Plagiarism   

According to Oxford University, Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.    Plagiarism in general can take several forms 

Examples on plagiarism:

• Using online translators for assignments and assessments to outsmart plagiarism detection tools.  
• Paraphrasing (putting into your own words) another person’s unique ideas, spoken, or written without citing the source  
• Quoting another person’s actual work without reference 
• Using another person’s idea, theory, opinion without reference 
• Turning in a paper retrieved from an Internet source as one’s own. 
• Using another student’s work in whole or part and handing it in as one’s own 
• Purchasing readymade work from any source 
• Using information from an encyclopedia, book, textbook, web site, database, etc., without citing the source 
• Using any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings, pictures, sounds or other piece of information from any source that is not common knowledge, without citing the source 
• Using another person’s idea, opinion, or theory without citing the source 
• Using quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written word without citing the source 

When plagiarism is suspected in whole or in part, it is reported to the Disciplinary Committee. If a charge is upheld against the student who committed plagiarism by the Disciplinary Committee, the following penalties will be imposed:

• First-time offence will result in:
  • » A grade of zero “0” in the plagiarized assignment.
  • » First warning and an entry in the student’s discipline file.
• Second-time offence will result in:
• • » A failing grade in the course in which the offense was committed.
  • » Second warning and an entry in the student’s discipline file.
• Third-time offence will result in:
  • » Failing grade in all registered courses for the semester in which the offence was committed.
  • » Final warning and an entry in the student’s discipline file.
• Repeated plagiarism will result in:
  • » A failing grade in all registered courses for the semester in which the offence was committed.
  • » Dismissal from the university.

Originality Report:

The Originality Report is NOT a plagiarism report. An Originality (or Similarity) Report is merely an indication of similarities between a piece of work submitted by a student and a database of previously submitted work, websites, and other sources. If a match between a submitted piece of work and an existing work is found, Turnitin, which is the current implemented software in AFU, will highlight the matching text and provide a summary in the Originality Report. This means that the accuracy of the Originality Report depends largely on the repository of resources against which the submitted work is compared. The matching text found is not an assessment of whether work has or has not been plagiarized. Originality Reports can help tutors to locate potential sources of plagiarism. The decision to deem any work plagiarized should be made only after careful examination of both the submitted paper and the suspect sources. 

Copyright Violations: 

Copyright laws must be closely observed. Copying, altering or unauthorized use of course material, University records, or instruments of identification is prohibited. Students are expected to abide by relevant patents and intellectual property rights. 

Complicity in Academic Dishonesty: 

Complicity in academic dishonesty consists of helping or attempting to help another person commit an act of academic dishonesty or willfully assisting another student in the violation of the academic code of integrity. Complicity in academic dishonesty is pre-meditated and intentional. Examples: 

• Providing answers during an exam, test, or quiz 
• Doing the work for another student 
• Calling or texting a student on a mobile phone while taking an exam and providing information 
• Designing or producing a project for another student 
• Leaving inappropriate materials behind at the site of an exam or test 6. Providing a student in advance with a copy of a test 

Academic Honesty: 

All students are expected to abide by the principles of academic honesty set out in the Student Handbook. 

Academic honesty is monitored by colleges, primarily by faculty involved in teaching and assessment of student’s work. 

Academic Dishonesty: 

Academic dishonesty or cheating includes acts of plagiarism, forgery, fabrication, or misrepresentation and cheating during examinations. Definitions and examples are outlined in the Academic Honesty Procedure in Examination Procedure. 

Dishonesty in Submitted Work: 

All academic work and materials submitted for assessment must be the original work of the student or group of students. Al Falah University (AFU) has zero tolerance to Plagiarism and cheating. 

Faculty members / Instructors should take into consideration the following guidelines: 

• It is the responsibility of the instructor to provide guidance to the students and reinforce the awareness about the ways where high similarity score could be problematic and plagiarism can take form in the student’s written work. 
• Instructors should let the students view the similarity report of their work to provide an opportunity to the student to see where they have improperly paraphrased or inadvertently misused a source. 

Each faculty member/instructor has to verify each and every similarity index. 

Originality (Similarity) Report and Guidelines for Submitting Assignments: 

The Originality (Similarity) Report produced by Turnitin can be used as a tool for students to improve their academic writing and as a tool for faculty to help them decide on plagiarism. 

• As a guide, a returned total percentage (similarity index) of below 15% would probably indicate that similarity is acceptable. A high percentage of similarity would probably be anything over 25%. 
• Al Falah University (AFU) is to consider the percentage of 24% as a cut-off range. 
  
  
• If the student submits the assignment in good time (days) prior to the submission deadline, the instructor may ask the student to resubmit another version pointing out to the student that he/she must ensure that his/her work is authentic. This can be done through submission settings, where the instructor can revert the submission manually to the student after the submission. In that case students may access, edit, and reload their submitted file without any need for faculty intervention as it is still in Draft form.
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