CANADIAN AND WORLD STUDIES - GEOGRAPHY
POLICIES & PROCEDURES FOR ACADEMIC HONESTY & DOCUMENTATION OF SOURCES
The York Region District School Board
has developed an Academic Honesty, Kindergarten - Grade 12 procedure which
addresses the following four inter-related protocols:
- communication
with students and parents;
- implementation
of assessment for, as and of learning practices;
- detection
of incidences of cheating and plagiarism;
- responses
to incidences of cheating and plagiarism.
These practices also serve to prevent
and/or address incidences of cheating and/or plagiarism. Prevention, detection
and responses to cheating and plagiarizing are intended to maintain the dignity
and self-worth of the learner and preserve the integrity of the learning
environment.
DEFINITIONS
ACADEMIC HONESTY - Refers
to students providing original evidence of their learning and appropriately acknowledging
the work of others. Students must be academically honest in all assignments.
Students found to be academically dishonest (i.e., cheating and plagiarism but
not limited to) will result in a mark of zero on that particular evaluation,
and parents/guardians and/or administration will be notified. Parents will be
contacted by the classroom teacher. Tasks completed using a computer
translation program will not be evaluated, as they are not student-generated
work. Students are expected to be
familiar with what constitutes academic dishonesty, and should speak with their
teachers when in doubt.
CHEATING - Is the
attempt to gain an unfair advantage in an academic evaluation, which may is
represent the demonstration of a student’s learning or the learning of others. Cheating
is the act of violating the rules as outlined by the teacher in respect to
essays projects, tests, exams, quizzes, etc.
Such action will result in a mark of zero (0) and parental contact.
PLAGIARISM - Refers to
representing someone else’s ideas, writing or other intellectual property as one’s
own. Any use of the work of others (the ideas, expressions, designs,
inventions, writing etc. of another whether done by direct quote or by
paraphrasing), whether published, unpublished or posted electronically, attributed
or anonymous, must include proper acknowledgement. Plagiarism hinders learning
and the development of learning skills and work habits. In written submissions,
this is a very serious offense which will result in a mark of zero.
Sometimes plagiarism is unintentional;
this can occur when students don’t fully understand the difference between
proper and improper acknowledgment of the resources they’ve used in producing
work. At other times, plagiarism is deliberate -- in that students knowingly
attempt to deceive their teachers by passing off the work of others as their
own. Both unintentional and
deliberate plagiarism can result in serious consequences in both high school
and post-secondary settings.
The following constitute acts of
plagiarism or academic dishonesty:
- direct
“lifting” or “cutting and pasting” from sources without acknowledgment;
- submitting
work done by another student as one’s own;
- failure
to use embedded references (citations) to acknowledge the ideas and language
drawn from sources;
- failure
to use embedded references (citations) to acknowledge the use of charts,
statistics, graphs, images or other materials;
- paraphrasing
too closely to the original source material; failure to use quotation marks to
indicate phrases and other pieces of language drawn from sources;
- failure
to accurately and fully record all your references and sources in Works Cited;
- having
a tutor, editor or other helper write or produce much of the work for you;
- re-submitting
work that has been submitted for evaluation in other courses (Students who want to re-visit, extend and
resubmit former assignments must seek
approval and direction – well in advance— from their current teacher).
As
well, the following factors may lead to suspected plagiarism:
- submitted
work is inconsistent with previous submissions;
- sufficient
process work has not been submitted.
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
“It is students’ responsibility to ensure that their
work is not plagiarized.”
Students shall provide original evidence
of their learning and achievement and appropriately acknowledge the work of others
by:
- understanding
the key concepts and definitions related to academic honesty;
- understanding
the range of supports to promote academic honesty;
- using
skills and strategies to prevent cheating and plagiarizing;
- understanding
the consequences applied when cheating and/or plagiarizing is detected;
- demonstrating
the learning skills and work habits that support lifelong learning;
- acknowledging
all sources using the required citation format;
- obtaining
permission, where possible, to use others’ intellectual property; and
- actively
seeking clarification and support when needed.
SUSPICION AND PENALIZATION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
In the event that plagiarism is confirmed
or suspected, the following procedure will be followed:
- the
student will be advised that the teacher considers the work plagiarized;
- student
will be asked to provide proof to the teacher that the work is original;
- if
the student fails to provide proof, or if the proof is unconvincing, the
teacher will assign a mark of zero to the work;
- furthermore,
if the plagiarism or breach of academic honesty is deemed to be deliberate, the
student’s name and the nature of the offence will be recorded in a “plagiarism
register” in the front office and a mark of zero may be assigned without an
opportunity to re-do the assignment, complete an alternative assignment or have
the mark dropped;
- if
the teacher determines that the infraction is unintentional and very
minor/technical, the teacher, at his or her discretion, may require the student
to re-work or re-do the assignment as an alternative to zero*;
- an
appeal can be made to the Department Head;
- a
further appeal can be made to Administration.
* Note: Teachers will be much less
likely to exercise this discretion with the work of senior students who, by
grades 11 and 12, are expected to have fully acquired the knowledge, skills and
habits necessary to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
A few final words: Begin your
assignments early; complete, organize and keep all process work. Develop the
knowledge and skills that will result in projects and assignments you can be
proud of. Do your own best work, with integrity, and give credit to those whose
ideas you use in the process. (When in doubt, cite!)
ACCEPTED DOCUMENTATION FORMAT
All citations and references must use
either the Modern Language Association (MLA) format or the American
Psychological Association (APA) for documenting sources used in the preparation
of an essay and other research assignments.
Teachers may arrange for instruction on
Works Cited and citations through the Teacher Librarians; student questions are
always welcome on an individual basis.
Use
of Secondary Source
- All
sources consulted in the preparation of essays, presentations, and other
research assignments must be accompanied by a List of Works Cited.
- Citations
(also known as Embedded References) must follow borrowed information in the
body of your work. These brief references correspond to the full reference in
your Works Cited list.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BOARD POLICIES
Board Policies, Procedures and
Supporting Documents Policy
outlines the process by which policies are reviewed, and is available on our
website. Questions or comments can be addressed to the Assistant Manager of
Board and Trustee Services. The full policy
can be found at the following URL: www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/pdfs/p&p/a/policy/285.pdf
REFERENCES
Unionville High School. (n.d.). Policies
and Procedures – Academic Honesty and Documentation of Sources. Retrieved from www.yrdsb.ca/schools/unionville.hs/info/Pages/Policies-and-Procedures.aspx
York Region District School Board.
(September, 2011). Academic Honesty and Timely Completion and Submission of Assignments.
Retrieved from www.yrdsb.ca/AboutUs/ReportingStudentAchievement/Documents/ParentBrochure_Honesty.pdf