Academic misconduct is a universal issue

Definition of some terms

• “Unethical behavior among university students such as cheating

and plagiarism has weakened the character of honesty in
education” (Jena & Sihotang, 2015:157).
• Cheating involves breaking the rules in order to give yourself an
unfair advantage.
• Unethical behaviours are behaviours that we consider to be morally
wrong (Cornell, 2023). For example:
Forms of academic misconduct
• Academic misconduct comes in different forms.
• For example: plagiarism
• collusion
• falsification
• fabrication
Plagiarism in academic writing
Definition of plagiarism.. 1/2
• Academic writing is characterized by evidence-based arguments, precise word
choice, logical organization, and an impersonal tone.
• Academic Writing requires writers to be honest.
• Kolin (2015) points out that “Ethical writing is clear, accurate, fair, and
honest” (p. 29).

• However, ON THE ASPECT OF EVIDENCE, at times writers are dishonest

as they use other writers’ ideas. This act of dishonest is called PLAGIARISM.
• Plagiarism is a serious problem in academia (the environment or community
concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship).
Definition of plagiarism.. 2/2
• -The word plagiarism derives from Latin roots: plagiarius, an
abductor, and plagiare (American Historical Association, 2002) which
means to steal someone’s words, ideas, thoughts, expressions without
citing the original creator. In simple words, whenever we are using
other’s work in our assignments or research work, we must give
proper credit to original creator.
• A citation is a reference to a published source that the writer consulted
and obtained information from while writing their research paper.
Definition of plagiarism
• According to Shahabuddin (2009:353), “Plagiarism is intentional
coping of someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without
their consent and without acknowledging the work of the author”.
• Stanford University, defines plagiarism as the "use, without giving
reasonable and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or
source, of another person's original work, whether such work is made
up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or
other form.
• According to Oxford College of Emory University, Plagiarism means
the use of “a writer's ideas or phraseology without giving due credit”.
Definition continued…
• The U.S.A. Naval Academy views plagiarism as “the use of the words,
information, insights, or ideas of another without crediting that person
through proper citation."
• The American Heritage Dictionary defines the verb “plagiarize” as
“to steal and use the ideas or writings of another as one’s own.”
• According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize”
means:– To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as
one’s own.– To use (another’s production) without crediting the
source.– To commit literary theft.– To present as new and original an
idea or product derived from an existing one.
Definition of plagiarism continued….
• Plagiarism is a misconduct considered to be unethical
(unprincipled/bad/wrong) and immoral (wicked/corrupt/dishonest)
regardless of who commits it.
• Plagiarism is also known as Academic theft or research misconduct
and considered as unethical in Academic Community.
• Plagiarism is associated with terms such as ‘kidnapping of words,
kidnapping of ideas, fraud, and literary theft ( Roig 2015:3).
TYPES OF PLAGIARISM
• Plagiarism can occur in many forms. Below are some of the common instances (Roig
2015:
• -Important types of Plagiarism as follows:
• Direct Plagiarism: when a researcher copies exact words from a source without
using quotation marks and then present those words or text as his or her own. It is
also known as Verbatim Plagiarism.
• Paraphrasing Plagiarism: This is the most common type of Plagiarism and requires
more attention. In this type of Plagiarism, when someone is using another’s writings
with minor changes such as either grammatical change or restructuring the sentences
but the core idea or theme will remain same.
• This also falls under the umbrella of Academic misconduct and we need to maximize
the awareness in academic community.
Types of plagiarism continued…
• Self-Plagiarism also known as Auto Plagiarism: is when an author reuses some or
whole part of his or her previously published manuscript without any citation.
• Patch writing or Mosaic Plagiarism: This type of plagiarism happens when a
researcher or student intentionally borrows someone else’s exact phrases or text in his
or her writings without any quotation marks or any attribution.
• -Patch writing type of plagiarism is hard to detect.
• Accidental Plagiarism
• Accidental Plagiarism occurs whenever an author forgets or neglects to cite sources, or
unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words or sentences without giving
proper due acknowledgement.
• Such an act is also considered as unethical in research writings and needs to be avoided
in order to bring more just and ethical writings which is beneficial for the society.
Other types of academic misconduct 1/2

