Article 1—Student Rights and Responsibilities

Part 4. Academic Integrity

1-402 Infractions of Academic Integrity—Definitions

(a) Cheating
Using or attempting to use in any academic exercise materials, information, study aids, or electronic data that the student knows or should know is unauthorized.

(1) Faculty members need to make in advance a clear statement of their policies and procedures concerning the use before examinations of shared study aids, examination files, and related materials and forms of assistance. Such advance notice is especially important in the case of take-home examinations.

(2) During examinations, students should assume that external assistance (e.g., books, notes, calculators, conversation with others) is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the instructor.

(3) Students must not allow others to conduct research or prepare any work for them without prior authorization from the instructor. This includes, but is not limited to, the services of commercial term paper companies.

(4) Substantial portions of the same academic work may not be submitted for credit more than once or by more than one student without authorization.

(5) Special exams and tests. Infractions of academic integrity that occur “outside the classroom” during proficiency tests taken after enrollment shall be dealt with in the manner described in this regulation. (Cases of pre-enrollment violations are covered by § 1-301 and § 1-303.)

(b) Fabrication
Unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic endeavor.

(1) “Invented” information may not be used in any laboratory experiment or other academic endeavor without notice to and authorization from the instructor or examiner. It would be improper, for example, to analyze one sample in an experiment and covertly “invent” data based on that single experiment for several more required analyses.

(2) Reliance upon the actual source from which cited information was obtained must be acknowledged. For example, a writer should not reproduce a quotation from a book review without indicating whether the quotation was obtained from the review or from the book itself.

(3) Fabrication also includes altering the answers given for an exam after the examination has been graded.

(4) Fabrication also includes submitting false documents for the purpose of being excused from a scheduled examination or other academic assignment.

(c) Facilitating Infractions of Academic Integrity
Helping or attempting to help another to commit an infraction of academic integrity, where one knows or should know that through one’s acts or omissions such an infraction may be facilitated.

(1) Allowing another to copy from one’s work during an examination would be committing a breach of academic integrity.

(2) Taking an exam by proxy for someone else is an infraction of academic integrity on the part of both the student enrolled in the course and the proxy or substitute. (See § 1-303.)

(3) Unauthorized removal of an examination or quiz from a classroom, faculty office, or other facility would be committing a breach of academic integrity.

(d) Plagiarism
Representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any academic endeavor. This includes copying another student’s paper or working with another person when both submit similar papers without authorization to satisfy an individual assignment.

(1) Direct Quotation: Every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or by appropriate indentation and must be promptly cited. Proper citation style for many academic departments is outlined in such manuals as the MLA Handbook or K.L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. These and similar publications are available in the University bookstore or library.

Example: The following is an example of an uncited direct quotation from a case in which the student in question was found guilty of plagiarism.
Original Source: To push the comparison with popular tale and popular romance a bit further, we may note that the measure of artistic triviality of works such as “Sir Degare” or even “Havelok the Dean” is their casualness, their indifference to all but the simplest elements of literary substance. The point is that high genre does not certify art and low genre does not preclude it. (From Robert M. Jordan, Chaucer and the Shape of Creation, Howard University Press, 1967, page 187.)
Student Paper: To push the comparison with popular tale and popular romance a bit further, you can note that the measure of artistic triviality in some works of Chaucer’s time period is their casualness. Their indifference to all but the simplest elements of literary substance. The point is that high genre does not certify art and low genre does not preclude it.

(2) Paraphrase: Prompt acknowledgment is required when material from another source is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part. This is true even if the student’s words differ substantially from those of the source. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might introduce it with a statement such as “To paraphrase Locke’s comment . . .” and conclude it with a citation identifying the exact reference. The concluding citation also might say, “The last paragraph (two paragraphs, etc.) paraphrases statements by . . .” and then give the exact reference. A citation acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not suffice as an acknowledgment of any preceding or succeeding paraphrased material.

Example: The following is an example of unacknowledged paraphrase that could warrant a charge of plagiarism.
Original Source: The era in question included three formally declared wars. The decision to enter the War of 1812 was made by Congress after extended debate. Madison made no recommendation in favor of hostilities, though he did marshal a “telling case against England” in his message to Congress of June 1, 1812. The primary impetus to battle, however, seems to have come from a group of “War Hawks” in the legislature. (From W. Taylor Reveley III, “Presidential War-Making: Constitutional Prerogative or Usurpation?” University of Virginia Law Review, November 1969, footnotes omitted.)

Student Paper: During this period three wars were actually declared by Congress. For instance, in 1812 a vehemently pro-war group of legislators persuaded Congress, after much discussion, to make such a declaration, despite the fact that Madison had not asked for it, though, to be sure, he had openly condemned England in his message to Congress of June 1, 1812.

(3) Borrowed Facts or Information: Information obtained in one’s reading or research that is not common knowledge should be acknowledged. Examples of common knowledge might include the names of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc. Materials that contribute only to one’s general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography and need not be immediately cited. One citation is usually sufficient to acknowledge indebtedness when a number of connected sentences in the paper draw their special information from one source.

(e) Bribes, Favors, and Threats
Infractions of academic integrity include bribing or attempting to bribe, promising favors to, or making threats against any person with the intent to affect a record of a grade or evaluation of academic performance. This includes a student who conspires with another person who then takes the action on behalf of the student.

(f) Academic Interference
Tampering with, altering, circumventing, or destroying any educational material or resource in a manner that deprives any student of fair access or reasonable use of that material or resource.

(1) Educational resources include computer facilities, electronic data, required/reserved readings, reference works, or other library materials.

(2) Academic interference would also include the situation where the student committing the infraction personally benefits from the interference, regardless of the effect on other students.

(g) Computer-related Infractions
Computer-related infractions defined by applicable laws, contracts, or University policies (such as unauthorized use of computer licenses, copyrighted materials, intellectual property, or trade secrets).

(h) Unauthorized Use of University Resources
Unauthorized student use of University resources for noneducational, private, or commercial purposes.

(i) Sale of Class Materials or Notes
The sale to a commercial note-taking service of instructor-provided materials or of classroom lecture notes infringing copyright interests, if the instructor has explicitly requested that this not be done.

(j) Failure to Comply with Research Regulations
Infractions of academic integrity include failure to comply with research regulations such as those applying to human subjects, laboratory animals, and standards of safety.