Uncited Paragraphs in a Group Poster
A first-year seminar requires a group poster worth 25% of the final grade. The rubric includes 'all sources cited' and an 'individual contribution statement'. Two days before the deadline, Priya discovers that a teammate, Omar, has copied two paragraphs from a museum website into the draft without quotation marks or a citation. Omar says the text is common knowledge because the museum is public. The other sections are the group's own work, and the poster is otherwise strong. The group has one meeting left, and the presentation is in 48 hours. The course policy says suspected plagiarism must be reported to the instructor; group members may not simply remove the text and submit without disclosure. The instructor also allows a resubmission within 24 hours with a 10% penalty if the issue is disclosed before the original deadline. Priya worries that reporting will damage the group's grade and her friendship with Omar. She is unsure whether to remove the text quietly, report it, or ask Omar to rewrite the section alone.
1. What should Priya do before the deadline, and why is quietly removing the text not sufficient?
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Priya should tell the instructor before the deadline, using the disclosure option, and ask the group to remove the copied text and replace it with a properly paraphrased, cited sentence or a direct quotation. Quietly removing the text is not sufficient for three reasons. First, the course policy explicitly requires disclosure of suspected plagiarism; removing it hides a violation and makes the group complicit. Second, the instructor's 24-hour resubmission option with a 10% penalty is available only if the issue is disclosed before the original deadline; waiting loses that option. Third, the poster has an individual contribution statement, so the group will be asked who wrote what. A silent fix creates a false statement if Omar's contribution is described as original.
The disclosure should be factual, not a character attack: identify the two paragraphs, the source, and the proposed correction. Priya should also tell Omar what she is doing before she sends the message, so he is not blindsided. The goal is to protect the group's work and Omar's chance to correct the error, not to maximize punishment.
2. Draft a short message from Priya to Omar that is clear, non-accusatory, and focused on the deadline.
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Hi Omar - I need to flag something before tomorrow's meeting. In the draft, the two paragraphs about the museum's history match a museum webpage almost word for word, and they do not have quotation marks or a citation yet. I am not saying you did it on purpose; a lot of us copy text into notes. But the rubric requires all sources cited, and the course policy says we have to disclose suspected plagiarism before we submit. I would rather we fix it now than risk the 10% penalty or a bigger problem. Can we replace those paragraphs with our own summary and add the citation tonight? I also think we should tell the instructor before the deadline, because the resubmission option only applies if we disclose first. If you disagree, can we talk at 6 p.m. today? I want to handle this with you, not behind your back.
3. Suppose Omar refuses to disclose and says the group should just delete the paragraphs. What should Priya do, and what trade-offs should she weigh?
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Priya should still disclose. The policy applies to the group, and her own signature on the contribution statement would be false if she hid the issue. She can disclose narrowly: state that she found two uncited paragraphs, that they have been removed or rewritten, and that Omar disagrees about reporting. She should not exaggerate or claim that he intended to cheat.
Trade-offs: disclosure may cost the group 10% and strain the friendship; silence may cost more if the instructor detects the source match or if a classmate reports it. A 10% penalty on a 25% poster is 2.5% of the final grade, which is smaller than the risk of an academic-integrity finding. Priya should also give Omar a chance to join the disclosure and should keep a written record of the group's messages. If Omar threatens her, she should involve the instructor or an adviser.
The ethical principle is that she cannot control Omar's choice, but she can control whether she submits a false statement. Her loyalty to the group does not require her to participate in concealment.