Statement
on Academic Integrity
for Brooklyn College Students
Two of the most important principles of American higher
education are academic freedom and academic honesty. Academic freedom
is the right of all members of the college community to participate
in a free and open exchange of ideas. With this freedom comes the responsibility
for academic integrity.
Brooklyn
College has adopted a policy on academic integrity:
Academic dishonesty of any type, including cheating and plagiarism,
is unacceptable at Brooklyn College. Cheating is any misrepresentation
in academic work. Plagiarism is the representation of another person's
work, words or ideas as your own. Students should consult the Brooklyn
College Student Handbook for a fuller, more specific discussion of related
academic integrity standards. Faculty are encouraged to discuss with
students the application of these standards to work in each course.
Academic dishonesty is punishable by failure of the "test, examination,
term paper, or other assignment on which cheating occurred" (Faculty
Council, May 18, 1954). In addition, disciplinary proceedings in cases
of academic dishonesty may result in penalties of admonition, warning,
censure, disciplinary probation, restitution, suspension, expulsion,
complaint to civil authorities, and ejection.
(Adopted by Policy Council, May 8, 1991)
It is unacceptable to falsify the data upon which you
base your ideas or to present the ideas of others as your own, either
intentionally or unintentionally. Academic integrity cannot tolerate
either cheating or plagiarism. Cheating is the use or attempted use
of fraud, deception or misrepresentation in any academic exercise.
Examples of cheating include:
- Use of unauthorized notes or material during an exam.
- Exchanging information with another student during an exam.
- Having another student take an exam for you.
- Tampering with an exam after it has been returned, then claiming
that the instructor made a grading error.
- Using data gathered by another student in your lab report.
- Submitting as your own work a paper written by someone else.
- Undisclosed submission of the same paper for different courses.
These are typical cheating examples, not an exhaustive list. Students
who cheat almost always are aware that what they are doing is wrong.
When in doubt, ask your instructor.
Plagiarism is representing the words or ideas of another
as one's own work in any academic exercise. The college community expects
that a student's work is a product of that student's own thought and
research. One should acknowledge ideas which originate with others or
words which are taken from another source. While students generally
know what is allowable on examinations, many are less sure about what
is allowed when writing a paper.
Some rules to follow to avoid plagiarism are:
-
Place any direct phrase from a source in quotation marks and note
it at the bottom of the page (a footnote).
-
Use a footnote when paraphrasing a source's idea, or citing data
and other facts which are not common knowledge.
-
Take clear notes in which you keep your own thoughts apart from
those you acquire during your reading so that you do not inadvertently
submit the words or ideas of others as your own.
Obviously, learning involves reading, digesting and understanding
the thoughts and ideas of experts, but always try to make your own thoughts
central in the process. A paper which consists mostly of a string of
quotes is not a good paper, even if you have avoided plagiarism by using
lots of proper footnotes.
The following plagiarism examples are reproduced by permission
of the publisher from Fredrick C. Crews, The Random House Handbook (New
York: Random House, Inc. 1987, pages 502-504).
Source: "The
joker in the European pack was Italy. For a time hopes were entertained
of her as a force against Germany, but these disappeared under Mussolini.
In 1935 Italy made a belated attempt to participate in the scramble
for Africa by invading Ethiopia. It was clearly a breach of the covenant
of the League of Nations for one of its members to attack another. France
and Great Britain, as great powers, Mediterranean powers, and African
colonial powers, were bound to take the lead against Italy at the League.
But they did so feebly and half-heartedly because they did not want
to alienate a possible ally against Germany. The result was the worst
possible: the League failed to check aggression, Ethiopia lost her independence,
and Italy was alienated after all." [J.M. Roberts, History of the New
World (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 845.]
Version A:
Italy, one might say, was the joker in the European deck.
When she invaded Ethiopia, it was clearly a breach of the covenant of
the League of Nations; yet the efforts of England and France to take
the lead against her were feeble and half-hearted. It appears that those
great powers had no wish to alienate a possible ally against Hitler's
rearmed Germany. (no footnote)
Comment:
Clearly plagiarism. Though the facts cited are public knowledge,
the stolen phrases are not. Note that the writer's interweaving of his
or her own words with the source does not make him innocent of plagiarism.
Version
B: Italy was the joker in the European deck. Under Mussolini
in 1935, she made a belated attempt to participate in the scramble for
Africa by invading Ethiopia. As J.M. Roberts points out, this violated
the covenant of the League of Nations. (1) But France and Britain, not
wanting to alienate a possible ally against Germany, put up only feeble
and half-hearted opposition to the Ethiopian adventure. The outcome,
as Roberts observes, was "the worst possible: the League failed to check
aggression, Ethiopia lost her independence, and Italy was alienated
after all." (2) (1) J.M. Roberts, History of the New World (New York:
Knopf, 1976), p 845. (2) Roberts, p. 845.
Comment:
Still plagiarism. The two correct citations of Roberts serve
as a kind of alibi for appropriating other, unacknowledged phrases.
Version C:
Much has been written about German rearmament and militarism in the
period 1933-1939. But Germany's dominance in Europe was by no means
a foregone conclusion. The fact is that the balance of power might have
tipped against Hitler if one or two things had turned out differently.
Take Italy's gravitation toward an alliance with Germany for example.
That alliance seemed so very far from inevitable that Britain and France
actually muted their criticism of the Ethiopian invasion in the hopes
of remaining friends with Italy. They opposed the Italians in the League
of Nations, as J.M. Roberts observes, "feebly and half-heartedly because
they did not want to alienate a possible ally against Germany." (1)
Suppose Italy, France and Britain had retained a certain common interest.
Would Hitler have been able to get away with his remarkable bluffing
and bullying in the later thirties? (1) J.M.Roberts, History of the
New World (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 845.
Comment:
No plagiarism. The writer has been influenced by the public facts, but
hasn't tried to pass off Robert's conclusions as his own. The one clear
borrowing is properly acknowledged.
It is your responsibility to learn the standard practices
of documentation in different fields. The examples given above cannot
cover all situations. When in doubt, discuss the matter with your instructor.
Every field has written descriptions of its accepted methods which are
available in the library. Your instructors or a librarian can refer
you to these authorities. Do not be reluctant to ask questions about
these issues in your classes.
The penalties for cheating or plagiarism begin with failure
of the particular paper or exercise and may include disciplinary sanctions,
including suspension or expulsion from the college. These penalties
apply as well to those who assist others in cheating. Students should
be aware that one's academic disciplinary record can have serious long
term implications. For example, law school admission offices require
that you have the college notify them of any disciplinary records, including
those involving academic integrity.
Recently a winner of the Nobel Prize in biology was reprimanded
because someone in his laboratory had falsified data in an experiment.
A Harvard professor and past president of a national professional society
had to resign when it was revealed that review articles which he had
authored many years previously included many unacknowledged quotes and
paraphrases from sources. The demand for absolute integrity in academic
work applies to everyone.
Similar standards apply outside of academia. Senator Joseph
Biden was forced to drop out of the 1988 presidential race after it
was discovered that he had "borrowed" a speech from a member of Parliament
in England without acknowledging it.
Adopted by Policy Council, October 29, 1991 Rev. 10/30/91
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