Assignment Preview
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Title:
Plagiarism in TAMU Laboratory Reports - Spring 2005
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NOTE: This
preview only displays saved data.
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Assignment Goals
Source Material
Student Instructions
Guiding Questions
Writing Prompt
Calibrations, Average Word
Count, and Answer Keys
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.
Top
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.
Top
Source
Material Resources:
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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
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Avoiding Plagiarism - Writing
Programs Office, TAMU - This site contains good advice and examples.
URL: http://www-english.tamu.edu/wprograms/avoidingplagiarism.html
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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/
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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/
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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
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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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Top
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.
- Use the information found in the “Source Materials”
as the basis of your paper.
- Include at least 2 examples of plagiarism that might
occur in a laboratory report and how to prevent each one.
- Your position paper should be reasonably brief,
and should answer the questions identified in “Guiding Questions”.
- You are expected to include correct HTML
formatting as explained in the HTML link under "Resources" to
make your paper readable.
Top
After studying the
resources, write your position paper by considering the following questions:
- What is the definition of plagiarism?
- Why is plagiarism such a crime at an academic
institution and why must it be stopped, or at least minimized?
- Why do you think that plagiarism in laboratory
courses occur in the first place?
- 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.
- What can be the ultimate consequences of plagiarism
at Texas A&M University? Give at least two examples.
- What is the procedure by which the Office of the
Aggie Honor System will handle students accused of plagiarism?
Top
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.