Ethics and Plagiarism

Why a Code of Ethics is Important

Ethics are a code which guides conduct. A breach of ethics causes harm to someone. Ethics are involved when people cheat on tests, fail to attribute information used in term papers and theses or falsify research results - such cheating adversely affects others. Sometimes it is difficult to see how unethical behavior might hurt others, but being caught in unethical behavior will always hurt you.

The administration, faculty, and your fellow students at New Mexico Tech expect you to act ethically. This includes not cheating, falsifying information, or plagiarizing – actions which may cause your instructor or department to reduce your course grade or to issue you a failing grade for the class, or to send you before the Disciplinary Board for more severe treatment. Other non-ethical acts may also be cause for disciplinary action as outlined within this Student Handbook.

You may not be familiar with the word "plagiarism." Plagiarism (from the Latin word for "kidnapper") is the presentation of someone else's ideas or words as your own. You plagiarize deliberately if you copy a sentence from a book and pass it off as your writing, or if you summarize or paraphrase the ideas of someone else without acknowledging your debt. You plagiarize accidentally if you carelessly forget quotation marks around the words of another writer or mistakenly omit a citation for the ideas of another because you are unaware of the need to acknowledge the idea. Whether deliberate or accidental, plagiarism is a serious and often legally punishable offense. You do not plagiarize, however, when you draw on material from someone else and acknowledge sources. That procedure is a crucial part of responsible research.

There are several online sources that deal with plagiarism. A general discussion of plagiarism in the context of our laws and society is available at: http://www.rbs2.com/plag.pdf. Here is a checklist for avoiding plagiarism, from The Little Brown Handbook, 4th ed., 1988, pages 572-573:

  1. What type of source are you using: your own independent material, common knowledge, or someone else's independent material? You must acknowledge someone else's material.
  2. If you are quoting someone else's material, is the quotation exact? Have you inserted quotation marks around quotations run into text? Have you shown omissions with ellipses and additions with brackets?
  3. If you are paraphrasing or summarizing someone else's material, have you used your own words and sentence structure? Does your paraphrase or summary employ quotation marks when you resort to the author's exact language? Have you represented the author's meaning without distortion?
  4. Is each use of someone else's material acknowledged in your text? Are all your source citations complete and accurate?
  5. Does your list of works cited include all the sources you have drawn from in writing your paper?

WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE YOUR REFERENCES

Research Integrity Policy

The Policy to Assure the Integrity of Research is found on the NMT Research and Economic Development webpage. This policy establishes the process for dealing with misconduct in research and creative activities associated with external funding.

This policy applies to every researcher who is funded on any grant or contract; if you are funded externally, you are responsible for knowing and following the policy.