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Teaching at SU
Maintaining Academic Integrity In The Educational Arena
The following resources suggest pedagogical strategies for creating an educational environment
for students that promotes academic integrity. A brief annotated account of each resource is
provided, as well as the link allowing access to the information in its entirety.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism and the Web
Bruce Leland, Western Illinois University
This paper is a response to the challenge that paper mill websites pose for
faculty. In addition to recommending several traditional strategies (i.e., assigning specific
research topics; requiring specific paper components – recent sources, interviews with experts,
annotated bibliography) the response also includes a number of innovative suggestions, including
having students analyze weak papers from a paper mill, using ethical issues raised by paper mills as
a writing assignment, assigning peer reviews of students’ written work, and requiring students to
write a transmittal letter in class.
The complete response with an elaboration on each of these strategies is
available at:
http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl/wiu/plagiarism.htm
Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
Robert Harris, author of The Plagiarism Handbook, Pyrczak Publishing, Los Angeles, 2001.
This article is a synopsis of the book, The Plagiarism Handbook. In
response to the ease in which students can access electronic resources for assistance in the
creation of research papers, Harris discusses strategies for faculty to increase their awareness of
academic integrity and techniques to prevent academic dishonesty. Several awareness strategies are
discussed, including understanding why students cheat, educating yourself and students about the
common forms of plagiarism, discussing the benefits of citing sources, and making the penalties for
academic dishonesty clear. Harris also suggests various preventive strategies, including making the
assignment clear, providing a list of specific topics, and requiring specific paper components,
process steps, oral reports, annotated bibliography, current references, and a metalearning essay.
The complete article which elaborates on these strategies can be found
at:
http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm
E-cheating: Combating a 21st Century Challenge
Kim McMurtry, T.H.E. Journal Online, November 2001.
The author, an English faculty member, provides a brief discussion of
several national studies that address plagiarism and how the web has contributed to the ease in
which students can choose to act dishonestly. The majority of the article, however, focuses on
suggestions for faculty in “combating e-cheating.” These include: taking time to explain and discuss
your academic integrity policy with students, designing writing assignments with specific goals and
instructions, knowing what is available online before assigning a paper, giving students enough time
to complete an assignment, and requiring students to make an oral presentation or submit a letter of
transferal. McMurtry also includes a discussion on plagiarism search services.
For a more detailed discussion, the article can be accessed at:
http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/articleprintversion.cfm?aid=3724
Collaboration
Unauthorized Collaboration: What Students Need to Know
University of California, Davis
This information sheet, provided by Student Judicial Affairs at the University of California –
Davis, defines collaboration as working with others to complete graded work. Students, however, can
only follow the ground rules for collaboration if they are clearly established by the faculty. It is
argued that there is a place in the educational experience for both collaborative and individual
work. Collaboration enhances students’ ability to work with others, while individual work builds
their knowledge and skill base. Examples of unauthorized collaboration are included, as well as
explanation for why each situation constitutes academic dishonesty.
Best Practices
A Community of Integrity
Kansas State University Faculty “Best Practices”
This site highlights some of the best practices of faculty members at Kansas State University in
providing an educational environment that promotes academic honesty. Ten faculty members share their
strategies in the areas of collaboration/group work, exams, syllabus, the internet, and citation of
sources.
The best practices can be viewed at:
http://www.k-state.edu/honor/faculty/facbestprac.htm
Creating a Culture of Academic Integrity
Integrity: Academic and Political – A Letter to My Students
Bill Taylor, Oakton Community College
The letter shares Taylor’s perspective on why integrity is an integral part of not only the
educational experience, but life. He states, “If we don’t have integrity in the small things, if we
find it possible to justify plagiarism or cheating or shoddy work in things that don’t seem
important, how will we resist doing the same in areas that really do matter, in areas where money
might be at stake, or the possibility of advancement, or our esteem in the eyes of others?” He
continues by sharing specific examples of what academic integrity requires of him (as a faculty
member) and the students in the areas of class preparation, class attendance and participation,
examinations, written assignments, and grades. Taylor concludes by stating that, “academic
integrity, as with so much in life, involves a system of interconnected rights and responsibilities
that reflect our mutual dependence upon one another.”
