Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles and interviews dealing with the issues and concerns of plagiarism at ETSU.In an attempt to thwart cheaters and thieves, the Department of English at ETSU is declaring war on students who plagiarize.
“Plagiarism is a large enough issue that we have come up with a department policy,” said Dr. Judith Slagle, chair of ETSU’s Department of English.
“Willful plagiarism will result in the student receiving a failing grade for an assignment and an F in the course,” she said.
“While the burden of proof is on the department, it’s easy to detect students who attempt to plagiarize. Their transitions usually don’t fit, and since the majority take their information off the Internet and Google, it’s simple to trace.
“Our department is not using the web site turnitin.com to track plagiarism because our faculty members are able to detect the majority of the problems,” she said.
The common areas of plagiarism are in freshman composition because the students are writing something every week.
And while the most trouble seems to begin in ENGL 1020, Critical Thinking and Argumentation, these problems are not just limited to freshmen students.
“Last semester, we had two graduate students plagiarizing material,” Slagle said.
Some problems concerning plagiarism seem to accompany students to college, via high school teachers who don’t seem to grasp the severity of the issue, and are failing to pass the information on to their students.
“Maybe other teachers don’t understand what plagiarism is,” Slagle said.
“Students are saying, ‘My high school let me do this, and my teachers before let me do this.’
“Avoiding plagiarism is simple – cite your source and document. This includes summarizing and/or paraphrasing,” she said.
Common errors will occur and the department is aware of this, but willful and blatant theft of material written by someone other than the student will not be tolerated.
“Our department will not be intentionally misled,” Slagle said, “and it’s not like [the students] haven’t been informed, because all of our professors and instructors make this a part of their syllabus, which every student receives a copy of. It’s a type of contract.
“A formal letter of complaint will be sent to Student Affairs, placing your name on a list, and if it comes up again, you will be suspended.”
The policies and regulations concerning plagiarism may be found in the ETSU Student Handbook. They are covered under the Institutional Student Disciplinary Rules, 0240-3-2-.03, Academic and Classroom Misconduct.

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