Plagiarism Research Assignment

Plagiarism Research Assignment
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Plagiarism Research Assignment
This paper provides a definition of plagiarism, describes Liberty University’s policy on plagiarism, as well as all the different forms that plagiarism can take. Moreover, this paper provides a description of how one can actually avoid plagiarism when borrowing ideas from another author, when paraphrasing another author, and when borrowing language from another author. Lastly, this paper describes how one can avoid self-plagiarism whenever submitting assignments for credit in academic courses.
Plagiarism is understood as the reckless or deliberate failure to provide adequate attribution in traditional academically accepted form to the data, ideas, or words of other people that the student has included into the work that he or she presents and which could reasonably mislead the reader as the true source of the ideas, or words. Plagiarism essentially entails someone presenting the works of somebody else as her/his own without properly acknowledging the source. Plagiarism also encompasses the use of papers that the student has submitted earlier without citing them.
Liberty University’s policy on plagiarism covers sanctions, appeals related to plagiarism as well as rights and responsibilities of students, the faculty, and the administration. (1) Sanctions: the policy states that with the exception of cases that are extremely uncommon, academic dishonesty is punished by giving the student an F in the course. Moreover, punishment could be more severe and the student could be expelled from his/her academic program and/or from Liberty University. The policy also states that Undergraduate and Graduate students have similarly extreme sanctions. It also specifies that sanctions are actually not aimed at making the student’s life wretched, but to reflect the high value which the University puts on individual integrity (Liberty University 2014). The severity of the sanctions is the same for residential students just as it is for distance students.
(2) Appeals: the policy states that if a student is accused of plagiarism, his or her professor needs to inform him/her within a period of seven days after learning about the plagiarism. In essence, the professor will present her case to the student in a suitable manner, for instance through commentary on a paper, a phone call, or a conference. If the student is actually not in agreement with the charge, he or she can present a written appeal of the charge to the chairperson of the Department. If the student loses his or her 1st appeal, the student can go the school’s Dean and follow similar procedure. If the student loses his or her 2nd appeal, he/she is given 7 days to appeal to the Senate Committee on Academic Admissions and Standards who would arrange a hearing together with the Dean and Registrar. It is of note that the Senate Committee would provide its recommendation to the Provost. The ultimate, concluding decision would then be made by the provost.
(3) Rights and responsibilities: according to the policy, students of Liberty University must exhibit high standards of academic integrity. They must tell the truth whenever they are accused, and...