The letter is available at:
http://www.rochester.edu/college/honesty/docs/Letter_To_My_Students.pdf
What Can We Do About Student Cheating?
Sally Cole and Elizabeth Kiss, About Campus, May-June 2000, pg 6-13.
The authors address two approaches to the topic of academic integrity. One approach is based on
changing cheating behaviors by making it more difficult for students to cheat and finding ways for
faculty to more easily detect cheating. Although this approach is useful in addressing academic
dishonesty, the authors argue that if used exclusively, it is not sufficient. They suggest a more
broadly focused approach that creates an educational community valuing academic integrity and
focusing on the moral and ethical development of students. Specific strategies for developing both
approaches are included in the article.
The article can be accessed at:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/101521509/PDFSTARTSource (click on: Full
Text: PDF)
Ten Principles of Academic Integrity for Faculty
These “Ten Principles” are endorsed by the Center for Academic Integrity,
Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University and first appeared as "Faculty and Academic Integrity"
in the Summer 1997 issue of Synthesis: Law and Policy in Higher Education, Gary Pavela, Editor.
- Affirm the importance of academic integrity.
Institutions of higher education are dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Faculty members need to
affirm that the pursuit of truth is grounded in certain core values, including diligence,
civility, and honesty.
- Foster a love of learning.
A commitment to academic integrity is reinforced by high academic standards. Most students will
thrive in an atmosphere where academic work is seen as challenging, relevant, useful, and fair.
- Treat students as ends in themselves.
Faculty members should treat their students as ends in themselves - deserving individual attention
and consideration. Students will generally reciprocate by respecting the best values of their
teachers, including a commitment to academic integrity.
- Foster an environment of trust in the classroom.
Most students are mature adults, and value an environment free of arbitrary rules and trivial
assignments, where trust is earned, and given.
- Encourage student responsibility for academic integrity.
With proper guidance, students can be given significant responsibility to help promote and protect
the highest standards of academic integrity. Students want to work in communities where
competition is fair, integrity is respected, and cheating is punished. They understand that one of
the greatest inducements to engaging in academic dishonesty is the perception that academic
dishonesty is rampant.
- Clarify expectations for students.
Faculty members have primary responsibility for designing and cultivating the educational
environment and experience. They must clarify their expectations in advance regarding honesty in
academic work, including the nature and scope of student collaboration. Most students want such
guidance, and welcome it in course syllabi, carefully reviewed by their teachers in class.
- Develop fair and relevant forms of assessment.
Students expect their academic work to be fairly and fully assessed. Faculty members should use -
and continuously evaluate and revise - forms of assessment that require active and creative
thought, and promote learning opportunities for students.
- Reduce opportunities to engage in academic dishonesty.
Prevention is a critical line of defense against academic dishonesty. Students should not be
tempted or induced to engage in acts of academic dishonesty by ambiguous policies, undefined or
unrealistic standards for collaboration, inadequate classroom management, or poor examination
security.
- Challenge academic dishonesty when it occurs.
Students observe how faculty members behave, and what values they embrace. Faculty members who
ignore or trivialize academic dishonesty send the message that the core values of academic life,
and community life in general, are not worth any significant effort to enforce.
- Help define and support campus-wide academic integrity standards.
Acts of academic dishonesty by individual students can occur across
artificial divisions of departments and schools. Although faculty members should be the primary
role models for academic integrity, responsibility for defining, promoting, and protecting
academic integrity must be a community-wide concern - not only to identify repeat offenders and
apply consistent due process procedures but also to affirm the shared values that make colleges
and universities true communities.
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