Policies and Procedures on Cheating and Plagiarism

When a faculty member responsible for a course has reason to believe that an action of a student falls within one or both of the aforementioned definitions, the faculty member should initiate a conference with the student to present the student with the charge and the evidence. If the student admits to the wrongdoing, the instructor shall impose an academic sanction. The instructor has the prerogative of lowering the grade, assigning a grade of "0" or "F" for the work submitted, assigning a "F" for the entire course, or recommending another penalty, including dismissal from the University. In the advent that the student does not admit wrongdoing or that no mutually agreeable settlement is reached as a result of the faculty-student conference, the faculty member will consult the department chair.

Examples of Cheating

The following examples of cheating are intended to be representative, but are not all inclusive:

  • Looking at another student's test during an exam.
  • Copying from another student.
  • Stealing or arranging for the theft of an exam.
  • Knowingly reviewing an unauthorized copy of an exam.
  • Using lecture notes or textbooks during an exam when prohibited.
  • Possessing crib notes during an exam.
  • Having someone else take an exam for you.
  • Feigning illness or telling falsehoods to avoid taking an exam at the scheduled time.
  • Claiming falsely that you took an exam at the scheduled time.
  • Storing, receiving, and/or accessing course subject matter in a calculator, pager, cellular telephone, computer, or other electronic device that can be used during an exam period without instructor authorization.
  • Utilizing a calculator or other learning aid not expressly allowed by the instructor.
  • Obtaining assistance in answering questions on a take-home exam, when such action is prohibited.
  • Attempting to bias an instructor's grading after an exam.
  • Using bribery or threats to obtain an undeserved grade.
  • Changing an answer on a graded test and claiming the student's response to the question was incorrectly marked wrong.
  • Copying the work of other students in whole or in part and submitting it as your own.
  • Submitting a report purchased from a commercial service or downloaded from the Internet.
  • Hiring a ghost writer to compose a paper.
  • Claiming an assigned share or team report, toward which insufficient or no contribution was made.
  • Lying about the reason for not submitting work on time.
  • Stealing another's work and submitting it as one's own.
  • Submitting the same paper to two or more different instructors for credit in their courses without their prior permission.
  • Inventing, falsifying, or altering data for a research laboratory experiment.
  • Depending on others to complete assignments or homework when instructors have required independent work.
  • Sabotaging someone else's work.
  • Destroying or altering library material to prevent others from using the material.
  • Helping others to accomplish any of the above.
  • Other similar activities.

Examples of Plagiarism

The following examples of plagarism are intended to be representative, but not all inclusive:

  • Failing to give credit via footnotes or in-text citations for ideas and concepts, data and information, statements and phrases, and/or interpretations and conclusions derived by another.
  • Failing to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether it is a paragraph, a sentence, or any part thereof.
  • Minimally paraphrasing the expressions or thoughts of others without appropriate quotation marks or attributions.
  • Assembling parts from various works and submitting the synthesis or single paper as your own creation.
  • Including references in the bibliography that were not used.
  • Falsely citing bibliographic references.
  • Other similar activities.