at Florida State University

What to Do If You Suspect Plagiarism

by Amy Flagg and Lauren Murphey

While reading a student paper, you start to wonder if the student wrote this piece himself, got too much help from a friend, or copied the paper from another student, the internet, or another published source. What do you do?

• Read the paper carefully looking for specific places where the text doesn't seem like your student's work. Highlight words, sentences, concepts, and sources to ask the student about in a conference. Perhaps read over other writing the student has turned in to compare the style of writing. You may try to find the actual text copied from by checking his cited sources, Internet paper sites, or asking fellow TA's if they have seen this paper before. Specifically, try Googling one sentence from the student's text; if you get a hit, try it a few more times. You may also want to use TurnItIn (available through Blackboard).
• Share the writing and your concerns with a more experienced teacher and with our First-Year Composition Program Assistants (Liane Robertson and Emily J Dowd) to get additional opinions. If you decide to move forward with your concerns, contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Andrew Epstein (aepstein@english.fsu.edu), to tell him that you suspect a plagiarized paper.
• Meet with the student and ask him or her to talk about the paper. You might start by saying, “I have some questions about your paper. Can you tell me why you chose this topic?” Then go on to ask the student about the words, sentences, concepts, and sources that you highlighted in the text. You may ask the student to show documentation that s/he wrote the paper (such as notes, pre-writing, and rough drafts). If the student clearly cannot talk about the topic, word choice, rhetorical choices, concepts and sources, your suspicions that the student plagiarized or otherwise did not write the paper alone may be confirmed in your mind. If you believe the student acted out of ignorance or misunderstanding, rewriting the paper is an appropriate requirement to pass the course. Should you believe the student willfully and knowingly plagiarized, you must consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies before taking further action. Additional conferences with you, the student, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies will likely take place. Do not tell a student that s/he will receive an F for the paper sequence or an F for the course before you have talked with the Director Undergraduate Studies.
• To pursue penalties for plagiarism after meeting with the student, write a brief memo to the Director of Undergraduate Studies describing the incident. This should include a narrative concerning how you discovered the alleged offense as well as the penalty you recommend. For a first offense, the most severe penalty you may recommend is failure for the course. You also have the option of recommending lesser penalties, including a failing or lower grade on the assignment, make-up work or revisions, or a combination thereof. We do suggest, however, that your penalty be one that will have a significant and permanent impact on the student's grade. Also include:

1. A copy of your syllabus and course policy sheet.
2. If you are teaching a FYC course with a plagiarism exercise, the student's signed exercise.
3. The original assignment.
4. The plagiarized material (that is, the student's essay) or the exam paper on which cheating occurred.
5. Evidence (a copy of the source, web site etc. from which the student plagiarized; evidence of cheating on an exam).
6. Provide any other evidence that you will help prove that the material in question was indeed plagiarized or that the student committed an act of academic dishonesty.

• The student will need to meet directly with the Director of Undergraduate Studies; make sure that you have told them why they are being sent to this meeting before they go. Do not let the student go into this meeting unless you have first discussed your concerns with them. Have him or her make an appointment with the Director of Undergraduate Studies ASAP, and explain the charges and the evidence before they go.