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Azadi Ka

Amrit Mahotsav

Thou art Light, fill me with Thy Light

Code of Ethics to Check Malpractices and Plagiarism in Academic Work

Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, is one the leading higher education institutions for women. Since its inception in 1968, the college has strived to provide the highest standards of academic training to its students and has contributed several leading academicians to the nation. In order to maintain the highest academic standards, the college follows a policy of zero tolerance to plagiarism in academic work. Plagiarism in academics is not a recent phenomenon and is unlikely to stop lowering academic standards unless educational institutions create awareness amongst students and researchers to avoid plagiarism and an effective system for detecting plagiarism is in place. This document provides general guidelines to be adopted by students and faculty to understand and avoid plagiarism in academic work.

What is plagiarism?

According to Oxford Dictionary plagiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Recorded from the early 17th century, the word comes from Latin plagiarius ‘kidnapping’. According to turnitin, a leading plagiarism checking service, plagiarism in academic work can be identified as belonging to one of the following 10 types:

  1. Submitting someone else’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own.
  2. Containing significant portions of text from a single source without alterations and citing source.
  3. Finding and replacing essential keywords and phrases but retaining the essential content of the sources with citing them.
  4. Mixing paraphrased material from multiple sources without citing them.
  5. Borrowing generously from one’s previous work without citation.
  6. Combining perfectly cited sources with copied passages without citation.
  7. Copied material from multiple sources made to fit together without citing the sources.
  8. Citing non-existent sources or including inaccurate information about sources.
  9. Including proper citation of sources but containing almost no original work.
  10. Including proper citation but relying too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.

A more detailed description of the above types of plagiarism can be found in the list of resources provided in the last section.

Steps to Avoid Plagiarism

Understanding what plagiarism is, is in itself the primary step to avoiding plagiarism. The following are a few more pointers to avoiding plagiarism.

  1. Read from multiple sources to form your own view point.
  2. Check with your faculty on the appropriate referencing style. You can check the internet or contact the College Librarian for more details on the referencing style.
  3. When you encounter a source which is relevant to your assignment/ term paper, read the sources very carefully to understand the content and context of the writing. When using the information from the source in your own text, paraphrase the information and cite the source.
  4. Use a plagiarism checker before you submit your assignment/ term paper. Contact your faculty or the College Librarian for the same.
Institutional Policy for Prevention of Plagiarism

Jesus and Mary College follows a policy of zero tolerance to plagiarism in academic work. The following are the mechanisms to be followed in order to prevent plagiarism:

  1. Faculty are required to introduce students to plagiarism in academic work and referencing.
  2. Faculty are required to contact the College Librarian to create an account for checking plagiarism. The plagiarism checking software that is currently available to the College is URKUND.
  3. Students should be encouraged, to the extent possible, to submit their assignments/ term papers in .doc or .pdf format.
  4. Students should be informed that they will be penalized for engaging in plagiarism.

The penalty should be according to the following scheme:
a. Level 0 – Minor similarities- no penalty.
b. Level 1 – 10-20% similarities- 10% of maximum marks.
c. Level 2 – 20-30% similarities -20% of maximum marks.
d. Level 3 – 30-40% similarities -30% of maximum marks.
e. Level 4- above 40% similarities- cancellation of the assignment/term paper.

Resources

The following resources can be used as reference for understanding plagiarism.

  1. Plagiarism Handbook - a guide for both teachers and students- URKUND
  2. https://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism-spectrum/?_ga=2.223572248.2093413452.1577788450-1423904591.1577697482
  3. Minnesota Public Radio video on plagiarism https://youtu.be/k3Lwlfy5FHM