Integrity in Academic Work

Purpose

Provides guidance for integrity in academic work by defining plagiarism and plagiarism types and describing consequences of plagiarism in academic work.

Scope

Applies to all College of Nursing (CON) students.

Definition

Plagiarism is defined per the UNMC Student Code of Conduct, UNMC Research Integrity and Policy 2225 as presenting the words or ideas of another person as one’s own without specific or proper credit or citation.

Policy

Students are expected to properly cite sources of information used in academic work. The CON forbids any act of plagiarism in the submission of academic work.

If a student is unsure whether their action(s) constitute a violation of the Standards of Academic Integrity as listed in the UNMC Student Code of Conduct, then it is the student’s responsibility to consult with the faculty to clarify any ambiguities. If the student has any doubts about the way references or resources should be cited, consult with the faculty.

Plagiarism Types ^*

Verbatim plagiarism - Content is copied exactly as it is written without any form of credit or citation.

Mosaic plagiarism - Copying content from different websites or sources and combining them without any form of credit or citation.

Global plagiarism - Claiming someone else’s entire work as your own.

Self plagiarism - Resubmission of your own work when you’ve already used it. It is also known as auto-plagiarism.

Accidental plagiarism - Unintentional plagiarism caused by paraphrasing content and failing to cite or add credits to author.

^* Most common types of plagiarism but other types exist.

Consequences of Plagiarism

1. First assignment occurrence within the program results in a written warning and education (redo modules), redo assignment within the approved timeline with reduced grade of 10% for the plagiarism plus additional reduction for not meeting rubric requirements, referral to academic success coach and program director, and documentation in student success management system.
2. Second assignment occurrence within the program results in a written warning and education (redo modules), 50% automatically reduced for the plagiarism plus additional reduction for not meeting rubric requirements, referral to academic success coach and program director and further documentation in student success management system.
3. Third assignment occurrence within the program results in a failure of the course, referral to academic success coach and program director and further documentation in the student success management system.

Appeal of Plagiarism Consequences

If the student feels that the decision regarding the charges of plagiarism is arbitrary or capricious, they can appeal the decision through the disciplinary appeals process in Policy 2601. The results of the appeal shall be entered into student success management system.