On 21 May 2013, the AJC found two students guilty and one not guilty of plagiarism in their research papers which were submitted this semester for the Human Computer Interaction course. Plagiarism is considered a form of academic misconduct, and is a violation of Ashesi University’s standards of academic integrity, regardless of whether the plagiarism is intentional or not.
After deliberating, the AJC came up with the following sanction for the two students found guilty:
- A failing grade (E) for the Human Computer Interaction course
The Committee would like to encourage students to consider how plagiarism affects them. When you plagiarize you are likely to stifle your academic potential and growth as it weakens your ability to develop opinions and thoughts. Furthermore, when you present other people’s work as your own, your lecturer is unable to assess your progress, which is necessary for providing the appropriate support. At Ashesi we want students to develop critical and analytical thinking skills and plagiarism prevents you from doing so. Remember also that the act of plagiarism undermines and disregards the efforts of people whose knowledge and work we rely on to develop intellectually.
The AJC would especially like to advise students of the following:
- Adhere to the rules on citation to avoid plagiarism.
- Seek assistance from faculty regarding proper referencing and citation
- Communicate with lecturers about any difficulties with assignments.
- Use the writing lab and library for help with written assignments especially research papers.
