State University of New York at Stony Brook

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Last Modified 04/27/2006 12:18:15 PM EDT

SOME CATEGORIES OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

EXAMS

Copying test answers from someone else.
Allowing someone else to copy your answers.
Using unpermitted notes of any kind during an exam.
Using unauthorized electronic devices to cheat in an exam.
Receiving unauthorized access to an exam prior to the test.
Altering an answer after receiving a grade and resubmitting it for a re-grade.
Impersonation (e.g., having a "ringer" take an exam in your name, serving as a "ringer" for someone else, signing in someone's name on an attendance roster if that person is absent, having someone do so for you)

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is defined as "the unacknowledged use of another person's work, in the form of original ideas, strategies, and research as well as another person's writing, in the form of sentences, phrases, and innovative terminology" (Spatt, 183, p. 438). Students should be clear about their instructors' standards for citing sources and should seek help when in doubt. Whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, it is still a violation of the university's Code of Academic Conduct and is prosecutable. The following are all cases in which a student can be charged with plagiarism:

Using a paper or pieces of a paper from the internet without properly citing the source.
Buying or selling written work.
Representing someone else's written work as one's own, even if only the ideas, and not the words themselves, are taken from someone else. If another person's words or ideas are being used, they must be properly cited.
Unpermitted collaboration (on a paper, homework, lab reports, etc.). Unless an instructor has explicitly approved working together, students should assume, for their own protection, that it is not permitted.
Helping someone else to plagiarize from one's own paper or homework (for example, by giving them a copy of yours, or giving them the idea on which to base theirs, or doing it for them).

SUBMITTING THE SAME WORK FOR DOUBLE CREDIT

For example, using the same paper for two courses.

ALTERING OR FALSIFYING RECORDS
The following can all lead to an accusation of academic dishonesty:

Fabricating or altering an excuse note. (In research reported by Keith-Spiegel, 50% of excuses for missing exams that are submitted by college students are false.)
Making up references in a paper.
Falsifying one's own course records.
Presenting a false or altered transcript.

INVENTING OR ALTERING DATA

SABOTAGE

Inappropriately and deliberately harming someone else's academic performance.

COERCING OR OFFERING BRIBES

For example, coercing a fellow student for answers, or offering favors to an instructor or TA.

ASSISTING SOMEONE ELSE IN AN ACT OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Reference

Spatt, B. (1983). Writing from sources. New York: St. Martins Press.

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