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Title: Plagiarism in TAMU Laboratory Reports - Spring 2005


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Assignment Goals
Source Material
Student Instructions
Guiding Questions
Writing Prompt
Calibrations, Average Word Count, and Answer Keys

Assignment Goals

In this assignment you will:

  • use several web sites to better understand plagiarism,
  • use your knowledge of plagiarism to write a short essay about how to minimize plagiarism in a laboratory course.

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Source Material

Visit several websites dealing with all aspects of plagiarism. Take the on-line test before beginning to write the essay to get a better idea of what constitutes plagiarism for your own knowledge. Links are provided in the "Resources" section.

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Source Material Resources:

Office of the Aggie Honor System - This is the website for the new Office of the Aggie Honor System
URL: http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/

 

A Plagiarism Test - What is Plagiarism? - An on-line quiz from Indiana University with feedback to help you see the finer points of avoiding plagiarism.
URL: http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/plagiarism/item1.html

 

Avoiding Plagiarism - Writing Programs Office, TAMU - This site contains good advice and examples.
URL: http://www-english.tamu.edu/wprograms/avoidingplagiarism.html

 

Reducing Plagiarism on Lab Reports - Written from the TA perspective, this website from McGill University includes several ways to minimize the problem of plagiarism.
URL: http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/strategies/reports/

 

Student Rules - Texas A&M University - Here is the complete on-line Student Rules for Texas A&M University. Search for "Academic Misconduct" to take you to Section 20.
URL: http://student-rules.tamu.edu/

 

Turnitin.com - An Aggie's Friend - This site describes the purpose of Turnitin.com in minimizing plagiarism.
URL: http://itsinfo.tamu.edu/turnitin/index.html

 

HTML Tutor - This page explains how to use simple HTML commands to format your essay. It includes such formatting items as subscripts and line returns.
URL: http://www.cwu.edu/~verheys/howto.html

 

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Student Instructions

You have been recently elected to student government and now head a task force charged with combating plagiarism in Aggieland. This is in response to reports that students are receiving severe penalties including failing grades in courses because they turned in plagiarized assignments. The first item on the agenda is to write a short position paper on how to stop plagiarism in laboratory courses, in particular, on lab reports.

  1. Use the information found in the “Source Materials” as the basis of your paper.
  2. Include at least 2 examples of plagiarism that might occur in a laboratory report and how to prevent each one.
  3. Your position paper should be reasonably brief, and should answer the questions identified in “Guiding Questions”.
  4. You are expected to include correct HTML formatting as explained in the HTML link under "Resources" to make your paper readable.

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Guiding Questions

After studying the resources, write your position paper by considering the following questions:

  1. What is the definition of plagiarism?
  2. Why is plagiarism such a crime at an academic institution and why must it be stopped, or at least minimized?
  3. Why do you think that plagiarism in laboratory courses occur in the first place?
  4. What are 2 examples of plagiarism found in writing lab reports and a possible solution for each example? Your examples don't have to be ones listed in the references. They can come from real-life experiences.
  5. What can be the ultimate consequences of plagiarism at Texas A&M University? Give at least two examples.
  6. What is the procedure by which the Office of the Aggie Honor System will handle students accused of plagiarism?

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Writing Prompt

Write your position paper in essay form from the point of view of the task force head. Discuss the definition of plagiarism and why it must be stopped or minimized. Explain why you think it occurs so often in laboratory courses. Give at least 2 examples of plagiarism on a lab report and what can be done to prevent each one. Be sure that your solutions to plagiarism are reasonable so that the student body will accept them. Discuss briefly the consequences of plagiarism at TAMU and the role of the Office of the Aggie Honor System.

Answer the questions identified in "Guiding Questions." You don't have to answer them in the order given. Have a good introductory sentence or two and watch the spelling and grammar.

Be careful not to plagiarize anything yourself!

Note: Formatting from word processors is NOT preserved when you copy and paste into the text box below. Refer to the HTML Tutor in the "Source Material Resources" section.

ALWAYS check your formatting by using the "Preview Text" button. This will show you exactly how your text will appear to reviewers.