More specifically, the proper documentation of sources is important for these three reasons:
1) Verification.
2) The promotion of knowledge.
3) Rewarding people for their work.
1) Verification
When scientists and scholars conduct experiments and research, they fully-document their reports and publications in order to provide materials that will support other scientists and scholars who will review that work and assess it for its value, accuracy and veracity.
2) The Promotion of Knowledge
When scientists and scholars conduct experiments and research, they fully-document their reports and publications, so that other scientists and researchers can build upon their work and produce additional knowledge. Our knowledge is built upon the knowledge that came before. We build on other peoples' work and so create new advancements and new knowledge. Indeed, this process is the essence of our progress.
3) Rewarding People for their Work
In order to motivate people to create knowledge, we must properly acknowledge their work and reward them for their effort. If people are not rewarded for the knowledge they create, or if the ownership of their work is not protected, then people will not be motivated to create new knowledge. In universities, scientists and scholars are rewarded for their work through salaries and promotions. In medicine, industry, and the arts, scientists, scholars and producers are rewarded through their salaries, patents, royalties, and copyrights. The process of documenting sources properly acknowledges the work that people do, and supports the systems that rewards people for their work.
What this means for students: For all these reasons, proper documentation is very important, and therefore every person who is educated in our society is taught the fundamentals of research and documentation. By teaching the methods of proper research, students are empowered because they know something about where knowledge--new procedures, products, instructions, protocols, statutes, laws, rules and regulations, opinions, fake news, falsehoods, and lies--come from. We are as prosperous as we are because we know the fundamentals of how we create, manage, evaluate, assess, and respect knowledge.
According to the syllabus, the college has a very clear policy regarding plagiarism. The policy is as follows:
Academic
Misconduct: The responsibility
for academic honesty rests with the student. The College expects the student to
submit papers, projects, and reports resulting from the student’s own efforts.
Work submitted in any form should reflect the exclusive effort of the student.
It is assumed that mature learners do not practice cheating on quizzes, tests,
or examinations. Plagiarism will not be tolerated at any time. Submitting
another’s work as one’s own, in part or in whole, is a dishonest practice. A
student may not appropriate another person’s ideas, whether published or not.
Consequences for proven cases of dishonest practices may include:
a.
Zero percent being
given for the test, examination, report, quiz, paper, project, or any other
course requirement on which the cheating has occurred; or
b.
Failure for the
course in which the offense occurred; or
c.
Dismissal from
the College.
In a few days, we will review formatting instructions for the works cited page and the in-text citations that will be part of your paper. In preparation for that review, please familiarize yourself with MLA citation format at Purdue Owl. Please click HERE.
