How do I know what is legitimate borrowing from a source and what is plagiarism?

The Department of Rhetoric and Composition teaches what does and does not constitute plagiarism in its courses. Therefore, students will know how to make this distinction and will be warned by teachers about the dangers and consequences of doing so.

How will the Department of Rhetoric and Composition instructor know if I have gotten a paper from one of the many cheat sites on the Internet, or had the paper written by a professional writing service?

The instructor will see the difference in your writing style quite easily because you will be asked to write some of your work in class. Secondly, since most instructors require that you submit an electronic copy of your work. The Department of Rhetoric and Composition will routinely check papers using a special anti-plagiarism program which tracks down any text of more than one sentence that is taken from any Internet source, or has been written by a professional writing service. The AUC subscribes to a service that will allow us to track down any plagiarism (see turnitin.com). All students are required to register for turnitin.com and must submit at least one draft of each assignment electronically to turnitin.com. To learn how to register for turnitin, download this powerpoint tutorial.

What are the consequences if I am caught plagiarizing or cheating?

Any deliberate cheating or plagiarism will result in automatic failure of the course and will be noted in the student's record on the Department of Rhetoric and Composition's database. A repeat offence will be reported to the Dean of Students and constitute grounds for dismissal from the university.

The Department of Rhetoric and Composition reserves the right to change the grade of a student retro-actively (ie after the grades have been submitted to the Registrar at the end of a given semester) should it be found that the work a student submitted was not their own.

Any of the following will constitute an automatic failure in the course and may provide grounds for possible dismissal from the university:

• using any written work or graphic materials from electronic sources without proper acknowledgement and passing it off as your own work
• using another student's written work and passing it off as your own work
• having someone re-write or give you extensive help on your work so that it no longer represents your work

You may check the Academic Integrity website if you have more detailed questions, or talk to your instructor. Many of the links on that site will be useful for gaining a perspective on Academic Integrity at AUC.