Guide to Academic Honesty

Academic Honesty in the Hub

Tips to avoid becoming a victim of academic dishonesty:

•   Read the course outline/syllabus for each course and learn each instructor’s expectations.

•   Clarify what is expected of you when you are working on a team project, in a study group, or collaborative research project. Learn what you are able to submit as your own.

•   Cite your sources. If it is not your original words or ideas, give credit to the person whose words or ideas you are using. Even list the URL of the original source (refer to The Owl at Purdue’s Guide to Citations for more information).

•   Submit your own work on papers, reports, projects, and tests.

•   Be cautious about where you sit during exams. Distance yourself from others, including your friends, to reduce any temptation to cheat.

•   Plan ahead for assignments and exams.  Students who feel more prepared are less likely to be insecure about the information and less likely to be dishonest.

•   Do not share your assignments.  If a classmate has a question, try to help, but do not “give” them the answer.

•   Do not use social media to communicate with classmates about assignments or exams.

•   Do not post your papers on websites that offer them to other students.

•   Do not use websites that offer pre-prepared papers for your own assignments.

•   Protect your computer files so that others cannot copy your work.

(adapted from University of Arizona Copyright 2016 © Arizona Board of Regents :: The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona)

Important Definitions:

Academic Dishonesty: any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise (Wikipedia).

Cheating: using someone else’s words, work, test answers or ideas, so as to give or gain an unfair advantage (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary).

Cite: to quote (a passage, book, author, etc.), especially as an authority (dictionary.reference.com).

Fraud: deliberate deception practiced to secure unfair or unlawful gain (Bow Valley College Academic Honesty Policy).

Plagiarism: stealing and passing off the ideas, images, data or words of another as one’s own, in any academic writing or other project, without crediting the source (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary).

URL: an address that identifies a particular file on the Internet, usually consisting of the protocol, as http, followed by the domain name (dictionary.reference.com).