OSC/Department of Philosophy Ethics Seminar In Academic Integrity

August 2 , 2004 in BHC 128, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon.

Dr. Nancy Stanlick

Department of Philosophy

 

(FINAL UPDATE POSTED August 1, 2004)

 

Description and Objective:  This is a 2-hour overview of ethical issues involved in instances of academic dishonesty, violations of the UCF Golden Rule, or violations of any university policy consistent with attendance in this course.  It includes discussion of the distinction between plagiarism and cheating, the ways in which these occur, and how to avoid them.  Specific moral topics may include lying, theft of intellectual property, respect for self and others, and academic integrity.  The course also includes information about on-line and on-campus academic resources for legitimate assistance with research projects and papers.

 

 

Requirements:  All those assigned to this course by the Office of Student Conduct or any faculty member or other department in the University are responsible for attending, participating in discussion, and submitting the four assignments listed below. The assignments must be your own original work. The first three of the assignments are due 4 days after the meeting of the seminar (August 6) by 4:30 p.m. in the Department of Philosophy office in CNH 411.  Submit these assignments in person at the Department of Philosophy. If you cannot submit the assignments in person, you can e-mail them to me as attachments. Please remember to make sure that your name appears in the e-mail AND on each of the assignments.   Remember that the deadline is AUGUST 6 AT 4:30 P.M. FOR THE FIRST THREE ASSIGNMENTS. The fourth assignment is due on August 4 at 5:00 p.m. by e-mail. See below.

 

 

1.      There are new commercials produced by the recording industry regarding the practice of illegally downloading music files on the Internet.  There is an assignment based on one of these commercials/advertisements.  There is also a song available at: http://www.borealisrecords.com/sounds/stickers_copied.mp3 regarding the issue of illegitimate music copying on the Internet.  One of the commercials produced by the recording industry is available at http://www.whatsthedownload.com/gallery/index.aspx .  Additional artist (musician) commentary on illegal downloads can be seen (and read) at: http://www.whatsthedownload.com/artist_buzz/index.aspx#1_down.   The assignment regarding these resources is to determine, based on your understanding of one of the artist commentaries at "whatisthedownload.com," how the comments of that artist regarding illegal music downloads would apply to academic dishonesty (such as buying or taking papers off the Internet, or from a file cabinet somewhere). This essay should be 1-2 pages.

2.      Check on the Internet for UCF's Creed at http://www.sdes.ucf.edu and for the UCF Golden Rule at http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu. Write a brief essay (1-2 pages) explaining how these statements of integrity, or some aspect of these statements of integrity, are related to each other.

3.     Write a 2-page essay on the issue of academic integrity utilizing turnitin.com's research resources link, explaining how this resource is consistent with the information on avoiding plagiarism that is available at http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html. This is to be an information-based essay. You need no references for this essay except turnitin.com and the site at Indiana University.

All of these assignments CAN be turned in by e-mail as attachments if you wish to turn them in that way. Just make sure that your name is both in the e-mail and on the assignments. Please write carefully so that you receive credit for completing the assignments.

4. The final assignment is to complete the evaluation of your participation in this course no later than Wednesday August 4, 2004. Go to this link to download the file (it appears in Word format and as an .html document. Choose either one that is consistent with your software (.html will open in any word processing program, while Word tends to open properly only with MSWord): http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~stanlick/OSCethicsevaluation.html. Fill it out, save it in either Word or .html format, and send it back to me as an attachment at stanlick@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu . Note: Completing this form is necessary to satisfy the requirements for the seminar, but your answers to the questions, and your honest evaluation, will not affect your status as having completed the seminar.

5.      In-class topics will concern appropriate use (and inappropriate misuse) of academic sources.  Discussion will also concern the use of plagiarism detection resources.  See http://www.turnitin.com, http://www.schoolsucks.com, http://www.plagiarism.org .  Note that the plagiarism.org site takes you to turnitin.com.  Turnitin.com provides resources for appropriate citation, avoiding plagiarism, and answers to common questions in the RESEARCH RESOURCES link at the site.

 

NOTE:  No element of these assignments may be submitted in handwritten form.  Word processing or typewritten format must be used.

 

Other Suggested Readings that may be used for the assignments or that may be used in class:

1.     Bernard Gert, Morality: Its Nature and Justification at http://www.netlibrary.com.  See pp. 191-196.  You MUST use computers on campus, or use Pegasus or proxy access as a UCF student to use this resource.

2.     PowerPoint Presentation at http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~stanlick/cfccpresstu.ppt on theoretical aspects of cheating and plagiarism.

3.     UCF’s Golden Rule – Student Academic Behavior at http://www.ucf.edu/goldenrule/studaca.html

4.     Others may be assigned during the course meeting.

 

Consider these Questions:

1.     What is your reaction to the claim that if you cheat, you are cheating only yourself?  What is your reaction to the claim that when you cheat, you are cheating other students?

2.     If you buy a term paper over the Internet (or find one in a file cabinet, or borrow or steal one from some source or other), are you plagiarizing when you understand the material and re-write the paper in your own words?

3.     Which of these views of the justification of plagiarism or cheating most closely resembles your own?  What was your own reason?

·        What matters most is good grades.

·        I’ll lose my scholarship if I don’t get a good grade in this course.

·        The subject is too difficult, and I need the course to graduate.

·        This class doesn’t have anything to do with my major, so it isn’t a serious problem if I cheat or plagiarize.  What’s the point in knowing anything about English literature or poetry or philosophy or statistics (or whatever) when I want a job in technical writing, engineering, or whatever.

·        I had to study for other tests and didn’t have time for this one.

·        I have more important things to do.

·        I couldn’t get time off from work to do research for the paper (or to study for the test).

 

Note:

If you have any questions about the content of this seminar, please contact me at stanlick@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu or come by during my office hours for the summer 2004 term.  See http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~stanlick .