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Maine RSU 21

Maine Regional School Unit 21

Arundel · Kennebunk · Kennebunkport

JICD - ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

  • Section J: Students

 

JICD - ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

The staff of RSU 21 has a professional obligation to promote academic honesty and to instruct students in the distinction between honest and dishonest work. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are not permitted. 

Definition of Plagiarism
According to the Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th edition, “derived from the Latin word plagians (“kidnapper”), plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as ‘the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind and presenting it as one’s own’. To use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize. Plagiarism, then, constitutes intellectual theft” (30).

RSU 21 acknowledges that plagiarism may be unintentional; however, all students will be held accountable for violations of the plagiarism policy. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to: 

  • Copying or gaining any other advantage from another’s test during a test or examination situation;

  • Exact copying on an author’s text without the use of quotation marks;

  • Quoting a source and failing to give proper citation;

  • Putting a source’s text into one’s own words and not citing the source;

  • Electronic reproduction, audio, visual, verbal and written media whether published or unpublished, in whole or part, without proper acknowledgement that it is someone else’s; and/or

  • Double submission (submitting the source work for credit in more than one course) unless approved beforehand by teachers.

The source of the plagiarism material may, for instance, be another student’s paper, a text, or an Internet site. The source does not change the degree of the plagiarism. The accessibility of online materials may increase the temptation to plagiarize. If there is uncertainty about the possibility of plagiarism, students are strongly encouraged to talk with a teacher or librarian and utilize the Turnitin.com program available in grades 6-12.

All students are expected to abide by RSU 21’s Academic Honesty Agreement. This statement will be signed by students and parents at the beginning of the school year.

 

Ref. Gibaldi, Joseph. Modern language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th Edition.  The Modern Language Association, 1999.

Adopted: 07/07/2008
Reviewed: 04/26/2010

  • Section J