Academic Integrity Policy

Purpose: To ensure intellectual honesty by creating a fair and consistent policy that clearly defines cheating and its consequences.

Cheating is engaging in any form of academic dishonesty, such as:

• Plagiarism (representing the work or ideas of others as your own without proper acknowledgement)
• Cheating (copying the work of another person, falsifying laboratory data, or sabotaging the work of others)
• Other acts generally understood to be dishonest by students in an academic context:
  • Allowing someone else to turn in your work as his or her own.
  • Using or distributing an exam or teaching materials without permission.
  • Using unauthorized material for any exam, assignment or project.
  • Taking another student’s work without permission.

Level I Violations include, but are not limited to:

• Copying work assigned to be done independently, or allowing someone else to copy your own or another’s work, including computer-generated information and programs
• Using any kind of materials including personal technological devices when unauthorized on homework or classwork.
• NOTE : Since individual teachers have differing expectations for homework (for instance, some teachers encourage students to work together, while others may expect students to complete assignments independently at home), it is the responsibility of teachers to clarify their expectations to students.

Level II Violations include, but are not limited to:

• Looking at, or allowing someone else to look at your own or another’s paper during an exam, test, or quiz
• Talking or communicating with another student during an exam, test, or quiz
• Using any kind of materials including personal technological devices when unauthorized during an exam, test, or quiz.
• Using unauthorized “cheat” notes used during an exam, test, or quiz
• Giving or receiving test information to or from students in other periods of the same teacher or same course or from previous school years.
• Copying or closely paraphrasing sentences, phrases or passages from an un-cited source for a paper, project or lab report, including work submitted through Turnitin.com
• Submitting papers, projects or lab reports taken from the internet, other publications, or other students, including work submitted through Turnitin.com.
• Submitting individual papers, projects or lab reports that are not wholly your own work
• Submitting translations from internet translation programs
• Submitting a computer program developed in whole or in part by someone else
• Submitting altered or previously returned work of your own or others

Level III Violations include, but are not limited to:

• Stealing (or photographing) exams, projects or assignments
• Altering grades on a computer database, in a grade book
• If a student knowingly participates in a plan for stealing or altering grades, they too will be held equally accountable
• NOTE: Where appropriate, Level Three violations may also be referred to law enforcement