Writing Center
Academic Honesty
The students and faculty of Denison University and the Writing Center are committed to academic integrity and will not tolerate any violation of this principle. Academic honesty, the cornerstone of teaching and learning, lays the foundation for lifelong integrity.
Academic dishonesty is, in most cases, intellectual theft. It includes, but is not limited to, providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for evaluation. This standard applies to all work ranging from daily homework assignments to major exams. Students must clearly cite any sources consulted not only for quoted phrases but also for ideas and information that are not common knowledge. Neither ignorance nor carelessness is an acceptable defense in cases of plagiarism. It is the student's responsibility to follow the appropriate format for citations.
As is indicated in Denison's Student Handbook, available through myDenison, instructors must refer every act of academic dishonesty to the Associate Provost, and violations may result in failure in the course, suspension, or expulsion. (For further information, see the Student Handbook entry about Academic Misconduct.)
Approved by the faculty in March, 2006 and taken from "First-Year Seminar Toolkit," Denison First-Year Program, 2006.
1. Intellectual Property
Once ideas and words become published in writing or are said publicly, they are the property of that writer and thinker. In an academic community, we all are free to use others' ideas and words, but we must acknowledge that they belong to someone else. Whether we quote someone directly, use a notable or unique phrase or term, or incorporate another's idea by using our own language, we are obliged to state that the intellectual property belongs to someone else.
2. Practicing Academic Honesty
Students who are academically honest write their own papers, keep careful records of whose ideas belong to whom as they read and research, and are willing to ask when they are unsure about whether they are verging on academic dishonesty. Among other reasons, students who practice academic dishonesty do it because they don't understand the concept of intellectual property, think they have to write brilliantly and aren't confident about their own writing and thinking abilities, are producing writing under time constraints and see no option but to use someone else's work, or just don't want to expend the effort it takes to produce effective writing.
3. Penalties for Academic Dishonesty
Whatever the reason for practicing academic dishonesty - knowing or unknowing - the penalties for being found guilty of practicing it are severe at Denison. Moreover, the professors here have read enough student writing to know when they are reading a student's voice and when they are reading another person's voice. It is painful to professors to detect plagiarized writing, but they have the obligation to report a suspected case to the Assistant Provost. At the first report, a record of the case goes into a student's record. If a second, confirmed report is submitted, the student will be suspended. This is a severe penalty for a moment of sleep-deprived, irrational thinking.
4. More Information
- Denison Student Affairs, Handbook entry about Academic Misconduct
- The Bedford Handbook, 7th edition, 2006: Section 52, "Managing Information; avoiding plagiarism," 572-579.
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition, 2003: Section 2, "Plagiarism," 65-75.
- Bedford tutorial about how to avoid plagiarism
- Bedford handout about plagiarism