Multiple counts of plagiarism can result in students being expelled from Bradley University. The plagiarism awareness module that came into effect this fall is intended to help prevent these acts.
All incoming students, including freshmen, transfer and graduate students, must complete a plagiarism awareness reading, watch a video and pass a 10 question quiz on the subject before registering for spring classes.
If students fail to complete the plagiarism awareness module, they will be barred from registering for classes through a registration hold. Once students complete the process, they will automatically regain their eligibility. To check their status, students can go to the ‘Other’ tab on Webster.
Teacher education professor and Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning (CTEL) executive director Jana Hunzicker said the committee began developing a plagiarism module two to three years ago.
Hunzicker said the committee was formed because many students coming to the arbitration board claimed they didn’t have enough knowledge about plagiarism.
According to Vice President for Student Affairs Nathan Thomas, faculty should notify the student judicial system in a case of plagiarism. The student judicial system looks at those individual cases to see if they are repeated across classes. If the student wants to appeal this case, they can go to the instructor, department or college and then through a formal process if they are still feel the case was unwarranted.
“It gets complicated depending on how far a student wants to basically appeal that decision,” Thomas said.
The committee worked over several years to research similar modules and tailored one specifically for Bradley.
“I would say that in some ways plagiarism is on the rise because it’s so easy to cut and paste, and sometimes we don’t even realize we’re taking a source,” Hunzicker said.
Hunzicker said she thinks the subtleties are what make it so difficult.
“It’s not blatant cutting and pasting that’s the problem,” Hunzicker said. “The problem has more to do with directly quoting a source, but not putting it in quotation marks or not giving credit, or paraphrasing but not really putting it into your own words and then passing that off as your own idea.”
According to Hunzicker, this kind of plagiarism is the hardest to detect. However, Thomas said most of the cases that are reported are blatant ones.
Hunzicker said the module and quiz are not intended to replace education about plagiarism in classrooms. She said professors should still educate students about plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Professors have the ultimate determination in the students’ grade, with a zero given for the plagiarized assignment.
According to Hunzicker, the requirement was first introduced at summer orientation, and two additional email reminders were sent to students. However, 44 percent of the students required to take the quiz have not fulfilled the requirement yet.
She said the module is not meant to be a burden to students and doesn’t take long to complete.
“It’s just meant to be something that we want them to take the time to read the module, review what they learned in high school about plagiarism and then understand that Bradley takes it seriously,” Hunzicker said.
Thomas said the quiz is meant to put plagiarism awareness in the forefront of students’ minds and to make them aware that there are consequences.
“I think the purpose of that quiz was to provide a really high level of understanding of what cheating and plagiarism is and that probably, most importantly, that there are expectations behind that and we expect our students to create and do their own work and it be original work,” Thomas said.
Hunzicker said another committee will meet in November to discuss the possibility of a similar plagiarism awareness module for faculty.
