The FHS policy on plagiarism states that if a teacher believes that a student has plagiarized, they are "to immediately report all breaches of academic ethics to the department head and grade administrator." It is important to involve the grade VP and Department Head right away, because they can help the teacher to determine if this student has plagiarized before, or if this is a first-time problem. The teacher should keep a copy of the assignment in question and give the original copy of the assignment to the grade administrator. The Department Head, teacher and grade administrator will then work together to discuss the situation with the student and his/her family and "to fully inform the student and parent of the resolution to the incident."
FHS's plagiarism policy also states that "students who violate the standards of academic ethics will automatically receive no credit [on the assignment in question] and will be assigned consequence determined by the Vice-Principal. Additional offenses will result in more severe and progressive disciplinary action up to and including suspension."
Image credit: By Pictofigo (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
"Fair use," aka Section 107 of the Copyright Law, allows people to legally use parts of a copyrighted work for certain reasons, "such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research” ("What is Fair Use?"). "Fair use" is not plagiarism, as long as the person using the section of another person's work clearly gives credit to the original author of that work.
Fair use allows people to legally use materials under copyright "without payment or permission under some circumstances, especially for uses related to broad and important social goals related to the development of innovation and spread of knowledge" (Hobbs 16).
In other words, go ahead use those relevant and awesome books/websites/videos with your classes! But, be sure to cite your sources. :)
Works Cited
Hobbs, Renee. Copyright Clarity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. Print.
“What is Fair Use?” ALA. American Library Association, 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. <http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=copyrightarticle&Template=/ContentManagement/ ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=26700#what>.
Feel free to use any of the materials on this website, and share the link to this website with your students and their families on your syllabi and on assignment sheets: http://framinghamhigh.libguides.com/plagiarism
Also, Ms. Courchesne can teach a citation and plagiarism lesson to your class, or share with you the curriculum / assessments she has developed.
Some cultures and education systems value collaborative vs. individual writing differently than America's does. Students new to American schools may need additional help understanding the American academic rules of acknowledgement, quotation, and citation.
“Overseas and ESL students face a number of challenges as they adjust to the American educational system. They may bring differing cultural attitudes toward text ownership, making the assumption that their readers are already familiar with their sources and thus do not expect citations. However, researchers differ on the extent to which cultural background plays a role in textual borrowing practices, and some writers point out that traditional attitudes toward text ownership and usage may be changing as some cultures become more westernized (Bloch, 2001)" (Amsberry 114).
Works Cited
Amsberry, Dawn. “Plagiarism and the Nontraditional Student: Challenges and Perspectives.” STOP Plagiarism: A Guide to Understanding and Prevention. Eds. Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Katie Elson Anderson. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2010. Print. 107-116.
Image credit: First version: Noldoaran; later version Augiasstallputzer. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is a not-for-profit group that has recently organized a system for content creators to share their digital work available with others and allow them to use and remix it for free, provided credit is given to the original creator (Hobbs 21).
CC offers an option through which “the creator of intellectual content can make her work freely available (sometimes with specific restrictions such as a request for attribution).” Want to create a body of work available for mixing/sharing etc. (Cvetkovic 45)
Works Cited
Cvetkovic, Vibiana Bowman and Luis F. Rodriguez. “The Academy versus Plagiarism: Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic or the Stand at Thermopylae.” STOP Plagiarism: A Guide to Understanding and Prevention. Eds. Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Katie Elson Anderson. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2010. Print. 39-49.
Hobbs, Renee. Copyright Clarity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. Print.
Image credit: By lumaxart (LuMaxArt Gold Guys With Creative Commons Symbol) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) or CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
