Drake English 313

Policy on Plagiarism and Cheating

As a general guideline, plagiarism means using another source's writing or ideas without attributing them to that source.

More commonly, in this class, plagiarism refers to copying someone else's writing -- including the examples on our website -- into your assignment and pretending like you wrote it.

One of the central concepts taught in this class is that all productive working relationships -- be they professional, academic or personal -- are predicated on trust; without mutual trust productive and beneficial working relationships are entirely impossible.  Using other people's work as your own and not citing it, cheating on assignments, tests or quizzes and lying all destroy trust and undermine our ability to work well together, or to work together at all.

It is not my responsibility to keep you honest or to ensure you act ethically or morally. Your honesty and morality are your responsibility, just as my own choices and actions are my responsibility.

If the door is open for you to cheat, plagiarize, lie or steal, that is not an invitation for you to do so; if you decide to cheat, plagiarize, lie or steal, that is your decision, your choice, your action. If you are so dishonest that you need other people to keep you in line, you do not belong in the university or in the professional world.

I am committed to acting honestly and ethically toward all of my colleagues and the members of my community. This includes my students. I am also unwilling to work with anyone who proves him or herself to be a cheating, plagiarizing or lying piece of crap. This also includes my students.

So, if you are caught cheating or plagiarizing, I will remove you from my class, give you an F, and do my best to let the rest of the community know that you cannot and should not be trusted.