Approved by Staff: May 26, 1999
The following is a summary of school policy at Burnaby North:
Policy (definitions) Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person’s work in any form, from any source, and the presentation of that [work] in whole or in part, as one’s own.
Cheating is any attempt by a student to complete an examination, translation, assignment, homework, or assessment by unfair means. “Unfair means” may include any or all of the following:
- obtaining or providing unauthorized information through verbal or visual communication of unauthorized use of books, images (photos, posters, drawings), notes, text, computers, or other materials
- translation without sourcing (e.g. using as your own work a source written in another language that has been translated into English)
- obtaining or providing information concerning all or part of an examination prior to or during the examination
- taking an examination or doing an assignment for another student; or arranging for another person to take an exam or do an assignment in one’s place; or handing in someone else’s work as your own
- altering or changing test answers after submission for grading; altering or changing grades after grades have been awarded; or altering or changing other academic records once these [records] are official
- making any other attempt to improve grades using means that have not been or would not be approved by your teacher
Application (how the policy is enforced): The cheating and plagiarism policy will be implemented by the individual teacher with departmental and school support.
- The teacher will inform the student(s) that he/she is under suspicion or was caught in the act of plagiarism or cheating and will state reasons or give evidence to the student(s).
- The student will respond by
- admitting the transgression OR
- denying the transgression
- If ‘a’ occurs then possible consequences 1 – 10 are applied as appropriate. If ‘b’ occurs then teachers should fill out an incident report and
- ask for a demonstration of competency or authorship OR
- go through the school appeal procedure
Possible Consequences:
Consequences for plagiarism and cheating may include the following:
- the student receives a ‘O’ (zero) on the assignment/work/test
- the teacher has the option of treating the ‘O’ (zero) as an ‘ I ‘
- parent(s) are contacted
- ‘N’ work habit given on the next report card
- incident noted on the student’s disciplinary file
- the student must write a final exam
- the student will be ineligible for leadership positions
- the student will be ineligible for the honour roll (for the current term)
- the student will lose scholarship recommendation
- the student will be suspended from school
Please note: Consequences 1-4 may be implemented at the classroom teacher’s discretion, while consequences 5-10 may be implemented by the administration in conjunction with the teacher.
NB: Teachers may report any incidence of plagiarism or cheating to an administrator at any time or check a student’s file for previous incidents of cheating and/or plagiarism.
Appeal Process Provisions for Appeal
Students may present their appeal to any of the following staff:
- Classroom teacher
- Department Head OR
- Grade Administrator
If there is no resolution after step 1, the appeal is presented to
- A group consisting of the above three staff with the student and/or parent-guardian.
If there is no resolution after step 2, the appeal is presented to - The Final Appeal committee consisting of a different Department Head, and EAR committee member, and the Principal with the student and/or parent-guardian, and classroom teacher.
The content of this page was adapted from the “EAR–Plagiarism and Cheating Policy” (The Viking Handbook, 1999 edition, 3.20.00). This policy was introduced to the Burnaby North Students (grades 8 – 10) during their first CAPP advisory session of the 1999/2000 school year.