Policies and Guidelines

Plagiarism

'Misconduct' is viewed seriously by both the School and the University (see SoN Policies regarding Student Misconduct and Professional Conduct). The School supports the University's view that plagiarism represents academic misconduct of a serious nature.

Students and faculty are directed to the UBC Calendar for information regarding the University's guidelines about plagiarism and accompanying academic consequences.

Some excellent resources to help you learn about plagiarism, its accompanying academic consequences, and how to avoid them include: The UBC Faculty of Arts' website and document Plagiarism Avoided: Taking Responsibility for your Work and The UBC Library's Plagiarism Resource Centre website.

Plagiaristic Behaviors
As stated in the UBC Calendar, plagiarism is "a form of academic misconduct in which an individual submits or presents the work of another person as his or her own." The Faculty of Arts Booklet and/or Website offer examples of plagiaristic behaviors, including:

• Copying entire works or blocks of material from another source such as journals, articles, books, other students' work, the Internet, and presenting it as your own work. (complete plagiarism)
• Submitting the same work (presumably your own) for two different assignments, even if the assignments were carried out at different institutions ('dovetailing'; reckless plagiarism)
• Taking bits of work such as phrases or sentences from other sources and putting them together in an essay/paper presented as your own ('piecemeal'; reckless plagiarism)
• Paraphrasing or rephrasing the words of others into your own work without acknowledging the original source(s) (reckless plagiarism)
• Taking another person's idea, without your own critical analysis added and without acknowledging the original source (reckless plagiarism)
• Submitting work with inaccurate text references, or incomplete references/bibliographies (reckless plagiarism)

All actions of plagiarism have an automatic consequence or penalty. Both students and faculty are responsible and accountable for reading and absorbing both this policy and the references cited (such as the relevant University Policies), to ensure a shared understanding of plagiaristic behavior and its consequences. Student and faculty discussion about this issue is encouraged throughout the program.

The following assumptions and actions guide nursing faculty response to issues of student plagiarism. Within the School, there are three possible levels of response to issues related to plagiarism:

Level One - Poor Scholarship: At this level, in the opinion of faculty, a student is being slack, careless, or casual in writing style. The work may be of an uneven nature, as though parts are written by different people, and may show inexperience with or disregard of accepted referencing practices. In such instances, faculty will:

• Strongly advise students that such practices place them at serious risk for charges of plagiarism, ensuring that they fully understand what that means.
• Place a record of the conversation in the student's file (eg: a copy of written faculty feedback where the issue was explained; a note recording the conversation).

Faculty may approach course leaders, program coordinators, or the Director (or designate) for discussion, advisement, and consequence/penalty decision-making purposes. Faculty may impose penalties such as marks deduction for general poor formatting, referencing, or writing style.

Level Two - Natural Consequence: At this level, plagiaristic behaviors are of a more serious nature; concerns are explicitly linked to plagiarism, as opposed to a more general concern of poor scholarship. In order to ensure consistency in decision-making and to protect the student's right to appeal, the Director (or designate) must be involved in discussion, advisement, and decision-making. Course leaders and/or program coordinators may also be consulted in making the decision that the incident is a Level Two issue. Penalties may be decided on within the School at this level, and may include natural consequences such as a zero grade for a paper or the course.

Level Three - Academic Penalty: The Director (or designate) may decide that the issue is of a serious enough nature to warrant academic penalty (such as suspension from the University). Considerations for academic penalty are forwarded by the Director to the Office of the Dean, who will review the case and submit recommendations to the President's Advisory Committee on Student Discipline.

For an academic penalty, the student is entitled to appeal to the Senate Committee on Appeals on Academic Discipline; for a natural consequence the student is entitled to appeal to the Senate Committee on Appeals on Academic Standing.

Approved July 2002, Faculty Caucus, UBC School of Nursing