of plagiarism of
English assignments are the use of paraphrase or quotes from another
writer without documentation, copying all or parts of another writer’s
paper, having another writer do the paper, and purchasing another
writer’s paper.
In cases where instructors have carefully
considered the evidence and concluded that a student has deliberately
plagiarized, instructors should use districtwide sanctions provided in
campus student handbooks. Sanctions available to instructors are:
- A written warning to the student that s/he has violated the academic code
- Lowering the assignment or course grade
- Giving discretionary, additional assignments
- Course failure
Additionally, the
instructor may recommend to the department chair and dean of instruction
any of the following:
- Academic probation
- Suspension from the college
- Expulsion from the college
At a minimum, instructors should clearly
state in detail their plagiarism policy – including consequences --
in the class syllabus and provide an oral explanation of that policy
as well. The English Instructional Council strongly urges
course failure as the sanction to be imposed when major assignments
are found to be deliberately plagiarized
