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Statement on importance of oral and written communication
skills
The Graduate School and the graduate faculty of the Department
of Economics and Finance consider student proficiency in oral and
written communication to be a skill essential to professional success.
The Graduate School states this objective as follows:
“Graduate students should possess the ability to write
and speak about the current issues of the discipline to peers, practitioners,
and the public. They should be able to articulate and demonstrate
knowledge of the discipline and write and present scholarship to
professionals.”
The graduate faculty of the Department of Economics and Finance
endeavors to make oral and written communication an integral part
of the graduate curriculum.
- The faculty encourages students to seek assistance from the
university’s Writing Center and Speech Center in preparing
assignments.
- The faculty expects students to be familiar with the School
of Business fatal error policy and the university’s policy
regarding plagiarism. Those policies are summarized in the sections
below.
Plagiarism
In past years, there have been several instances of plagiarism
by students in our graduate programs. Plagiarism cuts at the foundations
of the academic experience; it cannot and will not be tolerated
by the graduate faculty.
The on-line SIUE Graduate Catalog (July, 2003) defines plagiarism
as “including, without limitations, the act of representing
the work of another as one's own. It may consist of copying, paraphrasing,
or otherwise using the written, electronic, or oral work of another
without proper acknowledgment or consent of the source or presenting
oral, electronic, or written material prepared by another as one's
own. Plagiarism also includes using information from electronic
resources, including the Internet, without the use of citations.”
For example, if you use the words or ideas of another person in
a paper, they must be in direct quotes or otherwise referenced as
appropriate.
It is your responsibility to understand what does and does not
constitute plagiarism. In addition, you should know the proper methods
of quoting and referencing the works of others. Appropriate guides
are available in the Economics and Finance Department for your reference
(ask the secretary), or you may wish to acquire a guide of your
own.
The penalties for plagiarism are severe. The Student Academic Code
(Section K. Sanctions Imposed by Instructor) states the following:
Instructors may impose the following sanctions for academic
misconduct without filing a formal charge pursuant to this Code.
The sanctions are:
1. Failing grade on an individual assignment which is part
of a course. Instructors who impose this sanction shall immediately
notify, in writing, the student. A student who contends this sanction
to be inappropriate may grieve imposition of the sanction in accordance
with the Student Grievance Code.
2. Failing grade for a course. Instructors who impose this sanction
shall immediately notify, in writing, the student of the sanction,
their Chair or coordinator, as appropriate; the Dean of the school/college
or director or Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, as appropriate.
Instructors shall also notify the Service Center immediately, in
writing, of the action and specify that the student may not re-enroll
in any other section of the course for that term nor drop the course
or change the registration to an audit. A student who contends this
sanction to be inappropriate may grieve imposition of the sanction
under The Student Grievance Code.
If you have any questions about these policies or need advice regarding
this issue, please see any of the graduate advisers or members of
the graduate faculty. We will be glad to work with you to make certain
that you understand your responsibilities in this area and avoid
any unintentional instances of plagiarism.
School of Business Fatal Errors Policy
The faculty of the Department of Economics and Finance also adheres
to the School of Business’s “Fatal Error” policy.
This policy is stated below:
Business students must practice professional standards in writing.
To this end, all written assignments must meet minimal presentation
standards to be acceptable. These standards address spelling, punctuation,
format and basic grammar. The term Fatal Errors refers to technical
English errors of form. Specifically they include the following:
1. Each different word misspelled,
2. Each sentence fragment,
3. Each run-on sentence or comma splice,
4. Each mistake in capitalization,
5. Each serious error in punctuation that obscures meaning,
6. Each error in verb tense or subject/verb agreement,
7. Lack of conformity with assignment format,
8. Each improper citation, or lack of citation, where one is needed.
Papers with more than three fatal errors marked by an instructor
on any one page, or more than a number specified by the instructor
for the entire document will be returned to the student and subject
to a grading penalty as prescribed by the instructor. Instructors
will determine the number of resubmissions allowed and the penalty
attached to each resubmission. Penalties for final course papers
(where there is no time for a resubmission) will be determined by
the instructor and will be based on the relative importance of the
assignment to the determination of the final course grade. This
policy applies to all 200-level and above business courses.
Since the nature of written assignments will vary from course to
course, please discuss writing expectations and other details on
the application of this policy with each of your instructors.
The Faculty of the Department takes writing and learning how to
write better very seriously, as evidenced by the plagiarism and
fatal errors policy. If you are unsure of how these policies are
used, or where to seek additional help, please consult with any
of the department faculty.
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