Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, and Copyright
PLEASE NOTE: This instructional tutorial is not and should not be considered legal advice. If you are having a problem with an academic integrity issue, copyright issue, or plagiarism issue, you should consult the appropriate administrative or legal authorities immediately.
iStudy would like to acknowledge Yvonne Gaudelius, Karen Faldbaum, and Dawn Amsberry for revising this tutorial's content.
Purpose
Academic integrity affects everyone at Penn State, whether you are a student, a professor, an instructor, or a staff member. It is everyone's responsibility to know what the Penn State policy on Academic Integrity says. Every member of the Penn State community is also expected to understand what plagiarism is as well as current copyright laws and how they apply to each person's work. This tutorial provides an introduction to academic integrity, plagiarism, and copyright, and additional resources for obtaining more information.
Goals and Objectives
This tutorial addresses communication skills, and provides opportunities for information gathering, synthesis, and analysis in solving problems and in critical thinking. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Define academic integrity
- Identify instances of cheating and plagiarism
- List five reasons why plagiarism is wrong
- Understand the consequences of committing an act of academic dishonesty at Penn State
- Identify situations where "fair use" applies to the use of someone else's materials
- Identify works in the Public Domain
- Find information about the correct way to cite a reference
- Begin to develop your personal philosophy on academic integrity
Activities
Because the topic of academic integrity is so complex, the information in this tutorial has been divided into several sections. The recommended sequence is as follows:
- Read the information about academic integrity.
- Read about plagiarism and cheating and complete Activity 1.
- Read about copyright and fair use and complete Activity 2.
- Read about excuses students make and how you can avoid situations that lead to academic dishonesty and the penalties that will be imposed in cases where academic dishonesty is proven, and complete Activity 3.
- Take a few minutes to think about your personal philosophy on academic integrity. Read each of these scenarios and think about the situation. Is what the students are doing wrong or right? Why is it wrong or right? How would you handle the situation? What would you say to them if they were your friends? Then read the commentary for each scenario to see what others have said about the same situation.
- Complete Activity 4 - What would you do in this situation?
Note: All external links in this tutorial will open in a new window or tab.
References
Summary
Instructor's Guide