• Fabrication and Falsification

• Data Fabrication means generating or creating data and findings that
never had been actually done or observed in real survey.
• In other words, the researcher or student creates imaginary data or
information without any engaging in real fieldwork.
• On the other hand, Data Falsification means altering or manipulating
the existing data or information to say something else. The student or
researcher changes or alters answers from real respondents in a survey.
• Both terms i.e. Data Falsification & Fabrication falls under the field/
ambit of Academic Misconduct or Plagiarism.
Collusion as an academic misconduct 2/2

• Collusion is defined as supporting academic misconduct by another students. For

example; allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.
Examples of academic misconduct & the types
of consequences that follow as a result:1/2
• Plagiarism as a research/academic misconduct is a serious offence and it can
have serious consequences (Shahabuddin 2009:353).
• It attracts fines, suspension, legal penalties as per existing law of a country or
nation. (these forms of punishment vary from country to country).
• A historian resigns from the Pulitzer board after allegations that she had
appropriated text from other sources in one of her books.
• A writer for a newspaper who was found to have plagiarized material for
some of his articles ended up resigning his position.
• A biochemist resigns from a prestigious clinic after accusations that a book he
wrote contained appropriated portions of text from a National Academy of
Sciences report.
Examples of academic misconduct & the
types of consequences that 2/2
• A famous musician is found guilty of unconscious plagiarism by including elements
of another musical group’s previously recorded song in one of his new songs which
then becomes a hit. The musician is forced to pay compensation for the infraction.
• A college president is forced to resign after allegations that he failed to attribute the
source of material that was part of a college convocation speech.
• A U.S. Senator has his Master’s degree rescinded/withdrawn after findings of
plagiarism in one of his academic papers; he withdrew from the Senate race.
• An education minister resigned from her government position after a university
withdrew her doctoral degree for plagiarism.
• A psychologist had his doctoral degree rescinded/withdrawn after the university
found that portions of his doctoral dissertation had been plagiarized.
DIFFERENT WAYS THAT STUDENTS
USE TO COMMIT PLAGIARISM 1/2
• According to Powell (2012;3-4) students plagiarize in four different
ways: listing ideas adapted from Park (2003:475);
• 1. Stealing material from another source and passing it off as their own,
e.g.,
• a. buying a paper from a research service, essay bank or term paper mill
(either pre-written or specially written),
• b. copying a whole paper from a source text without proper
acknowledgement,
• c. submitting another student’s work, with or without that student’s
knowledge (e.g., by copying a computer disk).
DIFFERENT WAYS THAT STUDENTS
USE TO COMMIT PLAGIARISM 2/2
• 2. Submitting a paper written by someone else (e.g., a peer or relative) and
passing it off as their own.
• 3. Copying sections of material from one or more source texts, supplying
proper documentation (including the full reference) but leaving out quotation
marks, thus giving the impression that the material has been paraphrased
rather than directly quoted.
• 4. Paraphrasing material from one or more source texts without supplying
appropriate documentation.”
• In sum, the issue of plagiarism can be a very serious form of ethical
misconduct in academic writing, hence, the concept of plagiarism is
universally addressed in all scholarly, artistic, and scientific disciplines.
What is AUCA’s position on plagiarism?
• Information from the AUCA student handbook September 2018-2021, p
18
• “Plagiarism which involves misrepresenting as one's own original work,
the ideas, interpretations or creative works of another. This includes
published and unpublished documents, designs, music, images,
photographs, or ideas gained through working in a group.
• When a student submits an assignment for evaluation written by someone
else as their own; it is considered intentional plagiarism. When a student
presents another person’s words, ideas, or data including those from
electronic sources- without proper documentation; it is considered as
unintentional plagiarism.
How to avoid plagiarism…
• To avoid plagiarism, students should acknowledge sources with references for:
• Direct quotes (also use quotation marks and reference the page number)
• Information from several sources even paraphrased
• Electronic media from any source, including the internet
• An image/figure/table from someone else’s work
• 4. ‘Any student who is caught in plagiarism, he/she will be suspended or
dismissed from the University according to individual cases (AUCA Academic
Bulletin 2018-2021, p.41)’.
• Plagiarism has a negative impact on student learning, as such, it must be
avoided at all costs.
SOME STEPS/MEASURES THAT CAN HELP TO CURB ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

