School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) Undergraduate Programs Office (UPO)

1. School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) Undergraduate Programs Office (UPO) Orientation: SPEA Honor Code

2. SPEA Student Honor Code • Scope – all aspects of behavior and conduct including academic work, civility and professional conduct • Violations – see Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct • Reporting – Students are responsible for themselves and others; Faculty are responsible for monitoring, counseling and reporting all violations • Handling Academic Dishonesty – see IU campus procedures. SPEA Fairness Committee for appeals to decisions by faculty & administrators. • Civility and Professional Conduct – see the IU Code of Academic Ethics . Treat others with an attitude of mutual respect both inside/outside the classroom. • Students are expected to attend class regularly and be prepared for class, • Punctuality, attentiveness and participation are always the expectation, • Respectfully address faculty, other students and others whether in person, in writing or in electronic communications, • Students must show tolerance and respect for diverse nationalities.

3. Definition of Plagiarism • The Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct (1998) indicates that students may be disciplined for several different kinds of academic misconduct. These include cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, and violation of course rules. In particular the code states: • “A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without appropriate acknowledgment. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge an indebtedness whenever he or she does any of the following: • Quotes another person's actual words, either oral or written; • Paraphrases another person's words, either oral or written; • Uses another person's idea, opinion, or theory; or • Borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material, unless the information is common knowledge.” (quoted from Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, Part III, Student Misconduct, Academic Misconduct, By action of the University Faculty Council (April 24, 1990) and the Trustees of Indiana University (May 4, 1990). Amended by the University Faculty Council (April 13, 1993; May 12, 1993, and October 8, 1996) and the Trustees of Indiana University (December 4, 1992; June 5, 1993, and December 13, 1996).) http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/definition.html [Adapted from a presentation by Professor Vicky Meretsky (8-23-09), School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University]

4. If Plagiarism is Discovered …. • A faculty member has a full range of options, including: • requiring work to be resubmitted, often for a lesser grade, • to failing the assignment, • to failing the student in the course, • to recommending student expulsion from IUB. • Faculty who encounter plagiarism must: • meet with the student, • decide on an action and file a report to the Dean of Students Office • The Dean of Students will then provide official notification to the student’s home address that a report has been filed with their office and in the student’s file. • Students who believe they have been unfairly accused can appeal to the SPEA Academic Fairness Committee. [Adapted from a presentation by Professor Vicky Meretsky (8-23-09), School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University]

5. Why All the Fuss About Plagiarism? • First, plagiarism is illegal. It is a violation of intellectual property rights laws both within the US and internationally. • Second, plagiarism represents shoddy scholarship. Part of intellectual development is knowing where ideas came from. Plagiarism separates ideas from their origins. • Finally, plagiarism demonstrates poor grasp of concepts. We can train parrots to repeat words. We have higher aspirations for you. The ability to bring properly cited ideas together, to paraphrase them so that you can bring the arguments together in your own words – these are the skills we want you to learn. [Adapted from a presentation by Professor Vicky Meretsky (8-23-09), School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University]

6. Plagiarism Tutorial (Adapted from the IU School of Education [https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/ ]) • In order to avoid plagiarism, you must give credit when • You use another person's ideas, opinions, or theories. • You use facts, statistics, graphics, drawings, music, etc., or any other type of information that does not comprise common knowledge. • You use quotations from another person's spoken or written word. • You paraphrase another person's spoken or written word. • Recommendations • Begin the writing process by stating your ideas; then go back to the author's original work. • Use quotation marks and credit the source (author) when you copy exact wording. • Use your own words (paraphrase) instead of copying directly when possible. • Even when you paraphrase another author's writings, you must give credit to that author. • If the form of citation and reference are not correct, the attribution to the original author is likely to be incomplete. Therefore, improper use of style can result in plagiarism. Get a style manual and use it. • The figure below may help to guide your decisions.

7. Plagiarism Tutorial (Adapted from the IU School of Education [https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/ ]) • Cases of Plagiarism • Plagiarism in Colleges in USA • Plagiarism in the News • Tips and Resources • Avoiding Plagiarism • Plagiarism Quiz: What is Plagiarism at Indiana University? • We strongly recommend that you take the above quiz!

8. Writing Resource • IU Writing Tutorial Center • Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) in Ballantine 206 provides free 50-minute tutorials to IUB students on all stages of the writing process by appointment. • Writing resource materials are available at WTS • Copies of the MLA and APA publication manuals • The Chicago and Turabian style manuals • Free hand-outs: Help with citing (APA, Chicago, MLA), “How to Use Evidence”, “Personal Statements and Application Letters”, “Plagiarism: What It Is and How To Avoid It”, “Proofreading for Common Surface Errors”, “Proofreading for Spelling Errors”, and many more. • Go to: WTS For more information on services and resources. All information available on the WTS web page.