Plagiarism
The cornerstone of intellectual life at UC Santa Cruz is a commitment to integrity in all forms of teaching, learning, and research. Misconduct violates the standards of our community and is punishable by warning, suspension, dismissal, or revocation of degree.
All students who are charged with misconduct will be invited to discuss the matter with their instructors and with the provosts of the colleges with which they are affiliated. They are also entitled to bring their cases to the Academic Tribunal.
In cases of academic misconduct, the instructor of record has sole discretion to determine academic sanctions (e.g., grade for the work in question, the student’s final grade for the course). College provosts, Academic Tribunals, and the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education (VPDUE) share discretion for determining disciplinary sanctions (including warning, suspension, dismissal, and revocation of degree). Please refer to this website for more information about UCSC’s policy on academic dishonesty: https://www.ue.ucsc.edu/academic_misconduct
In the event that a student is suspected of violating the university’s code of academic honesty, as stipulated in sections 102.01-102.016 and 105.15 of the Student Handbook, the following steps will be taken:
(1) Private meeting with me, the instructor.
(2) Automatic fail of the plagiarized paper with the opportunity to re-write the paper within an agreed-upon time period at a three-grade penalty (A drops to a B).
(3) The matter will be reported to your college provost who will determine disciplinary sanctions independent of me, the instructor.
Common forms of plagiarism:
- Using a direct quotation of three of more words without citing a source.
- Paraphrasing (“putting into your own words”) a text without citing a source.
- Using the idea or argument of a text without citing a source.