• We can take major steps/measures in order to avoid the issues of Plagiarism, and bring
more research ethics and integrity in the Academic world by implementing these
golden rules as follows:
• Be honest with your writings or work is the first virtue in order to avoid the issues of
Research misconduct.
• Do not intentionally commit plagiarism even if you are pressed by the deadlines
because it may spell the end of your academic career.
• Only hand in original work that you have prepared yourself. Do not copy another
student’s work, submit work that someone else has prepared on your behalf or submit
work that you have previously submitted as an assignment in the same or a different
course.
• Always put information taken from another source into your own words
(paraphrase) and remember to acknowledge the source by including an
appropriate citation (i.e., in-text reference). Give credit where it is due. Pay
tribute or homage to real source of information.
• Use the correct referencing methods recommended by your department or
institution.
• Avoid cutting and pasting information directly from electronic sources, such
as the Internet or electronic journal articles. Instead, you should either
paraphrase the information in your own words or present it as a direct
quotation. Remember to always use the correct referencing method whenever
you take information from an electronic source. (from Kotzѐ 2011:3).
References

• *Mr Ashok Singh, Dr Sarita Verma,Mr Badal Kumar Thakur 2020. ACADEMIC WRITING
AND ISSUES OF PLAGIARISM. Conference: 9th INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SUMMIT (ILIPS-2020) At: Gwalior, MP, India.
• Powell, L., 2012, July. Understanding plagiarism: developing a model of plagiarising behaviour.
In iParadigms 5th International Plagiarism Conference, Gateshead, UK, July (pp. 16-18).
• Shahabuddin, S., 2009. Plagiarism in academia. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in
Higher Education, 21(3), pp.353-359.
• ANT 101 – Introduction to Anthropology Faculty Lecturer: Baseemah Bashir, MA, MBTI, SPHR
Fall 2010 Course Syllabus pp.1-2.
• AUCA STUDENT HANDBOOK 2018-2021.
• Jena, Y. and Sihotang, K., 2015. Winning is everything” as the basis of academic misconduct
among Indonesian students. Sociology, 5(2), pp.157-162.
• Cornell, D., 2023. 15 Unethical Behavior Examples
REFERENCING IN ACADEMIC
WRITING
• 1. An essential aspect of successful academic writing is making references to the literature.
• Definition: Referencing is ‘the process of systematically acknowledging all the sources
that have informed your writing’ (Wyse & Cowan 2017:86).
• According to (Mֿatauraka, 2017:3), In academic work, referencing is the appropriate
acknowledgement of: Ideas and work that originate from another person,
• -All the information that you have included in your work that comes from some other
source (which is not common knowledge or widely accepted) should be acknowledged.
• REFERENCING is a method of giving credit to someone’s work that you have used in
your research (Smith 3 September 2022).
• For your academic assignment or research, you can reference the following;
• Books, Dissertation or Thesis, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, websites, online
discussions, interviews, brochures, documentaries, printed pictures or diagrams.
Main purpose of referencing:
• To enable your reader to refer to the texts you reference, so they can find out more
information or check the facts themselves.
• Readers should be able to trace the originality of ideas. Referencing directs readers to
the sources of evidence you have selected to use in your work which is done by
presenting or citing the author’s or originator’s name, or an identification number in
the main text)
• To make your writing more convincing, showing the evidence for your arguments.
• To acknowledge the influence of the work of others on your thinking, avoiding the
serious offence of plagiarism.
• Dehkordi and Allami (2012:1895) citing Hyland, (2000) state that, “the citation of
other texts or others’ work or ideas provide support for one’s own position. This can
also help show the newness of one’s work”.
C. DIFFERENT CITING/REFERENCING STYLES

• There are a number of different ways of citing resources, some of

them are:
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Chicago style
• Harvard style
• Vancouver style