ACADEMIC POLICIES

SATISFACTORY PROGRESS TOWARD AN MHSM DEGREE

To be eligible for a graduate degree at Arizona State University, a student must achieve a GPA of 3.00 or higher in both the program of study and overall graduate coursework. The program of study GPA is based on all courses that appear on the program of study (with the exception of transfer and law credits). The overall graduate GPA is based on all courses numbered 500 or higher that appear on the transcript, with the exception of: courses counted toward an undergraduate degree at ASU; and courses noted as deficiencies in the original letter of admission.

In addition, to be eligible for the MHSM degree, the School of Health Management and Policy requires that: a student earn a grade of B or better in the capstone course (HSM 584); and earn a grade of C in no more than two courses.

Criteria for Unsatisfactory Progress

A student whose GPA falls below 3.0 in any trimester or summer session will be placed on academic probation until the GPA is 3.0 or better. In addition, the student will be required to meet with the Faculty Director to discuss the situation. During academic probation, the student will be permitted to continue taking up to 12 semester-hours of MHSM coursework with the exception of the capstone course (HSM 584 - Internship). Students who have not raised their GPA to 3.0 or better after taking 12 hours of coursework on probation will be found to be making 'unsatisfactory progress toward the MHSM degree' and will be recommended for dismissal (from the MHSM program) to the Graduate College.

A student who receives a grade below B- in any course will receive a warning letter from the Faculty Director of the MHSM program. If a third (or more) grade below “B-” is received in any course the student will be found to be making 'unsatisfactory progress toward the MHSM degree' and will be recommended for dismissal (from the MHSM program) to the Graduate College.

A student who receives a grade below B in the capstone course (HSM 584) may repeat the course once to raise the grade. A student who receives a second grade below B will be found to be making 'unsatisfactory progress toward the MHSM degree' and will be recommended for dismissal (from the MHSM program) to the Graduate College.

Given the ready access to all manner of information on the internet, there is growing confusion regarding intellectual property rights, rules regarding plagiarism, and appropriate formats for citations. The School of Health Management and Policy defines plagiarism as any use, intentional or unintentional, of the expressed words or ideas of another individual or entity, without proper attribution.

The following, excerpted from "Plagiarism in Colleges in the USA" (Copyright 2000 by Ronald B. Standler) accessed at http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm or through the website of the ASU Writing Center explains our policies regarding plagiarism.

Why plagiarism is wrong:

1. Reputations in academia are made on the basis of creating new knowledge: discoveries of new facts, new ways of looking at previously known facts, original analysis of old ideas, [etc.] A plagiarist receives credit for expression or analysis that was improperly taken from someone else. In this view, the plagiarist commits fraud, by claiming the work of other people as the plagiarist's own work.

2. Laws in civilized societies regard expression as property of its author. This is not only the law of the USA, but also the law of more than 130 different nations that have ratified the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Plagiarism – either by verbatim copying or paraphrasing – is infringement of a copyright, a kind of tort.

3. A fundamental goal of education is to produce students who can evaluate ideas – both analysis and synthesis – and who can produce significant original thoughts. Plagiarism is simply repeating words or thoughts of other people, without adding anything new. Therefore, submitting a plagiarized paper – in addition to the wrongful conduct – does not demonstrate the level of understanding and skill that an educated person is reasonably expected to have.

What is plagiarism?

In minor cases, it can be the quotation of a sentence or two, without quotation marks and without a citation (e.g., footnote) to the true author. In the most serious cases, a significant fraction of the entire work was written by someone else: the plagiarist removed the true author(s) names(s) and substituted the plagiarist's name, perhaps did some re-formatting of the text, then submitted the work for credit in a class (e.g., term paper or essay) or as part of the requirements for a degree (e.g., thesis or dissertation).

When using another person's words, to avoid plagiarism one must always do both of the following:

1. provide a citation, either in the text or in a footnote, and 

2. either enclose their words inside quotation marks or put their words in a block of indented, single-spaced text.

What about paraphrasing?

Suppose one reads a book by Smith and encounters the short sentence: If the solution turns pink, it is worthless, and should be discarded. I believe it is plagiarism to paraphrase this sentence as: When the liquid becomes light red, it is spoiled, and should be poured down the sink.

Note that most of the words have been changed, yet the sentence – in a very real way – has been copied. … The proper way to avoid such plagiarism is to cite the source in the text, or in a footnote, as in: Smith [citation/footnote number] has reported that when the liquid becomes light red, it is spoiled, and should be poured down the sink. No quotation marks are needed, because these are not Smith's exact words, but only a paraphrase. But a citation to Smith is still required. [italics added]

Plagiarism is a legal issue

Any work created in the USA after 1 Mar 1989 is automatically protected by copyright, even if there is no copyright notice attached to the work. 17 USC §§ 102, 401, and 405. … The owner of the copyright (i.e., in most cases, the true author) could sue the plagiarist in federal court for violation of the copyright.

It is important to note that the addition of original material by the plagiarist in no way excuses the act of plagiarism. The focus is on what the plagiarist did wrong, not what the plagiarist did right. … Trivial changes in copied text, in an attempt to avoid copyright infringement, are specifically prohibited by law in the USA: … The intent of a plagiarist is irrelevant. It is no defense for the plagiarist to say "I forgot." or "It is only a rough draft." or "I did not know it was plagiarism."

It is the student's responsibility to ensure all sources are properly attributed in all written work submitted for credit in the MHSM program. Refer to style guidelines of the American Psychological Association. Plagiarism on class assignments may result in a grade of 0 on that assignment, or a failing grade in the class. Plagiarism on the internship report will automatically result in expulsion from the program. Appeals will be handled through the W. P. Carey Maters Committee appeals process for violations of the ethics code.

8/25/09