Dallastown Area High School

English Department

Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as intentionally or unintentionally presenting the words, ideas, or work of someone else as one’s own. Plagiarism is most obvious when a student tries to pass off someone else’s writing, photography, videos, and/or other file and applications as his or her own; however, even accidentally including someone else's words (or just the ideas) in one’s own paper without quotation marks and citing that quotation (or citing the ideas) is plagiarism.

For several important reasons, students must reference the original work and its author in their writing whenever they do any of the following:

• copy another person's exact words;
• paraphrase or summarize someone else's ideas;
• use another person's photograph or video; or
• present facts, statistics, or any other item developed by another individual.

Here are some reasons why we must cite our sources: Effectively using source material from experts, along with one’s own ideas, and accurately citing that expert and his or her material help to lend support to the arguments in the student’s paper and credibility to that student’s reputation as someone who is trying to find the truth. Additionally, providing complete references enables readers who are interested in that student’s topic to find out more about his or her research. Finally, just as anyone would expect to receive credit for his or her work, authors expect and deserve credit for theirs.

Consequences:

Any major assignmentf that includes plagiarism of another’s work will automatically receive a grade of zero (0). That assignment then must be redone to satisfy the requirements for that course. If the paper is not redone, that student may automatically fail the entire marking period or the entire course.

If plagiarism is discovered in a minor assignment, the student will earn a zero (0), and the student may be given the option to redo the assignment at the teacher’s discretion.

Novel Cover Images from Paperbacks and BMI Bound Books. Dayton, NJ: BMI Educational Services, 2002.