By Shanna Milonas, GCU Academic Integrity Supervisor
Be honest…
Have you ever been in a bind writing a paper and looked online for inspiration? Many students have, and that’s okay. What is never okay is copying verbatim from a web site or not citing it as a source. Even worse is posting your completed paper to online essay clearinghouses.
Posting your academic papers to essay web sites is a violation of the University’s Code of Conduct. Providing papers, discussion question answers or other GCU assignments to commercial websites is taboo.
We know you are proud of your work, but, when it comes to academic integrity, posting your assignments to public forums demonstrates an implied willingness to let others use your work.
GCU requires the use of Turnitin.com for writing assignments. Turnitin recognizes if a student submitted a paper to its database, and this opens the charge of plagiarism.
If another student submits your work as his or her own, are you on the hook for a Code of Conduct infraction?
Absolutely.
You could be hit with “assisting others to cheat” (University Policy Handbook, page 26). The Academic Compliance office defends the academic integrity of the University by investigating these violations. They also conduct large-scale web searches to find GCU papers posted to online websites and then take action. These actions help increase the value of your diploma.
Sanctions for violations include repeating a course, failing grades, suspension, and even expulsion. If you’ve posted a paper to online clearinghouses, it may demonstrate college-level smarts to ask the website to pull that down for you.
The University Policy Handbook is available at my.gcu.edu - http://my.gcu.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/Policy/2010BFallUniversityPolicyHandbook.pdf
For more information, contact [email protected].
