Academic integrity refers to the ethical standards and policies that govern how people work and interact in the academic enterprise at a college or university. These standards and policies attempt to do more than define and condemn what is wrong or unethical; they also attempt to provide a foundation for the mutual trust and individual responsibility necessary in a healthy academic community.
Both faculty members and students have the responsibility of upholding the principles of academic integrity. Faculty and staff members should create an environment in which honesty is encouraged, dishonesty discouraged and integrity is openly discussed. Faculty members should follow the principles of academic integrity in their own work and conduct. Students are obligated not only to follow these principles, but also to take an active role in encouraging other students to respect them. If students suspect a violation of academic integrity, they should make their suspicions known to a faculty member or staff member in Academic Affairs. Students reporting dishonesty must be prepared to give evidence in a hearing before the University Review Committee (URC).
Many faculty members ask students to work collaboratively with others on written projects, oral presentations, revisions, labs, or other course work. Similarly, guidelines for using artificial intelligence (AI) may differ from course to course. The guidelines for work differ substantially from course to course, but in most cases part or all of a collaborative project must be completed independently and AI may not be used in place of student work. Faculty members should make clear, in writing, their expectations for collaborative work. Students should make sure they understand what is expected of them; they are responsible for knowing when collaboration or the use of AI is permitted, and when not. Handing in a paper, lab report, or take-home exam written by AI or entirely by a member of one’s collaborative group, except when given explicit permission to do so by the instructor of the course, is an act of academic dishonesty.
Almost all the types of academic dishonesty described below have to do with working with others or using the work of others. This is not to suggest that working with others or using their work is wrong. Indeed, the heart of the academic enterprise, learning itself, is based on using the ideas of others to stimulate and develop your own. In this sense, all academic work is collaboration, and therefore academic integrity focuses on those acts that demean or invalidate fruitful collaboration.
1. Types of Academic Dishonesty
Cheating. Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials in any academic exercise or having someone else do work for you. Examples of cheating include looking at another student’s paper during a test, bringing an answer sheet to a test, obtaining a copy of a test prior to the test date or submitting homework borrowed from another student and using AI to generate answers to questions during class discussions without permission of the instructor.
Fabrication. Inventing or falsifying information. Examples of fabrication include inventing data for an experiment you did not do or did not do correctly or making reference to sources you did not use in a research paper.
Facilitating academic dishonesty. Helping someone else to commit an act of academic dishonesty. This includes giving someone a paper or homework to copy from or allowing someone to cheat from your test paper.
Plagiarism. Using the words or ideas of another writer, including AI-generated text, without attribution, so that they seem as if they are your own. Plagiarism ranges from copying work not written by the person taking credit for it , to rewriting such work with only minor word changes (mosaic plagiarism), to summarizing work (including that done by AI) without acknowledging the source. (See the Writing Center Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism for further information on plagiarism.)
Multiple submission. Submitting work you have done in previous classes as if it were new and original work. Although professors may occasionally be willing to let you use previous work as the basis of new work, they expect you to do new work for each class. Students seeking to submit a piece of work to more than one class must have the written permission of both instructors.
Abuse of academic materials. Harming, appropriating or disabling academic resources so that others cannot use them. This includes cutting tables and illustrations out of books to use in a paper, stealing books or articles and deleting or damaging computer files intended for others' use.
Deception and misrepresentation. Lying about or misrepresenting your work, academic records or credentials. Examples of deception and misrepresentation include forging signatures, forging letters of recommendation and falsifying credentials in an application. Of particular concern, given the current popularity of collaborative projects, is taking credit for group work to which you did not contribute significantly or meet your obligations. In a collaborative project, all members of the group are expected to do their share. Group members may work together on each phase of the project or they may divide the tasks--one person might do background research; another might take charge of the lab experiments; another might be responsible for drafting the report. Even in a modular project, however, each member of the group is responsible for being familiar and involved with the entire project. Be sure to get clear instructions on your individual and collective responsibilities from each faculty member for each course. Similarly, submitting work in any fashion (written, in a presentation, or in class discussion) that was generated by AI and taking credit for that work is an act of academic deception. Be sure to only use AI to generate submitted work if you have clear, written instructions documenting your permission to do so.
Electronic dishonesty. Using network access inappropriately, in a way that affects a class or other students' academic work. Examples of electronic dishonesty include using someone else's authorized computer account to send and receive messages, breaking into someone else's files, gaining access to restricted files, disabling others' access to network systems or files, knowingly spreading a computer virus or obtaining a computer account under false pretenses.
Carelessness. When does carelessness become dishonesty? Students sometimes make minor mistakes in completing academic assignments. Mistyping one of many endnotes in a long paper, for example, may in most cases be considered a careless mistake, rather than an act of deliberate dishonesty.
When students make multiple mistakes in acknowledging sources, however, these mistakes cannot be considered simply careless. Students who copy long passages from a book or a Web source, for example, make a deliberate choice to do so. Such students have taken a shortcut; instead of explaining the source of their ideas, they have simply stolen ideas from others. In such cases, carelessness is a form of dishonesty.
Students are responsible for knowing the academic integrity policy and may not use ignorance of the policy as an excuse for dishonesty.
Other types of academic dishonesty. The list above is a partial one. Instructors may explain in their syllabi other types of academic dishonesty relevant to the work in particular disciplines or particular courses.
This Academic Integrity Policy was cited from DePauw's Academic Handbook on August 23, 2024. For more information on Academic Integrity or the process for Academic Dishonesty please see DePauw's Academic Handbook for more information.