Plagiarism can be committed in more ways than one

Academic plagiarism is commonly defined as when a student falsely represents someone else's work as their own.

However, using information from a previous paper is also considered plagiarism and students need to properly cite such information, according to Lynda Dickson, professor of sociology.

The "UCCS Bulletin," released each semester, contains the University's official definition of plagiarism, which includes circumstances, such as direct copying, stealing ideas and inadequate citations.

Professors who hand out writing assignments often rely on computer programs to detect plagiarism, such as Safe Assign and TurnItIn.

Dickson said that in the past couple years, she has known about "three big cases where there really was a debate about flunking [students accused of plagiarism] for the assignment or… the whole class."

According to Dickson, she has seen students turn in writing assignments where up to 30 percent of the material included came directly from another source.

Students interviewed agreed that plagiarism is wrong; however, their experiences differ.

Juanita Whitaker, sociology major, doesn't believe plagiarism "is as widespread as some people would like us to think it is."

Whitaker also said that it "is a condition of not knowing what you have inside yourself and seeking it in others."

David Magoon, game design and development major, said, "In my class, apparently six people just turned in the same work; they all got F's."

Magoon explained that plagiarism within game design is "stealing code, everyone working in a group and sharing code they're not supposed to… go[ing] online and steal[ing] an entire game someone else has already built."

Subjects that do not require writing assignments, such as mathematics, still have to deal with students who plagiarize on homework and exams.

Robert Carlson, mathematics professor, said, "On homework ‘person b' copies the work of ‘person a' or copied big chunks of it because they don't know what's going on, or they make the same mistakes – a series of [identical] mistakes."

According to Jenna Vaughn, human biology major, she was falsely accused of plagiarism as a freshman when she allowed her lab partner to double-check answers from her homework, who then copied directly from the assignment.

However, even after being cleared, Vaughn said that her teacher became "vindictive" and "she would give me extra assignments; she would have me stay after [class]; she would have me do procedures I've never heard of [and] wouldn't properly explain how to properly do them."

Unfortunately, due to the lack of statistical data, the amount of students being accused versus found guilty of plagiarism on campus as a whole is relatively unknown.

The Office of Academic Affairs does not keep official records of plagiarism statistics, which are left up to the discretion of individual college deans, according to Tina Collins, executive assistant to the vice chancellor for student success and enrollment management.

According to the "Student Academic Ethics Code Policy," students can be turned in to their professor, another faculty member or the college dean by anyone who suspects them of misrepresenting their work.

It states that the reporting process allows the professor to decide whether or not a student is guilty of committing plagiarism based on the evidence available and to decide on the punishment, such as a grade reduction or failing the assignment.

The professor is then required to submit a report to the college dean detailing the offense and the punishment given.

If the dean determines an offense is severe enough, the policy states that the student can be placed on "probation, suspension, expulsion, or [the] withholding or revoking [of] a degree."