What is the process for addressing plagiarism?
The university officially defines plagiarism as “representing the words or ideas of someone else as one’s own in any academic exercise” (2006-2008 Undergraduate Catalog, Section on Academic Dishonesty, p. 17). If you suspect a student of academic dishonesty, it is good practice to discuss the matter with one or two colleagues, and it may be useful to seek the advice of one of the Assistant Directors of Composition or the Director of Composition before speaking with the student. The Composition Program does not use plagiarism detection software and instead prefers to deal with the issue through effective writing process pedagogy, including good assignment design and individual responses to student writing. Sometimes instances of writing copied from other sources may be the result of problems with the student’s writing processes rather than intentional dishonesty. The University Writing Center offers useful information about plagiarism, available at: http://breeze.louisville.edu/plagiari
