Plagiarism: Definitions, Examples and Penalties

The University of Kentucky

Department of Chemistry

[University Definition]   [Procedures and Penalties]   [Examples]

University Definition

As indicated in the excerpt below, plagiarism is more than simply copying someone else's lab report. Possible penalties for academic offenses such as plagiarism or cheating on exams range from an "E" for the course (the minimum penalty!) to expulsion from the University.

The salient points of the University code are reproduced here. This listing is by no means complete. For the complete text of these sections see the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook. We have added emphasis to the sections to which students should pay particular attention.

6.3.1 PLAGIARISM

All academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression. In cases where students feel unsure about a question of plagiarism involving their work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.

When students submit work purporting to be their own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgment of the fact, the students are guilty of plagiarism.

Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else's work, whether it be a published article, chapter of a book, a paper from a friend or some file, or whatever. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise the work which a student submits as his/her own, whoever that other person may be. Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student, and the student alone.

When a student's assignment involves research in outside sources or information, the student must carefully acknowledge exactly what, where and how he/she has employed them. If the words of someone else are used, the student must put quotation marks around the passage in question and add an appropriate indication of its origin. Making simple changes while leaving the organization, content and phraseology intact is plagiaristic. However, nothing in these Rules shall apply to those ideas which are so generally and freely circulated as to be a part of the public domain.

6.3.2 CHEATING

Cheating is defined by its general usage. It includes, but is not limited to, the wrongfully giving, taking, or presenting any information or material by a student with the intent of aiding himself/herself or another on any academic work which is considered in any way in the determination of the final grade. Any question of definition shall be referred to the University Appeals Board.

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Procedures and Penalties

The MINIMUM University penalty for plagiarism is an E in the course.

The following abridged excerpt from the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook is provided for your benefit. Please consult this handbook for additional details.

6.4.0 DISPOSITION OF CASES OF ACADEMIC OFFENSES

6.4.1 RESPONSIBILITY OF INSTRUCTOR AND DEPARTMENT CHAIR

An instructor who suspects that a student has committed an academic offense shall consult with the department chair, or the designee of the chair, as soon as practical after the instructor develops the suspicion. If the instructor is also the department chair, he or she shall consult with the Dean or the college's designee. Prior to consultation, however, the instructor may take action to prove or detect an academic offense or preserve evidence of same. In taking such action the instructor should minimize disruption and embarrassment to the student(s).

The instructor and department chair shall review the evidence of an academic offense, ask the dean of their college to inquire of the registrar concerning prior academic offenses, and decide on an appropriate course of action. (See 6.4.9 and 6.4.10) If the evidence warrants an accusation of an academic offense, the student shall be invited to meet with the instructor and department chair. The student shall be informed of the charge and given an opportunity to state his or her case. The student shall be informed of the possible penalties that may be imposed or recommended. If the student is not reasonably available or fails to attend the meeting, the instructor, with the approval of the department chair, shall inform the student in person (preferably in the presence of a witness or a signed receipt from the student) or by certified mail (to the local address as contained in the Registrar's Office) of the evidence, charges, and possible penalties.

The instructor and department chair shall decide on an appropriate penalty. If there is disagreement the department chair shall prevail. The instructor and department chair may impose one or more of the following penalties in the event they determine an academic offense has occurred.

1. Assign a grade of E for the course in which the offense occurred (the minimum penalty).

2. Recommend to the Dean of their college or to the Dean of the Graduate School, if appropriate, that the student be suspended, dismissed or expelled.

The determination or recommendation of the instructor and department chair shall be made within 7 working days after the accusation is made, unless the student consents in writing to an extension of this time. The determination or recommendation shall be made in writing to their dean or to the Dean of the Graduate School, if appropriate, with copies to the student and the dean of the student's college, if he or she is enrolled in another college. The student shall be notified in person (preferably in the presence of a witness or a signed receipt from the student) or by certified mail (to the local address as contained in the Registrar's Office). If the offense also involves a violation of Part I, Code of Student Conduct, the report shall also be sent to the Dean of Students.

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Examples of Plagiarism

Note: Unless the instructor has told you explicitly that you can collaborate on a homework assignment or report, all the work you turn in must be your own. If the work is collaborative, the names of ALL the participants should be on it.

Most commonly, this involves using one or more sentences verbatim from your original source (with or without footnotes). This is completely unacceptable. If you copy your source text you must put the passage in quotes or offset the passage. However, extensive quoting of this nature is generally frowned upon in scientific writing and indicates that you have made little original contribution to the work.

Do not be fooled into thinking that you can copy sentences from textbooks or journal articles and get away with it. The shift in your writing style is usually quite obvious as is the ease with which you suddenly start discussing unfamiliar terms or concepts. Your instructors know far more about the subject material than you do and are quite familiar with the common sources of information on each subject.

