GENERAL GUIDANCE ON CLASS PAPERS

Topic: anything related to the study, management or restoration of river, stream, riparian/floodplain ecosystems

General format/flow of paper:

1. Intro ~ statement of issue/topic of interest
2. Background ~ summary of current/past research related to  issue/topic of interest
3. Management Implications ~ relative to river and floodplain environments.
4. Future Research Needs ~ based upon current state of knowledge provide some ideas on future research needs/study designs, etc.
5. Literature Cited ~ fully list all citations referred to in the text of your paper (use format comparable to that normally found in scientific research journals.

Length/breadth of paper:  8-10 pages (double-spaced, including citations)

Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources – Policy on Plagiarism

 “A fundamental goal of education is to produce students who can evaluate ideas – both analysis and synthesis – and who can produce significant original thoughts.  Plagiarism is simply repeating words or thoughts of other people, without adding anything new.  Therefore, submitting a plagiarized paper – in addition to the wrongful conduct – does not demonstrate the level of understanding and skill that an educated person is reasonably expected to have.” (R. B. Standler. 2000.  Plagiarism in colleges in USA . http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm)

 “Plagiarism means using another’s work without giving credit.  You must put others’ words in quotation marks and cite your source(s) and must give citations when using others’ ideas, even if those ideas are paraphrased in your own words.” (http://sja.ucdavis.edu/sja/avoid.htm)

 “Plagiarism is a form of theft.  Taking words, phrasing, sentence structure, or any other element of the expression of another person’s ideas, and using them as if they were yours, is like taking from that person a material possession, something he or she worked for and earned.” (J. Cochran, Wake Forest University , http://www.guilford.edu/original/ASC/TWZ/define.html)

 “Note that the intent of a plagiarist is irrelevant.  It is no defense for the plagiarist to say “I forgot.” Or “It is only a rough draft.” Or “I did not know it was plagiarism.” (R. B. Standler. 2000.  Plagiarism in colleges in USA .  www.rbs2.com/plag.htm)

 Plagiarism violates the University of Idaho code of academic conduct.  The departmental policy is consistent with the UI policy, regulation O-2, “Consequences for academic dishonesty may be imposed by the course instructor.  Such consequences may include but cannot exceed a grade of “F” in the course.”

Some potentially useful web sites (in addition to those cited above):

http://www.wiu.edu/users/miwrite/wiu/citation.htm  Citing electronic texts
http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/plagiarism.htm  Examples of what is and is not plagiarism
http://www.its.uidaho.edu/english/comp/plagiarism.htm  UI English Department site
http://www.plagiarized.com/index.shtml  Commercial site for detecting plagiarism
http://www.canexus.com/eve/index.shtml  Site for tracking down plagiarism

 "Plagiarism is a serious issue.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated.  Even a sentence or two plagiarized in a long document is inexcusable.  If you are uncertain about how to cite sources, or have other questions about potential cases of plagiarism, visit with me prior to handing in an assignment."

How do I avoid plagiarism? you might wonder. The answer isn't too complicated.  Just think back to your basic study skills training:  Start your writing effort well ahead of the final deadline, take good notes on what you read rather than grabbing text off of electronic sources like the internet, then simply place everything that is an exact or close-to-exact quote in quotation marks and scrupulously cite your sources.  Most cases of plagiarism are quite obvious and the commercial sites available on the internet now make it fairly simple for faculty to find the source of your plagiarized material. One of the most serious risks occurs when you do a joint project with other students.  Even if you personally did not plagiarize if you sign your name to a joint project proposal containing plagiarized material you become personally liable for the plagiarized material.  Don't do it yourself and make sure it doesn't happen on a group project. I and other faculty in the Fish and Wildlife Dept. consider plagiarism such a serious breach of professional standards (comparable to illegal harvest of fish and game) that any student proven to have committed plagiarism will receive an F and 0 points on the assignment, may fail the course and will be tainted by this unethical behavior on any recommendations for jobs, graduate positions, etc. in the future.