Saint Leo Dishonesty Policy

The most common forms of academic dishonesty are cheating on tests and plagiarism. The ease of access that the Internet provides has also made it easier for students to plagiarize other peoples’ works. At the same time, online services such as Turnitin.com and SafeAssign have made it easier to catch students who plagiarize other peoples’ works.

Despite all the warnings and admonishments some students will inevitably try to get away with it. Regrettably, sometimes they do, but sooner or later they get caught. These students risk getting an F on the task that they plagiarized and an F for the entire course. They can also be expelled from the university.

For this discussion question, first read the section in the Syllabus regarding Academic Dishonesty. Then read the article titled, “Student Perceptions of Anti Plagiarism Programs” (Nuñez, 2011).

In your analysis, consider the pros and cons of the Saint Leo policy whereby students are required to submit their written assignments to the Turnitin.com web site. Consider that some other universities do not require students to submit their works to Turnitin or a comparable plagiarism check web site. These other universities leave it up to the student to check their own work on an optional basis. The course instructors are also given the latitude whether to check the work for plagiarism or not.

Now consider another Saint Leo University procedure as it pertains to plagiarism. Unlike some other universities, Saint Leo does not afford its instructors the discretion to make determinations and take disciplinary actions against students who have been caught plagiarizing. Instead, the Saint Leo procedure is to have the professors forward all the information regarding the plagiarism incident to the Graduate Academic Standards Committee, which in turn makes the final determination as to how the student will be disciplined. By contrast, some other universities allow the individual professor to make the determination as to whether there has been plagiarism and the professors are given the authority to deal with the matter in any way they deem appropriate.

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of these two very different policies. Which one do you think is better and why?