Academic Honesty at Heritage Christian University rev. 2010 05 21

Heritage Christian University is dedicated to Christian service, Biblical scholarship, Christian leadership, and to the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability. Students commit to reflect upon and uphold these principles in all academic and non-academic endeavors, and to protect and promote integrity.

Read the following information carefully.

Types of Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism: Stealing Words and Ideas

Many people think plagiarism is copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means:

  • to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own;
  • to use (another’s production) without crediting the source;
  • to commit literary theft;
  • to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional presenting of another’s words or ideas without clear and proper acknowledgement. Intentional plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.

But can words and ideas really be stolen? According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and it is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way, such as in a book or a computer file.

Plagiarism may include but is not limited to:

  1. Using the exact words, even short phrases, from a source without quotation marks and/or without proper citation
  2. Using the sentence structure of an author without proper citation
  3. Paraphrasing ideas or words obtained from a source without proper citation
  4. Summarizing ideas obtained from a source without proper citation
  5. Attributing material to a source other than the source from which the material was obtained (faking citations)
  6. Submitting work prepared by someone else, including work obtained from internet essay sites or other students
  7. Helping other students to plagiarize on an essay or during a test by allowing them to copy or transmitting answers to them in other ways
  8. Using an assignment for more than one class without the express permission of both instructors
  9. Citing a source in the text of a paper but not providing full documentation of the source in a bibliography or works cited page, or documenting sources on a works cited page or bibliography but not providing source citation in the text of the paper
  10. Writing a group paper which each student turns in as his or her own work
  11. Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
  12. Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism.

Cheating:

Cheating includes using unauthorized notes, study aids, technology, or other devices during an examination or quiz; looking at another student’s work during the examination or quiz when collaboration is not allowed; trying to communicate with others in order to get help during an examination or quiz; preparing a written answer to an exam question prior to the examination period and submitting as an in-class essay; bringing an entire essay to an exam period when only an outline is allowed and pretending that the essay was written in class.

Fabrication and Falsification:

  1. These include purposely altering information or inventing information, citation, or data. Some examples may include: A student changes a graded work and then challenges the instructor’s evaluation.
  2. A student invents a reference source or provides a false claim of how the information was gathered or collected; false citation of a source of information (e.g. listing an author, title, or page number as the source for the obtained information, but the material actually came from another source). (See also plagiarism.)
  3. A student forges signatures or falsifies information on forms, such as drop/add forms, incomplete forms, petitions, letters of excuse or permission, grade reports, or any other official university document.

Multiple Submission:

This includes submitting the same work or substantial portions of the same work in a course for credit more than once without the permission of the instructor; submitting the same work in more than one course without the permission of both instructors. (See also plagiarism.)

Complicity:

This includes knowingly allowing another student to copy one’s work during an examination or knowingly allowing another student to copy one’s essay, research project, or other assignments; failing to adequately protect test answers, notes, essays, or other projects or assignments.

Abuse of Academic Materials:

This includes purposely destroying, stealing, or making materials inaccessible for others; removing materials from the library without formally checking them out; refusing to return reserved materials.

Unauthorized Possession:

This includes buying or stealing exams; selling exams; failing to return exams to the instructor; photocopying exams; any unauthorized possession of exams.

Misrepresentation:

This includes taking an exam or quiz or completing any academic assignment for another person; having someone do the same for him/her.

Sources used:
www.una.edu/english/Forms%20of%20Academic%20Dishonesty.doc
www.plagiarism.org

For further information:
http://www.una.edu/library/help/plagiarism-students.html (Student Guide to Plagiarism)
http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/9 (Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism)
http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/plagiarismtutorial.php (Plagiarism Tutorial)

Consequences for Academic Dishonesty:

First proven offense: failure of the course. Written report to Vice-President of Academic Affairs to be placed in student’s folder. Mandatory completion of Plagiarism Tutorial and passing of the Plagiarism Quiz after viewing of the plagiarism material. The “F” does not stay on the transcript once the course is retaken.

Second proven offense: failure of the course and suspension from university for two semesters. Written report to Vice-President of Academic Affairs to be placed in student’s folder. Mandatory completion of Plagiarism Tutorial and passing of the Plagiarism Quiz after viewing of the plagiarism material. The completion of the reworking of the “paper” that was plagiarized that is academically honest but for no credit. The “F” for the course remains on the transcript. After the two semesters the Vice-President of Academic Affairs can decide whether the student is eligible to reapply to the university.

Third proven offense, failure of the course and lifetime expulsion from the university. Written report to Vice-President of Academic Affairs to be placed in student’s folder. The “F” for the course remains on the transcript.

This protocol will apply to offenses committed even during the same semester in different courses.