Policy Statement on Plagiarism and Cheating
Policy Statement of Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR), International University of Japan (IUJ) on Plagiarism and Cheating
The University’s reputation is based on honesty and integrity in education and the faculty will deal effectively with cases of plagiarism and cheating which cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism and cheating undermine the process of education and call in question the reputation of the University. All GSIR students must understand this and submit a pledge letter at their enrollment.
Plagiarism – a definition
Plagiarism is defined as the act of using the ideas or work of another person as if they were one’s own, without giving credit to the source.
Cheating – a definition
Cheating is defined as the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain or aiding another to obtain academic credit for work by the use of any dishonest, deceptive or fraudulent means. See the appendix of common cheating examples.
Plagiarism Prevention
Faculty members may wish to educate students in classes and/or in advanced seminars (or through other means communication on how to prevent plagiarism and cheating. Students can also access to IUJ web for more details (link to be added). As part of its commitment to prevent plagiarism, the GSIR has subscribed to a commercial service called Plagiarism.org. This service will identify plagiarism through matching those parts of a text submitted against all on-line documents, highlighting those paragraphs in the submitted text that have exactly the same wording in another source. The service will be utilized to check students’ theses as followings.
a) Each student will be required to submit an electronic format copy of his/her completed thesis to the OAA at the same time when he/she submits hard copies for examination.
b) The OAA will then conduct a check of thesis files by using Plagiarism.org.
c) Results of the check will be reported to a student’s thesis examination committee members as well as the Dean’s Office.
d) Cases of plagiarism will be referred to faculty meeting and will be dealt with according to the GSIR rules on plagiarism.
Procedures in cases of reported plagiarism or cheating
If a student observes any incident of plagiarism or cheating, s/he must report it to the faculty concerned. If a faculty member comes to know of any such incident, s/he may initially attempt to address the issue on her/his own with the student concerned. However, if the situation needs further investigation, the faculty member must report the incident of plagiarism/cheating to the faculty meeting and the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) files the case. Based on discussion at the faculty meeting, a special committee for prevention of plagiarism and cheating investigates the case and may resort to a range of actions in case cheating or plagiarism is substantiated. The faculty member concerned may not be in the committee. The committee is responsible to investigate the cheating and plagiarism behavior and to decide penalty according to the following rules:
1. If a student cheats in any examinations (including quizzes) or conducts plagiarism in any required writing tasks, this student will receive F as the final grade on that subject.
2. If the above-mentioned behavior is found again, this student will be dismissed.
Students may appeal to the President. Once the case is terminated, the committee informs the IUJ community of the case including the penalty or other disciplinary measures taken without disclosing the identity of the student.
Appendix: Cheating Examples
1. May I copy only a part of other’s work (answer) during an exam or on an assignment? (No! This is considered a cheating)
2. May I ask my brother to do my homework? (No! Cheating)
3. May I use an intelligent calculator in an exam to solve a simultaneous equation? (No! Cheating)
4. May I use messenger or equivalent (e.g., KakaoTalk or Line) and talk to a classmate regarding exam and assignment? (No! Cheating)
5. May I ask other some technical questions about using Excel (e.g., how to transpose a matrix?) in a computer cluster? (Yes, in general)
6. May I wink or gesture to a classmate and share answer or opinion on an exam or quiz? (No! Cheating)
7. May I download a presentation file from the Internet and then submit or present it as yours? (No! Cheating)
8. May I submit the same paper for more than one course? (No! Cheating)
9. May I copy and paste some sentences from Wikipedia without proper citation (No, Cheating and plagiarism).
10. May I add an interesting image obtained from a Web site to my paper with proper citation (e.g., author, URL, and access date) (Yes, you may).
11. May I access, use, distribute, or sell old exam, answer key, or other graded projects and assignments without instructor’s authorization? (No! Cheating)
12. May I ask or force other to be an alternate, stand-in, or proxy during class or exam to check attendance and take the exam for you? (No! Very serious cheating)
13. May I allow other, explicitly or implicitly, to copy or use your work to do his/her work? Or may I ask him/her to do that? (No! Cheating)
14. May I leave your work on a desk in the library unattended so that anyone can copy that easily? (No! Cheating)
15. May I report linear regression results with some numbers manipulated? (No! Cheating and fabrication)
16. May I intentionally submit a corrupt electronic file, which is not readable, and ask additional time? (No! Cheating)
17. May I submit unauthorized prescription (claiming illness falsely) to obtain more time and avoid penalty or exam? (No! Cheating)
18. May I alter previously graded your exam or assignment and then appeal to the instructor in order for a higher grade. (No! Very serious cheating)
19. May I discuss group project, and then copy from other group member and submit it as your independent assignment? (No, write your answer by yourself)
20. May I split up an independent homework with others and submit a combined version? (No! Cheating and collaboration)
21. May I ask other to manipulate data and/or write programs for you in a computer cluster? (No! Cheating)
22. May I discuss take-home exam questions with classmates and write your answer independently as described in the syllabus? (Yes, you may)
23. May I share an electronic file (e.g., .doc and .xls) through a public folder at IUJ or email? (No! Cheating)
24. May I use unauthorized cheating sheets or equivalent (e.g., hidden notes written on the desk or wall) on a closed-book exam? (No! Cheating). You may use “cheating sheets” if your professor allows you to do so.