The best way to avoid accidental copying (it is a still a violation whether you meant to or not), is to read the passage and then express it in your own words. Afterwards, compare your text to the original and make sure that they are sufficiently different. Take care to avoid paraphrasing (simple rewording, Example 3).

Example 2: Direct copying from original sources, but with footnotes

Assembling sentences or passages from various documents and putting a footnote at the end of each sentence or paragraph is still plagiarism. None of the words in the passage are your own (and probably very little of the organization, too).

Consider: One could not copy a $75 text, put a footnote after each sentence and then sell it as his own original textbook for $35. Likewise, you can not do the same with a lab report or other assignment.

Example 3: Rewording a sentence (paraphrasing)

This is one of the most common mistakes that students make. You can not simply reword a sentence. This is best shown by example. Consider the following sentence from Angelici (Synthesis and Technique in Inorganic Chemistry, p 46):
"Those complexes that contain unpaired electrons are attracted into a magnetic field and are said to be paramagnetic, while those with no unpaired electrons are repelled by such a field and are called diamagnetic"

The following permutations are unacceptable changes in wording:
• "Complexes that contain unpaired electrons are those that are attracted to a magnetic field. These are called paramagnetic, while those with no unpaired electrons are repelled by a magnetic field and are said to be diamagnetic."

• "Those complexes that contain paired electrons are repelled by a magnetic field and are said to be diamagnetic, whereas those with no paired electrons are attracted to such a field and are called paramagnetic."

• "Compounds that have unpaired electrons are attracted to a magnetic field and are called paramagnetic. Compounds with no unpaired electrons are repelled by this field and are said to be diamagnetic."

Yes, sometimes there is no good way to make the sentence substantially different and still convey the information with the same effectiveness. It is perhaps OK to do this once or twice in an assignment, but certainly no more than that. Remember, the wording must be your own! Express information in your own words.

Remember: Paraphrasing is plagiarism!!!

This is also fairly common because many introductions, for example, tend to follow the same pattern of organization. However, beyond the first sentence or two, there is plenty of room for divergence.

Avoid the trap of following the organization and content of your source too closely by making sure that you collate the ideas to be presented and then express them in your own fashion. You may still follow elements of another author's organization, but make sure that you haven't copied sentences verbatim or paraphrased the original work!

ALL work submitted must be your own, even if you worked with a lab partner, unless specified otherwise by the instructor. Here are a few of the more common examples:
• Copying someone's homework and turning it in as your own.

  This is easily detected, easily proved and will be harshly punished. You can work together on assignments, but whatever you turn in must be your own work.

• Identical passages in laboratory reports.

  You and your lab partner (unless otherwise indicated) are to prepare independent laboratory reports. ALL aspects of the written report should differ. Even the Experimental section should differ because you need to express what you did in your own words!

• Copying or using a laboratory report from a previous semester.

  This is a great way to find out firsthand what it is like to be suspended or expelled from the University. Direct copying or even using an old lab report as a template are violations. Contrary to what you may think, this is also easily detected. Students have unique writing styles that can be easily spotted. In addition, some instructors photocopy old lab reports at random.

• Submitting someone else's computer input/output as your own

  Assignments that require you to generate computer input or output files as part of the assignment are usually assigned on an individual basis. Copying another student's files or printouts is plagiarism. If you work on the assignment with a lab partner, you must BOTH have made a contribution to the work done on the computer -- one person can not do it and simply give it to his/her partner.

Anytime you present a new fact that is not immediately obvious to someone in the field (or at your level of knowledge), you should provide a footnote reference to the source material. Ideally, this will be a reference to the primary literature (usually a scientific journal or sometimes a book).

Some examples of items that need to be referenced/footnoted:

• Data obtained by other researchers such as melting points, NMR shifts etc.

• Any sentence or passage that is used verbatim or paraphrased. Caution: do not overuse this option (see Example 2 above).

• Concepts, ideas or conclusions that are not intuitively obvious and are not your own.

• Drawings, charts, graphs etc. that you copied from elsewhere.

• Laboratory procedures followed; usually your lab manual or an original research article.

• Almost anything else that is not your own work.

Statements such as "benzene is aromatic" do not need to be footnoted, but something such as "ferrocene is an aromatic molecule which has been shown to be more reactive than benzene in aromatic substitution reactions" requires a footnote. In the previous example the phrase "has been shown" should elicit the response "BY WHOM???" Whenever you can ask a question like this, you probably need to footnote.

Bottom line: If it isn't your work and/or you aren't sure what to do, footnote it. Ask your instructor BEFORE you turn in the work.

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This page was last updated December 12, 1998 with visits since then February 1998.

This document and associated figures are copyright 1996-1998 by Rob Toreki. All rights reserved.