Honor Board Academic Abstract Case # 0502
A Haverford senior in a 300 level Economics course, Harry, handed in his literature review as the final paper for his class. In the process of grading the paper, Professor Smith noticed that, in certain sections, the quality of the paper seemed to be above that which Professor Smith would normally expect an undergraduate to produce.
Professor Smith Googled Harry’s paper topic and immediately found two sources from which entire sections appeared to have been taken word-for-word and placed into Harry’s paper. Professor Smith asked Harry to contact the Honor Board, after which Harry presented to the Professor two new documents—one being the paper Harry says he meant to turn in and the other being images that Harry says prove the file’s date of
creation and last modification.
In his presentation to the Honor Board, Harry stated that he had created two separate files—one which contained a compilation of his notes for the paper and the other of which was actually his paper. In his haste to turn in his paper, Harry said, he had printed and turned in the wrong file. He also stated that the images he provided—screen captures from his computer showing the file creation and last modification dates for the actual paper—proved that the paper had been completed on time.
However, even in the second paper presented, there was an extensive lack of citation. In addition, besides the fact that file creation and last modification dates are easily faked, the file creation date for the second paper actually showed its creation after the first paper was handed in, making it unlikely that Harry mistakenly turned in the wrong paper. Because of this evidence, the Honor Board resolved that Harry would fail
both the paper and the course and that he would need to review the importance and relevance of proper citation.
