Plagiarism, Cheating, and Copying Policy

FHS is academically oriented; FHS requires that students demonstrate academic honesty and integrity in daily assignments, group projects, essays or papers, and in all testing situations, there will be no tolerance of cheating, copying, or plagiarism.

All assigned work for completion at school or at home is to be done by the individual student.  This includes group work wherein a student is expected to complete his/her part of the total assignment.  This also includes all written responses, i.e., reports, essays, compositions, etc.  Tests include both subjective and objective assessments as well as standardized or alternative testing.

Each teacher will establish classroom rules regarding cheating in his or her classroom based upon this policy statement. If infraction of this policy is detected before or after school, in study hall during school, or during class time itself, the work will be confiscated and reported to the involved teacher.  The teacher will also report the infraction to the office.

Because of the increasing amount of electronic media, its availability to the students, and its ease of incorporation into written work, plagiarism is easy.  Students must not plagiarize work. [plagiarize = to take (ideas, writings, etc.) from (another) and pass them off as one's own.  Webster's New World College Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 1996.]

This policy serves many other purposes.  It offers a moral and ethical standard.  It offers preparation for higher education institutions.  It offers instruction techniques for correctly documenting resources.  It requires accountability of the students for maintaining academic honesty and integrity.

Disciplinary Action

All infraction of cheating, copying, and plagiarism will be reported to the office and become part of the student's permanent record.

Disciplinary action may also include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

no credit given for assignment,
no credit given for class,
some type of suspension.

All students are instructed in correct methods of documentation to avoid plagiarism.  This includes such methods as internal documentation or possible endnoting or footnoting.  This does not mean that an attached bibliography, for instance, is a safeguard against possible plagiarism.

As a concern at the secondary level as well as post secondary level, listed below are some examples of copying, cheating, or plagiarism that will not be accepted.  This list is from the University of Iowa's student handbook:

You are plagiarizing or cheating if you:

a)    present the ideas of others as your own without giving credit to the source
b)    use direct quotations without quotation marks and without giving credit to the source
c)    paraphrase without crediting source
d)    participate in a group project that presents plagiarized materials
e)    fail to provide adequate citations from materials obtained through electronic research
f)    download and submit work from electronic databases without citation
g)    submit materials written by someone else as your own.  This includes purchasing a term or research paper.
h)    allow someone to copy or submit one's own work as his or her own
i)    copy someone else's exam, graded homework, or laboratory work
j)    submit the same paper in more than one course without the knowledge and approval of the instructors
k)    using notes or other materials during a test or exam without authorization
l)    not following the guidelines specified by the instructor for a "take-home" test or exam
m)    accept credit for a group project without doing one's share

University of Iowa.  Undergraduate Handbook 2000-01. pages 26-27.

FHS offers instruction in all disciplines in methods to avoid plagiarism.  The media center has access to online sites, such as NoodleBib, to assist the student in correct documentation.

This policy is taken from:

Fairfield Community High School Student Handbook 2002-2003.  Fairfield, IA: Fairfield
     Community School District, 2002.  20-21.

Last Modified:  11/13/2004
Created by: Susan Kientz