Handling a Plagiarism Situation


What do you do when you believe a student has plagiarized, using the Internet or not? Some faculty want to handle the matter "quietly" and simply have the student rewrite the paper. The Office of Student Affairs encourages faculty to follow the prescribed procedure which safeguards both the faculty member and the student. More importantly, if students know that faculty are treating Plagiarism seriously there is a better chance for reducing the practice.

The specific steps to take are an abridged version of the University of Connecticut Student Code, Part VI (italics have been added to key points):

  1. When an instructor believes there is sufficient information to demonstrate a clear case of academic misconduct, the instructor shall notify the accused student in writing (and orally if possible).

  2. Unless the student requests a hearing to contest the instructor's belief, the instructor shall impose the appropriate academic consequences warranted by the circumstances. The Dean of Students Office has put together guidelines for Academic Misconduct Sanctions to assist faculty in determining the type of sanction that should be assigned to an infraction. Click here for the guidelines.

    The appropriate academic consequence for serious offenses is generally considered to be failure in the course.
    For less serious offenses regarding small portions of the course work, failure for that portion is suggested with the requirement that the student repeat the work for no credit.

  3. Normally, written notification shall occur within thirty (30) days of the discovery of the alleged misconduct.

  4. The faculty member is responsible for saving the information of academic misconduct in its original form and need not return any of the papers or other materials to the student. Copies of the student's work and information about other evidence shall be provided to the student upon request

  5. Normally, the student shall be given five (5) business days from the instructor's first written notice to respond.

  6. If the student admits responsibility or does not respond, the academic consequences shall be imposed and a report will be submitted to the dean of the instructor's school as well as to the Associate Dean of Students for Judicial Affairs.

  7. If a student chooses to contest the instructor's belief of academic misconduct, the student may submit a written request for a hearing to the instructor and send copies of the request to the dean of the college and the department head.

A sample charge letter, developed by the University of Connecticut's Department of English, can also be downloaded and printed out on University letterhead. Stuart Brown from the Office of Student Affairs can assist faculty that have questions.