ECC Department of English Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's written words or ideas as one's own. Students are guilty of plagiarism if they submit as their own work:

• part or all of a written assignment copied from another person's manuscript or notes
• part or all of an assignment copied or paraphrased from a source, such as a book, magazine, pamphlet or electronic document, without giving proper documentation
• the sequence of ideas, arrangement of material, pattern or thought of someone else, even though you express it in your own words; plagiarism occurs when such a sequence of ideas is transferred from a source to a paper without processes of digestion, integration and reorganization in the writer's mind, and without acknowledgment in the paper.

Students are guilty of being accomplices to plagiarism if they

• allow their paper, in outline or finished form, to be copied and submitted as the work of another
• prepare a written assignment for another student and allow it to be submitted as that student's own work
• keep or contribute to a file of papers with the clear intent that these papers will be copied or submitted as work of anyone other than the author; students who know their work is being copied are presumed to consent to its being copied.

At its worst, plagiarism is deliberate dishonesty, as is the case in copying work from a book or article and presenting it as one's own, or in the case of copying another student's work and presenting it as one's own. Such a blatant, deliberate act amounts to academic theft and is a highly serious offense within the college community. The English Department recommends that a student guilty of deliberate plagiarism receive an automatic grade of "F" for the entire course in which the plagiarism occurs.

Another kind of plagiarism may sometimes be the result of ignorance, fear or insecurity. This kind of plagiarism presents the words or ideas of other persons or writers without the proper quotation marks, documentation, acknowledgment or citation of the source. For example, all words copied from another source must always be placed in quotation marks and correctly documented by author and page. Failure to do so is a form of plagiarism.

Also, ideas and information which are not "common knowledge"--that is, broadly known to most high school graduates--must be documented by author and page. The English Department recommends that a student guilty of this type of plagiarism, whether intentional or out of ignorance, receive an "F" for the assignment in which the misrepresentation occurs.

Cases of plagiarism or suspected plagiarism will be handled between the student and the instructor of the course. Subsequent actions may include notification of the appropriate dean and/or the counseling service.

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