A06: Academic dishonesty - plagiarism

Preamble

In all courses of study, CPC insists on academic integrity. Academic work submitted by a participant is evaluated on the assumption that the work presented by the participant is his or her own, unless designated otherwise. Adherence to standards of academic honesty is a core value of the learning process at the CPC.

Definition

Plagiarism, whether done deliberately or accidentally, is defined as presenting someone else's work, in whole or in part, as one's own, and includes the verbal or written submission of another one's work (i.e. ideas, wording, code, graphics, music, or inventions) without crediting that source. This includes all electronic sources (i.e. the Internet, television, video, film, and recordings), all print and written sources (i.e. books, periodicals, lyrics, government publications, promotional materials, and academic assignments), and all verbal sources (i.e. conversations and interviews). The facilitation of plagiarism, that is, one person sharing his/her work with another participant(s), is also considered an act of plagiarism.

Directive

1. Participants who commit plagiarism, an act of academic dishonesty, will be subject to
   disciplinary action. Disciplinary action will take the form of an academic sanction(s) and will
   reflect the severity of the offense committed. Refer to Participant code of conduct Directive (A10).
2. Each individual with an identified role in a group assignment will be held responsible for that
   role with respect to plagiarism.
3. Participants are subject to the policies and procedures outlined in this Directive regardless of whether they sign the declaration.
4. The College will investigate all reported incidents of plagiarism.

Guiding Principles

1. Whether plagiarism is deliberate or unintentional, the college will impose sanctions reflecting the circumstances of the incident.
2. The Director Police Sciences Training or delegate will oversee the application of the sanctions concerning plagiarism and the Registrar will maintain a record of participants who have committed plagiarism and the sanctions imposed.
3. Any academic sanction is to be kept electronically on the participant's record. Records will be held intact for one year as per Policy following the participant's last academic activity. Any appeal will be considered on its merit.

Procedures, roles and responsibilities

1. The course instructor, or other College staff, when observing or becoming aware of an incident of plagiarism will:
   • Inform the participant(s) of his or her observations upon discovery and where possible, confiscate the assignment or project along with any related evidence.
   • Investigate the incident
   • Discuss the incident with the participant(s), within one (1) working day
2. The course instructor will assess the situation to determine whether the act was:
   • a failure to correctly document sources borne of inadequate understanding of citation; or
   • a failure to correctly document sources despite adequate instruction regardless of whether the plagiarism was deliberate or unintentional; to assess the situation and to determine whether or not it is part of learning to properly reference material.
3. If the Course instructor determines the act was a failure to correctly document sources borne of inadequate understanding of citations, the instructor may deal with the matter from an educational perspective by providing the participant with the appropriate feedback and apply a mark deduction.

Formal Discipline

1. The Course instructor, shall only resort to filing a Plagerism Incident Report form from incidents relating to failure to correctly document sources if:
   • The participant has received adequate instruction on expectations regarding documentation of sources
   • The participant has been provided with sufficient opportunity to demonstrate this skill and has received feedback
   • The discrepancy between the expected standard and the participant's performance is significant or the participant's actions demonstrates a reckless or willful disregard for the previous instruction
2. The Course instructor, or other CPC staff should submit the Plagerism Form (Appendix A) providing details of the plagerism incident to the Director of Police Sciences within two (2) working days of discussing the matter with the participant.
3. Following the receipt of the report of the plagiarism incident, within one (1) working day, the Director of Police Sciences will convene a meeting with the course instructor and the person that reported the incident and the participant(s) to review the circumstances surrounding the incident.
4. The participant(s) can respond, in writing, to the allegation within two (2) working days, using the participant's comment section of the Plagiarism Incident Reporting Form (Appendix A). If the participant(s) acknowledges his/her error, an academic sanction can be imposed at the end of this meeting.
5. If it is determined that an act of plagiarism has occurred, the Director of Police Sciences, in consultation with the course instructor, will assign the academic sanction pertaining to the incident. Academic sanctions are assigned according to the nature and extent of the act of academic dishonesty. A repeated act of plagiarism will result in harsher sanctions.

Academic Sanctions

1. Academic sanctions may include one or more of the following:
   • requirement that the participant complete the course on academic integrity
   • requirement that the participant resubmit the assignment
   • assigning the participant the grade of F for the course and be removed from the course and return to the employer.
2. The Director of Police Sciences will notify the participant(s), in writing and the academic copy of the letter will be sent to the course instructor and the home agency will also be advised.
3. Should the participant(s) choose not to respond to the incident at any point in the procedure, the Director of Police Sciences will proceed with the investigation to its conclusion.
4. The Director of Police Sciences will forward the completed "Plagiarism Incident Reporting Form" (Appendix A) to the Director General and to the Registrar's Office to add to the participant's file.
5. Participant's may appeal academic sanctions following the procedures outlined in the Academic appeal Directive (A08).
6. Once the charge is found to be in contravention with an incident of plagiarism, participant(s) are subject to the policies and procedures outlined in this Directive even if they withdraw from the course.

Related directives

Academic appeal – A08
Participant code of conduct – A10

Appendix A - Plagiarism incident reporting form

To be completed by the Course Instructor
Directive A10 - Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else's work, in whole or in part, as one's own, and includes the verbal or written submission of another work without crediting that source. The completed Plagiarism Incident Reporting Form is to be kept on the participant's file in the Registrar's Office.

Date of incident:____________

Name of participant(s): ____________

Participant(s) email address: ____________

Course: ____________

Name of course instructor:____________

Description of plagiarism incident:____________

Course instructor signature: ____________

Participant's comments :____________

Participant (s) signature: ____________

Sanction applied:____________

Director police sciences training signature:____________

Faculty manager Signature:____________

Date:____________

Date modified:

2018-02-27