ETSU PLAGIARISM POLICY

    Plagiarism is defined as follows by Black, Henry Campbell, Black's Law Dictionary, West Publishing Company, St. Paul; Minnesota, 1968 (p. 1308): "The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts of passages of his writing, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one's own mind."

    To be liable for "plagiarism" it is not necessary to exactly duplicate another's literary work, it being sufficient if unfair use of such work is made by lifting of substantial portion thereof, but even an exact counterpart of another's work does not constitute "plagiarism" if such counterpart was arrived at independently. O'Rourke v. RKO Radio Pictures, D.C. Mass., 44 F. Supp. 480, 482, 483.

    In other words, plagiarism involves using someone else's ideas or words, without giving proper credit to the original author.  Even if you do not copy the words exactly, or even if you copy only a small part of someone else's work, you must cite the name of the original author and follow with a reference to that person's work (such as title, year and name of publisher) using an acceptable standardized referencing format in a publication manual of a nationally recognized association (such as the American Psychological Association or the Modern Language Association).  Exact quotation should either be enclosed within quotation marks or by appropriate indentation, depending upon the requirement of the style manual in use. The page number or numbers should be cited clearly for each quoted passage.

                    ETSU Undergraduate Catalog 2003-2004, p. 46.

ETSU POLICY ON ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

        Academic misconduct will be subject to disciplinary action.  Any act of dishonesty in academic work constitutes academic misconduct.  This includes plagiarism, the changing or falsifying of any academic documents or materials, cheating, and the giving or receiving of unauthorized aid in tests, examinations, or other assigned school work.  Penalties for academic misconduct will vary with the seriousness of the offense and may include, but are not limited to: a grade of F on the work in question, a grade of F for the course, reprimand, probation, suspension, and expulsion.  For a second academic offense the penalty is permanent expulsion.

                ETSU Spectrum 2003-2004, p. 28.