Academic Misconduct:
Academic misconduct includes the commission of any of the following acts. This listing is not, however, exclusive of any other acts that may reasonably be called academic misconduct. Clarification is provided for each definition by listing some prohibited behaviors.
Cheating:
Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices or materials in any academic exercise. Unauthorized materials may include anything or anyone that gives a student assistance and has not been specifically approved in advance by the instructor. Examples include:
Fabrication:
Making up data or results and recording or reporting them; submitting fabricated documents. Examples include:
Falsification:
Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. Examples include:
Multiple Submissions:
Submitting substantial portions of the same work (including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization from the instructor of the class for which the student submits the work. Examples include:
Plagiarism:
The appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. Examples include:
a. Intentionally, knowingly, or carelessly presenting the work of another as one’s own (i.e., without crediting the author or creator).
b. Failing to credit sources used in a work product in an attempt to pass off the work as one’s own.
c. Attempting to receive credit for work performed by another, including papers obtained in whole or in part from individuals or other sources. Students are permitted to use the services of a tutor (paid or unpaid), a professional editor, or the University Writing Center to assist them in completing assigned work, unless the instructor explicitly prohibits such assistance. If the student uses such services, the resulting product must be the original work of the student. Purchasing research reports, essays, lab reports, practice sets, or answers to assignments from any person or business are strictly prohibited. Sale of such materials is a violation of both these rules and State law.
d. Failing to cite the World Wide Web, databases, and other electronic resources if they are utilized in any way as resource material in an academic exercise.
e. Other similar acts.
General Information Pertaining to Plagiarism:
Style Guides: Instructors are responsible for identifying any specific style/format requirements for the course. Examples include, but are not limited to: American Psychological Association (APA) style and Modern Languages Association (MLA) style.
Direct Quotation: Every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or appropriate indentation and must be properly acknowledged in the text by citation or in a footnote or endnote.
Paraphrase: Prompt acknowledgment is required when material from another source is paraphrased or summarized, in whole or in part, in one’s own words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: “To paraphrase Locke’s comment…” and then conclude with a footnote or endnote identifying the exact reference.
Borrowed Facts: Information gained from reading or research, which is not common knowledge, must be acknowledged.
Common Knowledge: Common knowledge includes generally known facts such as the names of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc., basic historical information (e.g., George Washington was the first President of the United States). Common knowledge does not require citations.
Works Consulted: Materials that add only to a general understanding of a subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography and need not be footnoted or end noted. Writers should be certain that they have not used specific information from a general source in preparing their work unless it has been appropriately cited. Writers should not include books, papers, or any other type of source in a bibliography, “works cited” list, or a “works consulted” list, unless those materials were used in the research. The practice of citing unused works is sometimes referred to as “padding”.
Footnotes, Endnotes, and In-text Citations: One footnote, endnote, or in-text citation is usually enough to acknowledge indebtedness when several connected sentences are drawn from one source. When direct quotations are used, however, quotation marks must be inserted, and acknowledgment made. Similarly, when a passage is paraphrased, acknowledgment is required.
Graphics, Design Products, and Visual Aids: All graphics, design products, and visual aids from another creator used in academic assignments must reference the source of the material.
Complicity:
Intentionally or knowingly helping, or attempting to help, another to commit an act of academic misconduct. Examples include:
a. Knowingly allowing another to copy from one’s paper during an examination or test.
b. Distributing test questions or substantive information about the test without the instructor’s permission.
c. Collaborating on academic work knowing that the collaboration will not be reported
d. Taking an examination or test for another student.
e. Signing another’s name on an academic exercise or attendance sheet.
f. Conspiring or agreeing with one or more persons to commit, or attempt to commit, any act of academic misconduct.
g. Other similar acts.