Plagiarism Code of Practice

CONTEXT

The Oxford Dictionary defines plagiarism as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as your own”.

Plagiarism, the act of copying or quoting from another's work without proper acknowledgement, is considered fraudulent when submitted for assessment at Glin National College. We assure you that all suspected cases will be investigated and dealt with in a fair and appropriate manner, following the procedures outlined here.

All work submitted by learners for assessment purposes is on the understanding that it is written in their own words except where explicitly referenced using the accepted norms and formats of the appropriate academic discipline.

Whilst some cases of plagiarism can arise through poor academic practice with no deliberate intent to cheat, this still constitutes a breach of acceptable practice and requires appropriate investigation and action.

REMEMBER! Learners must also use citations for visual material, graphs, statistics, music, images, video, or film.

Harvard Referencing Made Easy | Simple Harvard Referencing Tutorial

By Dr Hayley Stainton

CODE OF PRACTICE

Regulations, guidelines, and procedures regarding plagiarism are widely available at Glin National College. It's crucial that learners understand what plagiarism is and the seriousness of the act. This understanding can prevent unintentional plagiarism due to unawareness.

It is recommended that all learners sign a short declaration stating that the work they submit for assessment is their own. This serves as a reminder of the requirements for submitting a formally marked assessment, ensuring learners know their responsibilities.

PROCEDURES

All staff should be made aware of current good practice guidelines and techniques for minimising, detecting, and responding to plagiarism.

A tutor who suspects that a piece of a learner's work submitted may have been plagiarised should follow the following procedure: first, determine whether it represents a "minor" or "major" offence.

MINOR CASES OF PLAGIARISM

Minor cases are those in which the suspected plagiarism is a first offence and represents poor academic practice. Such cases include:

Innocent misuse of materials
Inadequate citation, such as poor referencing, inappropriate paraphrasing
Over-reliance on sources without sufficient input of the candidate's work
Those in which the suspected plagiarism represents only a tiny proportion of the work and/or an element in a piece of work which makes a small contribution to the mark for the module.

In such cases, the tutor may not impose any mark reduction or, in some cases, may make a small reduction in marks as appropriate.

MAJOR CASES OF PLAGIARISM

Major cases are those which may include, for example:

Copying multiple paragraphs in full without acknowledgement of the source
Taking essays from the internet without revealing the source
Copying all or much of the work of a fellow learner with or without their knowledge or consent
A second offence where the learner has received an earlier warning.

DEALING WITH ALLEGED MAJOR CASES OF PLAGIARISM

Sanctions

In such major cases, where the tutor is satisfied that an act of plagiarism has occurred, the tutor will impose an immediate penalty, which will generally be the award of zero marks to the plagiarised piece within the assessment.

Appeals

Results can only be appealed after provisional results are received from the tutor. The appeal will be submitted to the official Glin National College Appeals Process.

The Educational Training Board of Ireland (ETBI) has compiled a wonderful guide in regards to Avoiding Plagiarism: Academic Integrity Handbook you can find the handbook here.

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