Academic Integrity

Academic misconduct is any act that does or could improperly distort student grades or other student academic records.  The following examples of academic misconduct are provided to assist students in developing an understanding of the University’s expectations, recognizing that no set of written guidelines can anticipate all types and degrees of violations of academic integrity.  To the extent that the examples provided are not exhaustive, duly appointed representatives of the University will judge each case according to its merits.

Misunderstanding of the appropriate academic conduct will not be accepted as an excuse for academic misconduct. If a student is in doubt about appropriate academic conduct in a particular situation, he or she should consult with the instructor in the course to avoid the serious charge of academic misconduct.

CHEATING. Examples include:

-        copying from another student's examination, quiz, laboratory work, or homework assignment
-        possession or use of pre-prepared notes or other resources, in any form, during an examination, unless such use is expressly
         authorized by the instructor
-        revising a work after its final evaluation and representing the revised version as being the original work
-        using external assistance, including but not limited to tutors, books, notes, and calculators, on any "in-class" or "take-home"
         examination, unless the instructor specifically has authorized external assistance
-        allowing others to conduct research or to prepare work for you without advance authorization from the instructor to whom the work is
         being submitted
-        unauthorized use of electronic instruments, such as cell phones, pagers, or PDAs, to access or share information
-        submitting for academic advancement an item of academic work that the same student has previously submitted for academic
         advancement, without prior authorization from the faculty member supervising the work

-        reproducing another person's work, with or without that person’s knowledge or permission, whether published or unpublished,
         including but not limited to, original ideas, strategies, and research, art, graphics, computer programs, music, and other creative
         expression. The work may consist of writing, charts, pictures, graphs, diagrams, data, websites, or other communication or
         recording media, and may include sentences, phrases, and innovative terminology, formatting, or other representations.
-        submitting as your own any academic exercise prepared totally or in part by another
-        copying information from computer-based sources, i.e., the Internet
-        allowing another person to substantially alter or revise your work and submitting it as your own
-        using another's written ideas or words without properly acknowledging the source. The term "source" includes published works
         (books, magazines, newspapers, websites, plays, movies, photos, paintings, and textbooks) and unpublished sources (class
         lectures or notes, handouts, speeches, casual conversation, other students' papers, or material from a research service).
-        failure to acknowledge study aids such as Cliff's Notes or common reference sources
-        unauthorized use of another person’s data in completing a computer exercise or other classwork

Helpful resources which offer guidelines for avoiding plagiarism and illustrations of correct and incorrect citation follow.  Please note that specific requirements for citation may vary by discipline or course. 

Avoiding Plagiarism.  Purdue University, Online Writing Lab.  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html

Plagiarism:  What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It.  Indiana University. Writing Tutorial Services.  http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Using Sources.  Lisa Trivedi and Sharon Williams, Hamilton College, Writing Center.

http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/usingsources.html

UNAUTHORIZED COLLABORATION.  Examples include:

-        working with other students to do lab work, review books, or develop a presentation or report without permission from the instructor
         to do so
-        making lab data available to a student who did not attend the lab
-        calculating homework problems without professorial permission
-        having another help one rewrite a paper
-        sharing sources for a take-home exam
-        working in a group on a lab assignment without professorial permission
-        "debugging" another's computer program without professorial permission
-        submitting a group assignment, or allowing that assignment to be submitted, representing that the project is the work of all of the
         members of the group when less than all of the group members assisted substantially in its preparation

FACILITATING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY. Examples include:

-        intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another student to commit an act of academic misconduct
-        giving unauthorized assistance to another or others during a test or evaluation, including allowing someone to copy from a test or
         examination, or arranging with others to give or receive answers via signals
-        providing specific information about a recently given test, examination, or assignment to a student who thereby gains an unfair
         advantage in an academic evaluation
-        substituting for another student in order to meet a course or graduation requirement
-        providing aid to another person, knowing such aid is expressly prohibited by the instructor, in the research, preparation, creation,
         writing, performing, or publication of work to be submitted for academic evaluation
-        permitting one's academic work to be represented as the work of another
-        signing in persons other than yourself for class attendance

INTERFERENCE OR SABOTAGE.  Examples include:

-        destroying, stealing, changing, or damaging another’s lab experiment, computer program, term paper, exam, or project
-        removing, defacing, damaging, hoarding or displacing library materials with the effect that others have undue difficulty using them
-        interfering with the operation of a computer system so it has an adverse effect on the academic performance of others
-        damaging computer equipment (including disks) or laboratory equipment in order to alter or prevent the evaluation of academic work

FABRICATION.  Examples include:

-        falsifying the results of any laboratory or experimental work or fabricating any data or information
-        crediting source material that was not used for research
-        falsifying, altering, or misstating the contents of documents or other materials related to academic matters, including but not limited
         to, schedules, prerequisites, transcripts, attendance records, or University forms
-        giving false reasons (in advance or after the fact) for failure to complete academic work, including but not limited to, giving false
         excuses to a faculty member or to any University official for failure to attend an exam or to complete academic work
-        giving false information or testimony in connection with any investigation or hearing under this policy

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH RESEARCH REGULATIONS:  Failure to comply with research regulations such as those applying to
         human subjects, laboratory animals, and standards of safety

RETALIATION:  Retaliation of any kind against a person who reported or provided information about suspected or alleged misconduct and
         who has not acted in bad faith.