Ethical notes

Notes on plagiarism and cheating

PLEASE TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE FOLLOWING NOTE WHEN COMPLETING THE LEARNING ACTIVITIES OF THE COURSE.

Please first ready the ethical guidelines of UEF regarding plagiarism:

"Plagiarism refers to the presentation of someone else's research plan, manuscript, article or text, or parts thereof, as one's own. Plagiarism may also pertain to oral presentations or ideas, thoughts or inventions presented by someone else. According to Puusniekka & Eskola (2004), plagiarism refers to the submittal for evaluation of an assignment (an essay, report, thesis, etc.) which is not entirely the person's own work and the original source of the borrowed part is not mentioned in the assignment's list of references. Plagiarism can be intentional; however, it may also be unintentional. Unintentional plagiarism relates to a student's unawareness of the norms associated with scientific working. Text can be borrowed and direct quotations can be used, but one must remember to make a reference to the source and author concerned. The majority of problems relating to plagiarism involve inadequate use of references. Each scientific discipline has its own established practices as regards the use of references, and it is recommendable to become acquainted with these when starting to write the first written assignment at the latest."

According to the university law plagiarism constituting cheating. 

Examples of cheating:

using notes or other forbidden tools in an exam (cheating in an exam)

modifying an assignment that has already been evaluated

returning someone else's assignment as one's own

using the one and the same assignment on more than one course

taking a text or a part of a text from the Internet or some other source and using it as one's own (plagiarism).

Examples of academic dishonesty:

completing an exam on someone else's behalf

sending out exam answers or receiving messages during an exam

looking at someone else's exam answers and using them as one's own

finding out exam questions beforehand, eg, in a paper left in the copying machine by a teacher

having some one else complete one's own assignment or other study attainment

stealing or destroying fellow students' assignments

being awarded a grade for a group assignment without having completed one's own share.

Instructions relating to offenses against teaching and research by students

The Degree Regulations of the University of Eastern Finland, Section 31, state the following:

"Examiners shall have the right to remove a student guilty of cheating from an exam immediately. The exam of such student will be failed. The study attainment will also be failed in cases where the cheating is discovered only after the exam. Other study attainments can also be failed if the student has committed an offence against teaching or research while completing the study attainment in question.

In compliance with the Universities Act, Section 45, a student who has committed an offence against teaching or research at the university or has otherwise breached university order, may, as a disciplinary measure, be cautioned or suspended for a maximum of one year. The offence or breach shall be brought to the attention of the Dean or the Director of the independent institute or service center concerned in writing, who shall decide on any further measures to be taken.

In compliance with the Universities Act, Section 45, the decision in regard of a caution to a student shall be made by the Rector of the university and in regard of a suspension by the Board of the university. Before the resolution of the matter, the student shall be verifiably notified of the offence he or she is accused of and given an opportunity to be heard in the matter.

If a teacher suspects a student of an offence against teaching or research, the teacher has the obligation to address the issue immediately and in an appropriate manner. If the discovered offence is minor and the result of the student's unawareness of good scientific practice, the teacher may give the student advice and instructions. In other cases, the teacher has the obligation to report the suspected offence to the Dean or to the Director of the independent institute or service center concerned in writing. "

If the Dean or the Director of the independent institute or service center concerned considers that a minor offence has been committed, the consequences may include, eg:

an oral repressing

an order to the student to rectify the written assignment, or

failing of the study attainment concerned.

In this course, some of the learning activities will be submitted to online  TurniITin  service by the instructor, which will automatically check the similarity of the submitted assignment. The system will provide a report, which can be shared with the students.

If the automatic test will show evidence of clear plagiarism, I will first ask an explanation from the student. In the first case, I will ask the student to re-do the assignment. If the same student is caught twice during the course, he or she will fail the course. In addition, the head of department will be informed about the cheating.