Student Honor Council; 314-8204

Academic dishonesty is a corrosive force in the academic life of a university. It jeopardizes the quality of education and depreciates the genuine achievements of others. Apathy or acquiescence in the presence of academic dishonesty is not a neutral act. All members of the University Community -- students, faculty, and staff -- share the responsibility to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic dishonesty. Any of the following acts, when committed by a student, is an act of academic dishonesty.

A. Cheating: Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise.

1. Students completing any examination should assume that external assistance (e.g., books, notes, calculators, conversation with others) is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the instructor.

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

3. Substantial portions of the same academic work may not be submitted for credit or honors more than once without authorization.

B. Fabrication: Intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any in formation or citation in an academic exercise.

1. "Invented" information may not be used in any laboratory experiment or other academic exercise without notice to and authorization from the instructor. 

2. One should acknowledge reliance upon the actual source from which cited information was obtained.

3. Students who attempt to alter and resubmit returned academic work without notice to the instructor would be in violation of the Code of Student Conduct.

C. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty.

D. Plagiarism: Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.

1. Direct Quotation: Every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or by appropriate indentation and must be promptly cited in a footnote. (Proper footnote style for many academic departments is outlined by the MLA Style Sheet or K.L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations.)

2. Paraphrase: Prompt acknowledgment is required when material from another source is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in your own words.

3. Borrowed Facts or Information: Information that is obtained in one's reading or research; which is not common knowledge among students in the course, must be acknowledged. Materials which contribute only to one's general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography and need not be immediately footnoted.

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense which may result in suspension or expulsion from the University. The normal sanction for academic dishonesty is a grade of "XF", denoting "failure due to academic dishonesty." That grade will normally be recorded on the transcripts of students found responsible for acts of academic dishonesty in addition to any other action taken (e.g., suspension or expulsion). A forty member Student Honor Council has the responsibility to investigate allegations of academic dishonesty and to convene Honor Boards to adjudicate charges. In specified circumstances, the Student Honor Council will accept petitions to remove the grade of "XF" from a transcript and replace it with the grade of "F".

The Code of Academic Integrity is reprinted in full in the Undergraduate catalog for further information, to report Academic Dishonesty or to inquire about serving on the Honor Council call 301-314-8204.