Academic integrity: I fully support Baruch College’s policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in part:

Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college’s educational mission and the students’ personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be sanctioned.

The first time I see plagiarism in your writing, you will fail the paper and be required to attend a Writing Center workshop on ethical writing and research. The second time, you will fail the course.  In addition, a report of suspected academic dishonesty will be sent to the Office of the Dean of Students, which means it will be officially on record. Additional information and definitions can be found at  http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html & http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/facultyhandbook/documents/StudentGuidePDF.pdf

An addendum to this policy: While it is fine to look up plot summaries of or historical context surrounding what we read, in case you have some questions about the plot or are curious about the time and place the reading came from, you should avoid reading analysis or commentary on these texts that doesn’t come from the Norton introductions (for example, sections on websites with titles like “Themes and Motifs”; these are usually pretty clearly labelled on sites like Sparknotes or Schmoop.com). Reading these kinds of commentaries often hinders a student’s ability to come to conclusions about a text on their own. Any written work you give to me should not include any analysis/commentary that you received from an outside source, even if you cite it, unless you clear the exact website/book/article with me first. The one exception to this guideline will be a specific short paper that will require you to look at an argument on one of these sites and develop a better one in response.

Tools for avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own; all work that you submit for a grade should be your own work, and anything that is not your own idea or words should be clearly acknowledged/cited. Plagiarism includes copying other people’s words AND failing to cite and acknowledge any ideas, research, and quotations from other writers.This includes anything you say out loud (for the midterm oral exam, for example) as well as anything your write. Note that “But I had a similar idea as X online source/writer anyway!” is not an excuse: if you read an idea elsewhere, you need to acknowledge that in your writing and speaking (and this, in fact, is an argument for avoiding looking at sources that provide analysis of a text we’re reading: it impedes your ability to understand a text on your own and to distinguish what ideas emerged from your own reading of the text vs. from looking at a commentary). Be sure to see me or talk to me about what does and does not constitute plagiarism if you have any questions. Avoid plagiarism by:

A) Quoting any phrases and sentences that ARE NOT YOUR OWN WORDS, and by adding an MLA citation at the end of the quotation (Author’s last name, page number). Note that a  phrase can be as short as three or four words together.

B) Paraphrasing and summarizing ideas from other writers, and adding an MLA citation at the end of the paraphrase/summary.

C) Taking very careful notes: If you look up anything online or in a book/article about a text we read, take meticulous notes: write down or type up very clearly where you found the ideas and information you are taking note of (for example, by writing “Wikipedia.com” next to notes you take from Wikipedia), and make sure to either put it in your own words or put quotation marks around any exact phrase you write down. If you incorporate this information in any oral or written work, cite it in the ways mentioned above (“According to Wikipedia’s article on…”).

D) Going to the Writing Center: The Writing Center offers students support in evaluating and using sources, citation, and plagiarism avoidance. In one-to-one consultations, students share their drafts and research materials with an instructor of college writing to ensure effective source presentation and citation. In addition to individual sessions, the Center sometimes offers a small-group workshop in Ethical Writing and Research. More information is available at http://baruch.cuny.edu/writingcenter.

While citing your source will ensure you are not violating the academic integrity policy, you should also go beyond just plopping an outside source in your writing or speaking: build on the idea you’re citing by adding something from your own mind (say how a piece of historical information reveals something important about a character, or take a claim from an outside source and agree with a difference/disagree and say why).