Casper prompt and question

Question

You are working in a group of five on a collaborative research project. Each member of the group has been assigned a section of the paper to write. The group has been working well together and the paper had seemed to come along great. The group is sending around the paper for a final review the night before it’s due to be handed in. When it is your turn to review the paper, you realize that large portions of the paper from other sections which you did not write seem to be plagiarized. It is late at night and you are due to hand in the paper first thing in the morning so there really is no time to rewrite. 1. What do you do in this situation? 2. What if your group members didn’t own up to plagiarism? 3. What if your group members insisted on handing the paper in as is?

Answer 1

1) This is a difficult situation, but you must inform the professor that you believe part of the project has been plagiarized and see what can be done to remedy the situation. In a university setting, plagiarism is taken very seriously and can result not only in failing the class, but it can also lead to expulsion from the university.

2) If the group members will not admit to taking things from others' work, I would try to find evidence of where the information might have come from and present it to the others. I would also be very clear to the group that you plan to tell the professor that you suspect portions of the project were plagiarized. Further, I would remind them of what the school policy is regarding plagiarized work.

3) If they insist on handing the work in, I would tell them that I would not want my name on the work, and I would inform the professor of the work that I had done on the project and explain that you believe work on the project was plagiarized.