ACADEMIC DISHONESTY POLICY

(This policy is a modification of one created by Dr. David Jenks and is used with his permission)

Academic Dishonesty

The department in its quest for truth and knowledge embraces honesty and integrity.  These fundamental values must not be compromised.  The trust and respect among professors, students and the society need to be vigilantly protected.  Cheating and plagiarism can be neither justified nor condoned, as this would destroy the ideals and purposes of higher education.  Students enter the university to gain the knowledge and tools necessary for participation in society.  Academic integrity is a foundation for society based on trust and honesty.  Therefore, the department takes seriously its responsibility for academic honesty.

I. Cheating

Cheating is defined as the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work through the use of any dishonest, deceptive, or fraudulent means.  The following examples are intended to be representative, but not all-inclusive:

(a)  Examinations/Tests

· Copying from another student's paper

· Employing signals to obtain answers from others

· Stealing or arranging for the theft of an examination

· Knowingly reviewing an unauthorized copy of an examination

· Using lecture notes or textbooks during an examination when prohibited

· Possessing crib notes at the location and during the time of the examination

· Having someone else take an examination in your place

· Feigning illness or telling falsehoods to avoid taking an examination at the scheduled time

· Claiming falsely that you took an examination at the scheduled time

· Storing and/or accessing course subject matter in a calculator, computer or recording device, without authorization from the instructor, when such instruments are otherwise permitted to be used during an examination period

· Utilizing calculators and/or other learning aids forbidden by the instructor

· Obtaining assistance in answering questions on a take-home examination, when such action is specifically prohibited

· Attempting to use or using bribery to obtain an undeserved grade

· Changing an answer on a graded test and claiming the student's response to the question was incorrectly marked wrong

(b)   Papers/Reports, Laboratory/Homework

· Copying the work of other persons in whole or in part and submitting it as your own

· Submitting a paper obtained* from a commercial service providing and/or selling research/term papers

· Using a ghostwriter to compose a paper for you

· Claiming an assigned share of a team report, toward which insufficient or no contribution was made

· Lying about the reason for not submitting a report on time

· Pretending to have submitted a paper to an instructor

· Stealing another student's report and submitting it as one's own work

· Submitting the same term paper to two or more different instructors for credit in their courses without their prior permission

· Inventing, falsifying, or altering data for a research survey or laboratory experiment

· Misrepresenting the authorship of an experiment or exercise

· Depending upon others to complete laboratory assignments or homework when instructions call for independent work

· Sabotaging someone else's laboratory work or other exercise

(c)   Fabrication

· Knowingly including references in the bibliography that were not examined

· Using false references in the bibliography

· Falsely citing bibliographic references in footnotes

II. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the act of using ideas, words, or work of another person or persons as if they were one's own, without giving proper credit to the original sources.

The following examples of plagiarism are intended to be representative, but not all-inclusive:

· Failing to give credit via proper citations for others' ideas and concepts, data and information, statements and phrases, and/or interpretations and conclusions

· Failing to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether it is a paragraph, a sentence, or a part thereof

· Paraphrasing the expressions of thought by others without appropriate quotation marks or attribution

· Assembling parts from various works and submitting the synthesis or single paper as one's own creation

· Representing another's artistic/scholarly works, such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, or similar works as one's own

III. Consequences and Sanctions

Violations of academic honesty have a dual aspect, constituting both a breach of ethics and a form of academic non-performance.  Hence the consequences of violating this policy may fall into two categories.  Addressing the violation as an academic matter does not preclude the imposition of further administrative sanctions.

Academic Consequences:

Faculty have the right to establish the standards by which the academic performance of students will be evaluated, including the consequences of students not meeting some portion or all of the academic requirements of a course through acts of cheating or plagiarism.  These consequences may range from assigning a lowered grade, zero or “F” on an individual assignment to lowering the student’s grade or assigning and “F” in the course.  Faculty may alternatively permit the student to repeat an assignment/test or complete and submit additional assignments. Furthermore, before these consequences can be affected, the faculty member must have verified instances of academic dishonesty by personal observation and/or documentation.  In all cases the violation should be reported.

Administrative Sanctions:

In addition to academic consequences, the University can impose administrative sanctions.  Cheating or plagiarism in connection with an academic program or campus may warrant

· Expulsion

· Suspension

· Probation

· Withdrawal of a degree

· A lesser sanction

Due Process:

Any violations will be handled through the grade appeals policy or student services.