Action Steps for a Student Who Has Plagiarized

Step 1: Grade

• Give the student a grade of 0 for that assignment

Step 2: Contact Student

Reach out to the student (see email template below) and copy the Lead Instructor and your TL to let the student know they have plagiarized. Please attach both the student's assignment and the original work to the email.

• Make note that this course provides opportunities for growth. Allow the student to submit the assignment again if it is their first time plagiarizing.

• If this is NOT the first time the student has plagiarized, do NOT provide the opportunity for resubmission. Consult with the Lead Instructor on next steps.

• In your email, include the plagiarism policy and explain why their work is considered plagiarized.

• Grade the resubmission as if it was a new assignment and turned in on time (0, half, and full points possible).

Student Email Template

SUBJECT: Plagiarism Concerns - Please Respond 

EMAIL: 

[Hello STUDENT NAME]

I am reaching out because it appears that you may have used an AI platform, such as Chat GPT to create parts of your [TITLE] assignment submission. This is a serious issue and is considered academic dishonesty by the University of Minnesota. 

According to page 10 of the syllabus, the following are not allowed: 

• Submitting all or any part of an assignment statement to an online learning support platform;

  • ●  Incorporating any part of an AI generated response in an assignment;

  • ●  Using AI to brainstorm, formulate arguments, or template ideas for assignments;

  • ●  Using AI to summarize or contextualize source materials;

  • ●  Submitting your own work for this class to an online learning support platform for iteration or improvement.
    
    

I would like to allow you the opportunity to learn from your mistake and resubmit your assignment for full consideration if you can do so by [DATE & TIME]. Be sure to review the assignment details and respond to each prompt in order to earn full credit.

Please understand that not every course will give you this same leniency. In some cases, academic misconduct is grounds for not only a 0 on the assignment, but failing the entire course. Similarly, you will be subject to harsher penalties if you are caught using GPT in the future in this course.

Please respond so I know you have received this message, and understand the seriousness of this offense. If you do not respond by [DATE]. I will report this to the Office for Community Standards, where they will decide what the consequences are in this situation. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, 

[SL NAME]

Formal Definition of Plagiarism

According to the University of Minnesota’s Office for Community Standards, the formal definition of plagiarism is as follows: 

“Plagiarism shall mean representing the words, creative work, or ideas of another person as one’s own without providing proper documentation of source. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Copying information word for word from a source without using quotation marks and giving
  proper acknowledgement by way of footnote, endnote, or in-text citation;

• Representing the words, ideas, or data of another person as one’s own without providing
  proper attribution to the author through quotation, reference, in-text citation, or footnote;

• Producing, without proper attribution, any form of work originated by another person such as a
  musical phrase, a proof, a speech, an image, experimental data, laboratory report, graphic design, or
  computer code;

• Paraphrasing, without sufficient acknowledgment, ideas taken from another person that the reader might reasonably mistake as the author’s;

• And borrowing various words, ideas, phrases, or data from original sources and blending them with one’s own without acknowledging the source

Avoiding Plagiarism

There are four ways in which students may "accidentally" plagiarize. They are: 

• Unauthorized Collaboration: Sometimes students give their papers to other students for inspiration or for an outline -- both students can get in trouble

• Scholastic Dishonesty: Taking the ideas of someone without giving them credit.  

• Utilizing Notes from Others: There are many services such as Chegg, that will allow you to upload your class notes for other students to use. While this seems like a great idea, it is important to note that this can cause problems if students are copying your notes for a paper. In this scenario, both students may get in trouble. This is why it is important that you be careful with tutoring websites.  

• Paying Others to Write: Another area where you may want to be careful with is getting paid to write other students' papers. This is another form of plagiarism.

Resources for Avoiding Plagiarism

There are many resources at the University of Minnesota that can help prevent plagiarism. These resources exist to help you check your citations, grammar and making sure you are giving credit correctly to any resources that you are utilizing in a paper or presentation. 

• Student Writing Support 

• Tutoring and Academic Success Center

• Student Academic Success Services 

• Resources from International Student and Scholar Services 

The Office for Community Standards

We want to take some time to highlight an important office that is crucial to helping you understand  the standards at the University of Minnesota. The Office for Community Standards (OCS) has been entrusted with the responsibility of upholding the University of Minnesota Board of Regents Student Conduct Code and administering the student discipline procedures. This is the office that students would meet with in the case that there is a plagiarism incident. 

The Office for Community Standards is located in 211 Appleby Hall. Please call 612-624-6073 to schedule an appointment.

Plagiarism in Other Countries

It is also important to recognize that plagiarism and the idea of citing is an idea that is more prominent in the American school system; plagiarism is defined as, and looks different in other countries.

There are two big cultural differences in view when it comes plagiarism: 

• Individualistic - In individualistic communities, members of the communities represent themselves as opposed to adding to, and/or representing the whole community. This is why citing sources and referencing work properly is important to the American educational system. 

• Collectivist - In this culture, each individual adds to the whole. Meaning that the contributions of research is widely shared. What America would identify as "plagiarism" would be appreciated in countries with collectivist communities because it is sharing knowledge.

We want to acknowledge that there is a challenge here, and maybe even some discomfort, in adapting to the American definition of academic integrity. This is a great reminder that not all students view plagiarism the same way, so it's important to make sure you and your peers are on the same page when sharing academic papers with one another. 

Culture plays an important role in understanding plagiarism, to learn more about this, check out this article written by turnitin.com.