Citation Requirements
Academic integrity in Politics courses: By enrolling in the university, students are automatically agreeing to abide by policies, including those on academic misconduct. Academic integrity and scholarship are core values that should guide our conduct and decisions as members of the UCSC community. Plagiarism and cheating contradict these values, and so are very serious academic offenses. Penalties can include a failing grade in an assignment or in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the university. Please see the university's Rules of Conduct regarding student conduct and discipline: http://deanofstudents.ucsc.edu/student-conduct/student-handbook/pdf/100.0-code-of-student-conduct.pdf.
Any test, paper or report submitted by you and that bears your name is presumed to be your own original work that has not previously been submitted for credit in another course unless you obtain prior written approval to do so from your instructor.
In all of your assignments, including your homework or drafts of papers, you may use words or ideas written by other individuals in publications, web sites, or other sources, but only with proper attribution. "Proper attribution" means that you have fully identified the original source and extent of your use of the words or ideas of others that you reproduce in your work for this course, usually in the form of a footnote or parenthesis.
As a general rule, if you are citing from a published source or from a web site and the quotation is short (up to a sentence or two), place it in quotation marks; if you employ a longer passage from a publication or web site, please indent it and use single spacing. In both cases, be sure to cite the original source in a footnote or in parentheses. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with and follow citation practices as described in either the MLA or Chicago Style Guides.
You may not copy another student’s work or use another student’s work as a model. The best way to avoid committing accidental plagiarism is to read a passage in a reference, take notes in your own words after you have closed the reference, and then write your paper from your notes.
Students who submit papers containing plagiarized material or information they did not collect or whose papers are not clearly their own will fail the course and referred to his/her college provost for disciplinary action (https://www.ue.ucsc.edu/academic_misconduct). Please be aware that anyone who tries to help a friend by letting him copy his work is also considered guilty of academic dishonesty according to university regulations. If you have any questions about what constitutes unfair collaboration or plagiarism, please contact the instructor. Students who violate the academic integrity policy typically fail the course.
Finally, you should keep in mind that as a member of the campus community, you are expected to demonstrate integrity in all of your academic endeavors and will be evaluated on your own merits. So be proud of your academic accomplishments and help to protect and promote academic integrity at UCSC. The consequences of cheating and academic dishonesty — including a formal discipline file, possible loss of future internship, scholarship, or employment opportunities, and denial of admission to graduate school — are simply not worth it.
If you are uncertain about the expectations for completing an assignment or taking a test or examination, be sure to seek clarification from your instructor. Ignorance of course policies is not an excuse for violating them.
All courses in the Politics department use one of two standard forms of citation: (1) parenthetical citations, also known as in-text citations, or (2) footnotes. For the in-text system, the department follows the Modern Language Association (MLA); for footnotes, the Chicago Manual of Style. You can familiarize yourself with the approved citation forms by reading the PDFs posted below. These two systems are outlined in other style guides as well, including Diana Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual.
