Salish Kootenai College places a high value on academic honesty within its campus community. It is expected that students, faculty, staff, and administration work to uphold academic integrity by avoiding acts of plagiarism, as defined within the SKC Plagiarism Policy. Plagiarism is defined as presenting the work of others, whether it be direct quotes, phrases, ideas, or a body of work, such as visual or audio media, as one’s own work, without proper acknowledgement of the original source. This includes presenting one’s own previous work, whether submitted for academic purposes or other informal or formal publication, without proper citation.
Students must strive to meet the expectations of honesty in their academic work. SKC employees, faculty in particular, must strive to create an educational atmosphere that fosters academic integrity through the communication of clear expectations, maintaining the values of honesty in the classroom, and reporting violations of the plagiarism policy.
The SKC Plagiarism Policy defines levels of plagiarism, possible consequences, and procedures used by the College in cases of alleged plagiarism. Students and SKC employees are encouraged to utilize the SKC Writing Center in regard to questions, support, and further education to avoid plagiarism.
Mild Level
Definitions and Examples
- Minimal plagiarism.
- Has not completed plagiarism module (minimal awareness)
- Misuse of sources
- Genuine mistake / misunderstanding (e.g. poor use of citations or incorrect
- paraphrase) Procrastination- in a hurry and or forgetting to complete citations
- Self-plagiarism
- Isolated to a specific instance (e.g., most citations are correct but there are holes that need to be fixed)
Possible Consequences
- Edit or rewrite section or assignment to correct plagiarism errors; otherwise, failure of assignment.
- As appropriate to the situation: Schedule one-on-one tutoring with a Writing Center tutor and/or attend a plagiarism and/ or citation workshop to practice proper techniques depending on instructor and Department Chair consensus.
- Written explanation, by the student, reflecting on what led to the plagiarism and the steps necessary to avoid future plagiarism issues, submitted to the instructor.
Procedures
- Mild incidences of plagiarism may be resolved between the class instructor and the student. Formal write up optional, depending upon the situation.
- The instructor shall notify their Department Chair of the name of the student, the nature of the violation, the substance of the conversation between the instructor and the student, and the action taken. The instructor will provide a copy of the student explanation to the Department Chair.
- The Department Chair of the student’s major shall also be notified. In the case of a formal write up, a copy of the incident report and the student explanation will be placed in the student’s file with the Vice President of Academic Affairs office.
Moderate Level
Definitions and Examples
- Moderate plagiarism
- Completed plagiarism module
- Self-plagiarism (2nd Offense)
- Student demonstrates awareness of citation requirements, but the work reflects a need for further understanding of related expectations and skill development or need for closer attention to detail
- Moderate amount of word-for-word, and “patchwork” copying that is unquoted; approx. 15%-20%
- Cutting, pasting, or copying segments from printed or Internet sources.
- Copying ideas or word-for-word segments from another student—1st offense.
- Procrastination—not having resources properly cited.
- Knowingly supplying work to another student —1st offense
- Turning in work completed by someone else or co-authoring class work that is meant to be individual work – 1st offense.
- Submission of work from another course and/or quarter, without instructor permission -1st offense.
- Repeatedly ignoring or not attending to correction of details when edit/citations problems have been pointed out
Possible Consequences
- Rewrite assignment, correcting plagiarism errors; otherwise receive a lower grade or failure of course.
- Mandatory participation in plagiarism and citation workshops and/or tutoring from Writing Center tutor depending on Department Chair and Academic Vice President consensus.
- Mentoring by a Writing Center tutor
- Written explanation, by the student, reflecting on what led to the plagiarism and the steps necessary to avoid future plagiarism issues, submitted to the instructor.
Procedures
- If the violation is of moderate seriousness, the student will receive a formal write up. The instructor shall inform the student and refer the incident to the Department Chair and/or Division Dean for resolution. The instructor will provide a copy of the student explanation to the Department Chair and / or Division Dean.
- The Department Chair/ Division Dean shall notify the Vice President of Academic Affairs of the name of the student, the nature of the violation, the substance of the conversation between the Department Chair and the student, and the action taken.
- The Department Chair of the student’s major shall also be notified. A copy of the formal write up will be placed in the student’s file with the Vice President of Academic Affairs office.
- If a 2nd moderate offense, the student is required to meet with the Vice President of Academic Affairs to discuss implications on academic progress.
Severe Level
Definitions and Examples
- Full plagiarism
- Completed plagiarism module.
- Moderate level plagiarism – 3rd documented offense.
- Large amount of word-for-word copying or patchwork copying; 20% or more.
- Copying ideas or word for word segments from another student—2nd offense.
- Copying entire work from another student or outside resource.
- Purchasing or copying work from the Internet or paying someone else to compose the work in accordance with the SKC Student Handbook.
- Knowingly supplying work to another student – 2nd offense.
- Turning in work completed by someone else or co-authoring class work that is meant to be individual work – 2nd offense.
- Submission of work from another course and/or quarter, without instructor permission -2nd offense.
- Repeatedly ignoring or not attending to correcting details when edit/citations problems have been pointed out
Possible Consequences
- Failure of class.
- Monitoring by a faculty member, within the student’s major, as agreed to by the Department Chair and Division Dean.
- Suspension/expulsion unless mitigating circumstances.
Procedures
- Severe violations shall be referred to the Vice President of Academic Affairs for resolution. The Department Chair and/or Division Dean may include in the referral any relevant information including previous violations, the results of any conversations with the student, and any recommended consequences.
- The Department Chair of the student’s major shall also be notified. A copy of the formal write up will be placed in the student’s file with the Vice President of Academic Affairs office.