Every member of the College community must honor the Code of Academic Integrity, which is detailed in the Scot’s Key. Students who misrepresent academic information by, for example, falsifying grades or forging official documents, records, or signatures, are acting in violation of the Code. Destroying, hiding, or improperly removing or retaining library materials are also violations.
Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity may result in failure of the affected assignment or exam, a grade of “F” in a course, or expulsion from the institution. Some of the violations of this Code are outlined below and are often called “Academic Dishonesty”.
Fabrication occurs when someone manufactures or manipulates information or data to support an academic exercise. False citations from non-existent references, manipulation of or making up data to support research, taking another student’s exam, or writing another student’s paper are all examples of fabrication.
Plagiarism is the practice of using the work of another scholar (written or not) without proper and accurate acknowledgement of the source of that information.
A lack of understanding regarding the standards of citation does not excuse the violation. The most blatant forms of plagiarism include words directly from a source without using quotation marks; copying from a publication, lecture, or website; paraphrasing the source without proper citation; and/or presenting the words of another as if they are one’s own. Images, graphs, data, maps, and websites (among other forms of information) must also be cited with footnotes and bibliographical documentation.
Professors and departments will differ somewhat in the citation forms they require. Please ask about their expectations.
Multiple submissions is another form of cheating within the US educational system. The same work may not be submitted to more than one course without prior approval of all instructors involved. Reasonable portions of a student’s previous work on the topic may be used, but the extent of the work must be acknowledged.
What can I do?
To ensure compliance with the Code of Academic Integrity, you should talk to your professor about what constitutes plagiarism and should ask for instruction on the preferred method(s) of citation.
The Writing Center can also assist with questions or concerns about all parts of academic integrity.