Skip to Main Content

Canvas | University | Ask a Librarian

Academic Integrity: Resources for Students & Faculty

Why academic integrity matters; the University's policies and procedures concerning academic integrity; the Honor Pledge; about plagiarism.

Cheating

Cheating — intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise.

You cheat when you:

  • copy answers from or look at another student’s exam;
  • access or possess any material not expressly permitted during an exam, such as crib sheets, notes, books;
  • use electronic devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, PDA’s, data storage devices, computers, internet websites, or other electronic devices during an exam unless expressly permitted by the instructor;
  • continue to write after a timed exam has ended;
  • fraudulently possess a test prior to exam date;
  • submit the same term paper or other work to more than one instructor, where no prior approval has been given;
  • submit purchased term papers or projects done by others.

Deception

Deception — intentionally providing false information to an instructor or other academic administrator about an academic matter in order to achieve an unmerited advantage.

You engage in deception when you:

  • give a false excuse for missing a project deadline;
  • claim to have submitted coursework that one did not actually submit;
  • take an exam or submit coursework on behalf of someone else, especially when using their personally identifying credentials to do so;
  • forge an advisor's or instructor's signature on an academic form.
  • reuse your own academic work for one class in another class, without citation or without the instructor's permission (also known as self-plagiarism).

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty

Facilitating academic dishonesty — intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty.

You facilitate academic dishonesty when you:

  • allow another student to copy your work or the work of another person;
  • have another person take an exam or complete an assignment for oneself;
  • take an exam or complete an assignment for another student;
  • share the content or answers of an exam or test with students in another section who have yet to take it.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism — intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise, or re-using your own previously submitted work without citing or acknowledging its re-purposing (i.e., self-plagiarism). This applies to both published and unpublished work.

You plagiarize when you ...

  • copy word for word without proper attribution;
  • paraphrase without proper attribution;
  • use phrases from another source embedded into original material without proper attribution;
  • state facts that are not common knowledge without citing the source;
  • copy intellectual property without proper attribution.
  • reuse your own academic work for one class in another class, without citation or without the instructor's permission (also known as self-plagiarism).

Fabrication

Fabrication — intentional and unauthorized invention or falsification of any information or citation in an academic exercise or altering official college records or documents.

You fabricate when you:

  • change answers after an exam has been returned;
  • list sources in a bibliography that are not directly used in the academic exercise;
  • falsify research results or a report of research processes;
  • falsify reports or records related to a field, practicum, or clinical experience;
  • omit data and/or sources, otherwise violating the ethical principles of research.

Collusion

Collusion — intentionally working in collaboration with others on an assignment intended to represent a single student's work; or, improving or editing another's completed work to the extent that the nature and quality of the original work is significantly altered.

You collude when you, without the authorization of your instructor:

  • prepare and produce work with one or more people;
  • allow others to copy your work or share your answer to an assessment task;
  • allow someone else to write or edit your work (an exception is receiving assistance from academic support or student success);
  • write or edit work for another student;
  • offer to complete work or seek payment for completing academic work for other students.