Plagiarism and Cheating
Please take a moment to read Longwood University's policy on cheating, intellectual dishonesty, and plagiarism (Source: 2004-2005 Student Handbook, pp. 27-29)
The ideas and comments you share in the discussions and exams for this course should be your own ideas and comments--they should reflect your own active and meaningful interaction with the works we will read this semester. You should have no need to consult outside sources, unless you need to look up a word in a dictionary or clarify an allusion to a mythological figure or historical event in an encyclopedia or glossary. If you are confused about something, raise a question about it on the Discussion Board. An important part of literary study involves making oneself comfortable with the fact that not all things in a literary work are easy to understand. The "meaning" of literary works is rarely transparent, and such "meaning" usually manifests itself in the form of ambiguity and ambivalence--in other words, great literature presents us with multiple, and perhaps even contradictory meanings, and it is the job of the reader to learn how to ask questions that will lead us to those multiple meanings--not to identify a single "correct answer."
In the spirit of achieving the above, I urge you to avoid the numerous Internet sites that explain, analyze, and provide commentaries on the works we're reading this semester. You know which ones I'm talking about, and I want you to know that I know about them as well. You should avoid these sites because they will prevent you from having your own personal, meaningful engagement with the texts we'll be reading this semester. But more importantly, you should know that if any of the analyses and commentaries from these web sites (or other sources, including printed ones), even the use of particular phrases or vocabulary, appear in your essays or contributions to the Discussion Board, you will receive an F for this course, your work will be turned over to the Honor Board for adjudication, and it is likely that you will be expelled from Longwood for at least a semester. These web sites are not legitimate study tools, and if you use them you run the danger of presenting these ideas as your own, knowingly or otherwise. Explanations such as: "these are only my notes," or "I didn't mean to submit this," and variations on this theme will not be accepted. You have been warned about these sites, and you shouldn't be looking at them.
It goes without saying that other forms of cheating will not be tolerated either. Your work for this course should be your work, not someone else's work, and not work that is part of a collaborative effort, with the exception of the ideas we generate during the course of our discussions.
If for some reason you do use outside sources as you formulate your discussion responses, please make sure you indicate your sources clearly.
If you have difficulties with the readings, please e-mail me or visit with me during my office hours.
And please be aware that discussion contributions and essay submissions will be randomly submitted to turnitin.com, an online anti-plagiarism service, throughout the semester.
If you have questions about the above, please e-mail me, or visit me during my office hours.
After you have read the policy above, take this Plagiarism Self Assessment until you get 100% of the answers correct. Then e-mail the instructor, and indicate that you have read the Course Plagiarism Policy and have taken the Plagiarism Self Assessment.