McLean High School

FAIRFAX COUNTY 1633 Davidson Road

PUBLIC SCHOOLS McLean, Virginia 22101

703 714-5700

703 714-5797 FAX

Dear Parents and Students:

The McLean High School community values honesty, fairness, and respect for others. We expect our students to adhere to the McLean Honor Code. Infractions of the honor code include cheating, plagiarism, lying and forgery, and illegal use of technology. Fairfax County Public School’s Instructional Services Department has approved the use of an anti-plagiarism service entitled Turnitin.com for all schools throughout the county. McLean High School will be employing Turnitin.com this year as a deterrent to discourage students from plagiarizing and to identify students who violate the McLean Honor Code.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following:

· Presenting, as one’s own, words, works, or opinions of someone else without proper acknowledgment.

· Borrowing the sequence of ideas, the arrangement of material, or the pattern of thought of someone else without proper acknowledgment.

The following are examples of plagiarism:

· Failure to document with quotation marks any material copied directly from other sources.

· Failure to provide a bibliography.

· Use of another’s work as one’s own, particularly in the creative arts, i.e., themes, poems, musical compositions, or artwork.

Teachers will check student papers for plagiarism through a variety of means, including but not limited to personal research and plagiarism detection software offered by Turnitin.com. Teachers will use such reviews to instruct students regarding appropriate use of secondary source materials. In the case of clear plagiarism, however, discipline (including failing grades) may be imposed. Turnitin.com review includes a comparison of student papers to documents in a reference database, the Internet and other available sources. Submitted papers will become part of the Turnitin.com database for plagiarism detection. Students and parents agree that by submitting student papers for grading and credit, they understand and agree to this review of their papers.

Students must abide by the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) when working on FCPS computers, regardless of whether they are using Turnitin.com or other programs. The AUP is available online at http://www.fcps.edu/curator/polregul.htm and in the 2006-2007 Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.

Should you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Kimberly Carney, Assistant Principal, at (703) 714-5904.