The Academic Integrity Policies - Essay Example

Paper 2 As I start to work on my research project for EN 102, the source I have found the most useful is _"Writing from Sources, Writing from Sentences." by Howard Rebecca Moore, Tricia Serviss, and Tanya K. Rodriguez . This source is valuable to me because _it supports my notion about the rampant nature of plagiarism among students. In this source, the author(s) argue(s) that plagiarism is still rampant in the education sector are true especially after the introduction of the internet. Culprits of this literary crime are students and, in recent times, journalists. Researchers such as Brown, Day and Sherrard discovered the correlation between summarizing, plagiarizing and patch writing (Howard, Tricia & Tanya 179). These three despite their distinct differences are all forms of plagiarism and many academic institutions recognize them as such. The academic integrity policies of various academic institutions treat patchwriting as plagiarism. Patchwriting involves the copying heavily from a source that is a writer chooses to paraphrase his or her cited sources too closely (Howard, Tricia & Tanya 179). Many academicians argue that patchwriting is not a serious academic offence; however, it is a form of academic dishonesty. The academic integrity policies refer to it as a moral failure. By patchwriting, a student fails to display his or her mastery of the subject being tested. It displays the lack of effort in understanding the content and fosters habits that are detrimental to the learning process. Patchwriting is often because of writers trying to summarize or paraphrase cited texts. Patchwriting is not only confined to students, but professors also fall victim to this act. According to Roig, a substantial number of psychology professor patchwrite content that is not in their field (Howard, Tricia & Tanya 179). Other researchers such as Howard argue that patchwriting is a form of learning tactic employed by students and not a literary crime (Howard, Tricia & Tanya 179). Non-native speakers of English patchwrite their academic work despite their academic level. In Pecorari’s research on patchwriting (), it was found that non-native English speaking students used this technique even in their dissertations (Howard, Tricia & Tanya 179). These findings were collaborated by Shi (2004) who researched the practice in Chinese college students. 2. The Marymount University Academic Integrity Policy details the values and principles that aid in maintaining academic integrity in the institution. Academic integrity, in this institution, is comprised of several values that characterize the policy. There is honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. These five principles ensure that students abide by the policy as it encourages accountability in their actions. The institution also tutors its community members in the policy to increase the standards education in the institution. The violation of these principles is not tolerated at the institution. The philosophy behind this integrity policy seeks to deter dishonest actions in academic matters, plagiarism being one of them. Any violation of the policy by students often leads to suspension of the perpetrator. The student is also eligible to expulsion or failing the course. The students are also subject to remedial units that help them in abiding to the school’s philosophy. Cheating is one of the violations that lead to the disciplining of students. The school identifies cheating as the act of possessing unauthorized materials during academic exercises. Cheating covers a broad range of activities that are considered illegal and against the school’s beliefs. The students who ardently prepare to cheat during a class exercise are eligible to more serious disciplinary action by the school. While those who panic and cheat during an exercise face less severe punishment as their aforementioned counterparts. The penalty for this violation, cheating varies from redoing the exercise to failing the course. Plagiarism is another offence that is considered foul by this institution. Students who are not keen in doing their assignments usually commit this offence. These students often copy-paste work available in websites or fail to acknowledge the authors of their borrowed work. In addition, the failure to properly cite their assignment falls under this category of violation. This violation falls right under the academic and, as stated earlier, it is considered as academic dishonesty. The penalties for this violation is comprehensive, to say the least. The student is subject to grade penalties and subsequent failure of the course. Falsification is the other violation in the academic integrity policy. This violation is a spin-off of plagiarism as the student invents work or citation during an academic exercise. The false misrepresentation of class attendance, class participation, internship and any other class activity are also categorized as falsification. The penalty for this violation is similar to that plagiarism but the student is also subject to being suspended from the institution. The last violation according to this policy is the abetting or facilitation of academic dishonesty. This is whereby fellow students assist the perpetrator to commit the abovementioned violations. The benefactor from this violation is subject to both course failure and suspension. One the other hand, the one who abets in the act, is subject to being suspended from the institution. The academic integrity policy also dictates the process of handling these violations. The actions taken to punish the violations include a warning letter to the student who violates the policy. Other measures include conferences to discuss the punishment for the violations, academic integrity hearings, peer-review committees among others. The policy is not exclusive to students only; other academic personnel are also subject to penalties. An appeal process is reserved for any party that is dissatisfied with the verdict of the committees. The people responsible in enforcing the academic integrity policy are divided into several committees. First there is an executive committee that informs all educational personnel in the institution on new information regarding academic integration. The committee also reassesses the integrity policy on an annual basis to incorporate any new changes in the integrity sector. Other persons and committees that enforce the policy include the academic integrity coordinator and a panel of faculty and students each with their respective duties. 3. There are distinct differences between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing texts from academic works. In addition, the three techniques are the only way a writer can incorporate his or her citations into an academic assignment. The three are often not well understood by students and are often interchanged. To replicate a paragraph or line from an academic work, one has to use quotations (Driscoll, Dana Lynn & Llen n.d). A student should acknowledge the author of the quote and failure to do so violates academic integrity. The second technique is paraphrasing that involves the student representing the source material in his or her own wording (Driscoll, Dana Lynn & Llen n.d). The student is obliged to recognize the author of the source material after the paraphrased text. Finally yet importantly, is summarizing which involves the student writing down the interpretation of the source material in his or her own words. The student should mention the main points in the source material and acknowledge the author of the material (Driscoll, Dana Lynn & Llen n.d). The combination of the three techniques helps a student to write academic materials that are relevant to the topic of the assignment. Furthermore, the student abides by the academic integrity policy of their institution. Works Cited Howard Rebecca Moore, Tricia Serviss, and Tanya K. Rodriguez. "Writing from Sources, Writing from Sentences." Equinox Publishing 22 (2010): 177-92. Print. Driscoll, Dana Lynn, and Llen Brizee. "Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing." Purdue Owl. N.p., n.d. Web. Marymount University Academic Integrity Policy Read More