Academic Honesty, Ethical Citation Practices, and Plagiarism

Upstate Medical University upholds the highest standards of academic integrity. In order to meet these standards and protect themselves from potential pitfalls, students should be aware of Upstate's guidelines in regard to academic dishonesty and plagiarism. The following presents essential policy information for students and links to further information.

University Policies

I. Upstate Medical University Student Handbook 2006-2007:

From the Student Handbook section on Academic Policies: College of Medicine:

"What is plagiarism?"

"Plagiarism is the misrepresentation of someone else’s work as your own. It may be intentional or unintentional, reflecting busyness, laziness, or dishonesty. The intent or reason for plagiarism doesn’t matter. It is your responsibility as a student to avoid it."

The statement also offers advice on avoiding plagiarism. To see the complete statement on plagiarism, go to pp.102-103 of the Academic Policies: College of Medicine.

From the Student Handbook section on Student Code of Conduct and Related Policies:

From Article III, Explicit Components of the Student Code of Conduct, Item 4, p.120:
"All property, both physical and intellectual, must be respected and must never be plagiarized or defaced."

From Article V, Violations of Student Code of Conduct, Item 26, Academic Dishonesty, p.122.
This section lists violations, including plagiarism, which may result in dismissal or other sanctions. Examples of plagiarism listed here include:

Appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results or words, including confidential review of other's research proposals and manuscripts, without giving appropriate credit
Copying homework answers from your text and handing them in for a grade
Quoting text or other works on an exam, term paper, homework, thesis, or dissertation without citing the source
Handing in a paper purchased from a term paper service
Handing in another's paper as your own
Taking a paper from an organization's files and handing it in as your own

To view the complete discussion on violations, go to pp.120-123 of the Code of Conduct and Related Policies

II. Internal Medicine Clerkship for Third Year Medical Students

The following instructions to students appear at the end of the section "Required Write-Ups for Internal Medicine Clerkship":

All referenced materials (including textbooks and Internet sources) must be appropriately credited via standard citation format.
Specific information on how to cite UpToDate: http://www.uptodate.com/subscribers/user_manual/citing.htm

Ethical Citation Practices - Why Are They Important?

In the United States intellectual property rights are protected by copyright law. For students as well as experienced professionals, it is critical to acknowledge the sources used when writing a paper or completing an assignment. Doing so gives proper credit to the original writer (you will appreciate this when you have worked hard to become a published author!), gives your readers a connection to the works you used, and shows that you are familiar with the significant thinkers on the topic.

Furthermore, it is considered dishonest and unlawful to misrepresent another writer's ideas or words as your own. Plagiarism, whether deliberate or inadvertent, can have severe, even career-ending, consequences. Protect yourself by becoming familiar with appropriate citation practices.

General Information on Writing and Proper Citation