SNU Campaigns Against Students’ Plagiarism
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Seoul National University will take stern measures to root out cases of plagiarism by its students. After last year’s plagiarism scandal involving former professor Hwang Woo-suk, SNU has tried to tighten its ethical guidelines for papers of both professors and students.
Under the situation, some professors at the school pointed out that SNU focuses only on the irregularities of professors’ research, not on the spread of plagiarism by students.
In response, SNU decided to make ethical guidelines for students’ homework and research papers.
Based on the new regulations, the school will publish a book on the types of research irregularities and distribute it to all students. In addition, SNU will offer education programs related to research ethics during freshman orientation.
As the Internet has made information more accessible, many students can easily copy others’ works and submit them as their own.
^However, there were no specific standards on cases of plagiarism and no penalties other than lower scores when the irregularities were found.