OSC/Department of Philosophy Ethics Seminar In Academic Integrity

September 29 , 2004 in CL1, 218, 4:00-5:20 p.m.

Dr. Nancy Stanlick

Department of Philosophy

 

(FINAL UPDATE POSTED September 28, 2004, 3:15 a.m.)

 

Description and Objective:  This is an 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 assignments are due 7 days after the meeting of the seminar (October 5) 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 Oct. 5 AT 4:30 P.M.

 

 

1.      There are several movies recently produced that deal with the issue of cheating in the academic, professional, or intellectual realms. Among them are "Cheaters" and "Quiz Show." Watch one of these movies, or some other film that deals specifically with issues of cheating in intellectual contexts. Write a 3-4 page essay explaining the major theme of the film, the way in which a character or characters is/are affected by the issue of cheating, and the way in which this particular character and this particular issue are related to your own instance of academic dishonesty. The idea behind this essay is to create a context in which one's own instance of a violation of academic integrity may be understood from this more general backdrop.

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. 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 .