Understanding and Addressing Instances of Plagiarism

Allison McComb Updated by Allison McComb

Understanding and Addressing Instances of Plagiarism

During your time Facilitating course with eCornell, you may occasionally run into instances of plagiarism. Cornell University takes these instances very seriously, and you are expected to uphold our standards.

If you are not certain about what constitutes plagiarism, and how to avoid it, we encourage you to review the materials available at http://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/index.cfm and to do the self-assessment exercises. (NOTE: a NetID is not necessary to complete the exercises found on this link- click the 'I am a guest' option to take the quiz.)

If a student plagiarizes and it’s their 1st or 2nd offense, the facilitator should follow up with a warning via email. The facilitator should then notify the Facilitation Support Team: ec_facilitation@cornell.edu who will flag the student's profile and monitor repeat offenses. Please use the communication templates below when contacting the student in regards to their instances of plagiarism:

First Instances Template
There appears to be plagiarized material in your discussion question/project. The source of the original content can be found here: _______________. I invite you to review the eCornell Plagiarism Policy. If you believe there is a misunderstanding, you are invited to share your perspective. If you inadvertently plagiarized your work, you will be given a grade of “incomplete” or 0. I invite you to resubmit original work so you are able to get credit and pass your course.
I will be required to provide documentation of plagiarism to my management team even if you resubmit your work. There is no further action required at this point other than re-submitting your work. Future offenses could result in being withdrawn from the course without a refund or in more serious cases, asked not to return to eCornell as a student in the future.
However, I am sure we can resolve this matter simply and quickly. Most instances of plagiarism are purely miscommunications or misunderstandings. I look forward to resolving this challenge with you.
Second Instance Template
There appears to be plagiarized material in your discussion question/project. The source of the original content The source of the original content can be found here: _______________. I invite you to review the eCornell Plagiarism Policy.
If you believe there is a misunderstanding, you are invited to share your perspective. If you inadvertently plagiarized your work, you will be given a grade of “incomplete” or 0. I invite you to resubmit original work so you are able to get credit and pass your course.
As this is you second instance of plagiarism, future offenses will result in being withdrawn from the course without a refund.
I will be required to provide documentation of plagiarism to my management team. Any future instances will result in you being asked not to return to eCornell as a student in the future, and I know that none of us want that outcome. I hope that we can resolve this matter simply and quickly. Most instances of plagiarism are purely miscommunications or misunderstandings. I look forward to resolving this challenge with you.
Third Instance Template
There appears to be plagiarized material in your discussion question/project. The source of the original content can be found here: _______________. I invite you to review the eCornell Plagiarism Policy.
If you believe there is a misunderstanding, you are invited to share your perspective. Unfortunately, if we are not unable to resolve this misunderstanding, we will be required to withdraw you from the course without a refund. You will also be asked not to return to eCornell as a student in the future as this will be the third instance of plagiarism.

It should be noted that approximately 35% of eCornell's students are international, and not all cultures around the world have the same understanding of plagiarism. However, in no way does this absolve our learners from adhering to our policy. You may consider using time during an office hour to discuss eCornell's plagiarism policy or posting an announcement about it before students start on their projects.

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