Academic Honesty
The College is committed to providing an excellent educational experience for all students. Academic integrity is an essential component of this level of education. The academic penalty for academic-related violations should be clearly stated by the instructor in each course syllabus and reviewed at the beginning of the first class meeting.
Academic dishonesty or academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It can include:
Types of Academic Integrity Violations
The following is a listing of most, but not necessarily all, actions that are violations of academic
integrity:
1) Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the submission of another’s work as one’s own, without adequate attribution. Plagiarism is academic theft.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Submitting as one’s own work an examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project (laboratory report, artistic work, computer program, etc.) that was created entirely or partially by someone else, including works purchased from a vendor.
- Failure to use quotation marks to signal that one is using another person’s precise words. Even brief phrases must be enclosed in quotation marks.
- Creating an academically dishonest paraphrase. When paraphrasing (presenting another person’s ideas or information in one’s own words), one must find truly one’s own way of expressing the original meaning. Simply inserting synonyms into the source’s sentence structures is plagiarism.
- Failure to identify the source of quotations and paraphrases. Of course, one must cite the source of quotations; one must also cite the source of ideas and information that is not common knowledge even when paraphrased (presented in one’s own words). Sources include unpublished as well as published items — for example, books, articles, material on the internet, television programs, instructors’ lectures, and people, including other students, friends, and relatives.
- Failure to identify the source of the elements of a nonverbal work (for example, a painting, dance, musical composition, or mathematical proof) that are derived from the work of others.
2) Cheating
Cheating is the act or attempted act of deception by which a student seeks to misrepresent that he/she has mastered information on an academic exercise that he/she has not mastered. Cheating is also the use or attempted use of unauthorized assistance in an examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Copying answers from another student’s examination.
- Communicating in any way with another student or a third party during an examination without the permission of the instructor.
- Using unauthorized materials or devices (including notes, textbooks, calculators, and communication devices) during an examination without the permission of the instructor.
- Obtaining and/or reading a copy of an examination before its administration without the permission of the instructor.
- Collaborating with other students or third parties on a take-home examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project without the permission of the instructor.
3) Fabrication
Fabrication is the use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings in an academic exercise. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Fabrication of a citation: inventing a citation for a research paper or other project.
- Alteration of an assignment: changing a graded examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project and re-submitting it to the instructor to claim an error in grading.
- Changing findings, excluding valid data that doesn’t support one’s thesis, or engaging in other similar activities.
4) Contributing to academic dishonesty
Contributing to academic dishonesty is assisting another student’s academic dishonesty. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Writing a paper or other project for another student.
- Allowing another student to copy from one’s examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project.
- Assisting another student on a take-home examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project if one knows such assistance is not authorized by the instructor.
5) Other forms of dishonest academic conduct
Other forms of dishonest academic conduct include any actions by which one seeks an unfair academic advantage over others. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Destroying or altering the academic work of another student.
- Lying about or otherwise misrepresenting the work of another student.
- Selling or giving away all or part of an unadministered test including answers to an unadministered test.
- Bribing any other person to obtain an unadministered test or any information about the test.
- Entering a building or office for the purpose of obtaining an unadministered test.
- Continuing to work on an examination or project after the time specified for the student has elapsed.
- Entering a building or office for the purpose of changing a grade in a grade book, on a test, or on other work for which a grade is given.
- Changing, altering, or being an accessory to the changing and/or altering of a grade in a grade book, on a test, a “change of grade” form, an electronic record, or other official academic record of the University that relates to grades.