• Academic Dishonesty Policy
• Information Technology: Acceptable Use Policy
• Mission Statement
• Plagiarism: definitions, policies, tips for avoiding it
• Student Handbook
• Tuition Refund Schedule

Participate!

Whether you are working alone or in a group, contribute your ideas, perspective, and comments on the subject you are studying, and read those of your classmates. Your instructor is not the only source of information in your courses–you can gain great insight from other students and they can learn from you as well!

Log on to your course every single day!

Log on to your course every single day, or at least a minimum of 5-6 days a week. Once you log in, you will be able to see who has commented on something you have posted or to read the feedback from your instructor. You should be engaged with your course on a daily basis. That kind of self-discipline can keep you from falling behind!

Spend some time exploring your course!

When you walk into a classroom for the first time, the instructor gives you some tools to guide you through the rest of the term. These may include a syllabus, reading list, description of assignments, or grading and evaluation criteria. These same tools are available in an online environment as well! Visit each of the links off the main page of your course, and see what’s there. Download or print out pages for reference and review when you’re offline. Practice sending mail through the system or posting a note to the Discussion Board. See what questions come up for you as you explore the course, and get them answered before the class gets too far down the road!

Be polite and respectful!

Being polite and respectful is not only common sense, it is absolutely necessary for a productive and supportive online course! Always think before you click Send. Did you say just what you meant? How will the person on the other end read the words? While you can’t anticipate all reactions, do read over what you’ve written before you send it. Any derogatory or inappropriate comments regarding race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, are unacceptable. If you have concerns about something that has been said, please let your instructor know.

Speak up if you are having problems!

If you are having technical difficulties or problems understanding something about the course, you MUST speak up! Otherwise there is no way that anyone will know that something is wrong. Your instructor will not see your frown or hear the question in your voice. For this reason you may find it necessary to be persistent and vocal when you don’t understand something. Your instructor wants to help – email your question, express your uncertainty, and be direct! Be sure and ask about anything and everything that has to do with course content and course requirements.

Observe the Student Code of Conduct!

Plagiarism, cheating and other violations of ethical student behavior have no place in a learning community. Violators of the student code of conduct will be dealt with according to the policies set forth in the Student Handbook.

Asking Questions and Getting Help!

One of the biggest differences between an online course and a traditional classroom course is that you can’t see the instructor and students. But the Internet is a powerful tool for communication, so use it! Do not be shy about e-mailing your instructor with questions or even just to say hello.

In conclusion….

Online learning requires the ability to work independently. It is up to you to take responsibility for what you learn. In general, the best path to success online is to be actively involved in your courses, to focus on your goals, to prioritize your responsibilities, and to ask for the help you may need.

Marshall University’s policy on academic dishonesty/plagiarism can be found on the main University Policies site.

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

As writers and researchers, we can learn a number of lessons from definitions of plagiarism and Marshall’s policies regarding academic dishonesty–lessons that, if put into practice, ought to help us avoid the suspicion of plagiarism:

• Do not borrow or buy a paper from another person or an online source and submit it as a your own
• Do not incorporate ideas from another person’s work, published or unpublished, in print or online, without properly citing the source
• Do not use the structure or organization of ideas from another person’s work, published or unpublished, in print or online, without properly citing the source
• Do not cut and paste or retype passages or phrases from another person’s work, published or unpublished, in print or online, without properly citing the source
• Do not try to avoid plagiarism by substituting synonyms for the source’s original words or by rearranging the word order of the source
• Do not forget to place quotation marks around any words, phrases, or sentences you take from a source
• Do not forget to include acknowledgments and citations that attribute words, phrases, sentences, or ideas to their original source

Definitions and Policies

What follows are definitions of plagiarism taken from three randomly chosen writer’s handbooks.

The Everyday Writer defines two types of plagiarism:

Deliberate plagiarism is the act of copying “passages directly from source materials” (119).

Unintended plagiarism is “a quotation accidentally used without quotation marks, a paraphrase that too closely resembles the original, background details used without acknowledgment in the mistaken belief that none was necessary” (119).

The Little, Brown Compact Handbook also differentiates between deliberate and accidental plagiarism.

Deliberate plagiarism is “copying or downloading a phrase, a sentence, or a longer passage from a course and passing it off as your own by omitting quotation marks and a source citation”; “summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas without acknowledging your debt in a source citation”; “handing in as your own work you have bought, had a friend write, or copied from another student” (334).

Accidental plagiarism is “forgetting to place quotation marks around another writer’s words” (334).

Keys for Writers says “you will be perceived as plagiarizing if you include in your own essay a passage, an identifiable phrase, or an idea that you have copied from someone else’s work without acknowledging and documenting your source”; “use exactly the same sequence of ideas and organization of argument as your source”; “fail to put an author’s words in quotation marks”; “use in your paper long sections that have been rewritten by a friend or tutor”; “buy, find, or receive a paper that you turn in as your own work” (84-85). It goes on to add: “Substituting synonyms for some or most of the words in an author’s passage still results in a plagiarized passage. When you summarize or paraphrase . . . you should use your own sentence structure as well as your own words. Even if you are careful to cite your source, your writing will still be regarded as plagiarized if it resembles the original source too closely in working or sentence structure” (85).

Like most universities, Marshall considers plagiarism to be a form of academic dishonesty, which it defines for students and faculty in the undergraduate handbook section entitled, “Academic Rights and Responsibilities of Students: Policy Statement.” What follows is the policy as it is worded in the handbook:

C. Academic Dishonesty: any act of a dishonorable nature which gives the student engaged in it an unfair advantage over others engaged in the same or similar course of study and which, if known to the classroom instructor in such course of study, would be prohibited. This shall include, but is not limited to, the following: securing or giving unfair assistance during examinations or required work of any type; the improper use of books, notes, or other sources of information; submitting as one’s own work or creation any oral, graphic, or written material wholly or in part created by another; securing all, or any part of assignments or examinations, in advance of their submission to the class by the instructor; altering of any grade or other academic record; and any other type of misconduct or activity which manifests dishonesty or unfairness in academic work. Each classroom instructor may modify the general definition of academic dishonesty to fit the immediate academic needs of a particular class, provided the instructor defines, in writing, the details of any such departure from the general definition. Academic dishonesty also includes conspiring with or knowingly helping or encouraging a student to engage in academic dishonesty.

Of course, much of the list on how to avoid plagiarism becomes moot if you approach the research project as an exploration and formulation of your own ideas on the subject being researched. In this scenario, the aim of the research project is not merely to report or synthesize what you read. Rather, the aim is to interact critically with the sources you find on your subject. To achieve this objective, it’s crucial to consider just why you are consulting and using sources in the first place: Is it merely to provide material that can be pieced together in your essay? Or is it, as composition expert Cindy Moore recommends, to “determine what you might contribute to the public conversation on your topic—what you might add, expand upon, or complicate by conducting your own investigation” (119)?

Provided by Dr. Janet Badia, Department of English, Marshall University, ©2003