Academic Integrity Overview

Academic Integrity

What Is Academic Integrity ?

Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship. Academic assignments exist to help students learn; grades exist to show how fully this goal is attained. Therefore all work and all grades should result from the student’s own understanding and effort. (“What is academic,” n.d.)

What Is Academic Integrity ?

Hodges University adheres to the International Center for Academic Integrity’s definition of academic integrity as the commitment to certain core values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.

Honesty

The quest for truth and knowledge requires intellectual and personal honesty in learning, teaching, research and service.

Trust

Academic Institutions must foster a climate of mutual trust in order to stimulate the free exchange of ideas.

Fairness

Treat students, faculty and staff according to HU standards and policies, administered in an impartial manner.

Respect

Foster an environment that enables honest and open communication, free from harassment and intimidation, where alternative points of view are treated with consideration, and the diversity of our academic community is appreciated, and where the work of others is acknowledged through the proper identification of sources.

Responsibility

All members of the university community are held accountable for their work and actions. Academically dishonest behavior is not tolerated and is viewed as a breach of community ethical standards.

What Does Academic Integrity Mean to Me?

As a student, to have academic integrity means that you have adopted principles or standards that consistently govern how you pursue your school work. A student with academic integrity earns a degree with honest effort, and knows that this degree is a true accomplishment reflecting years of hard work and genuine learning. Academic integrity requires you to develop essential skills including research, writing, and documenting.

It is not always easy to know what choices to make in school. There are many questions with answers that may be unclear to you.

Things you don’t want to do

1. Plagiarism2. Cheating3. Fabrication4. Unauthorized collaboration5. Participating in academically dishonest activities6. Facilitating academic dishonesty

Plagiarism

any attempt to convey another’s work as one’s own original thought. It is the use of another person’s or organization’s words or concepts without giving the appropriate credit to that person or organization.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional but regardless of the intent, the attempt is a breach of academic integrity. Students can avoid unintentional plagiarism by carefully following accepted scholarly practices.

Plagiarism

For example, notes taken for papers and research projects should accurately record sources of material to be cited, appropriately quoted, paraphrased or summarized, and papers and research projects should acknowledge these sources in the appropriate places in the text of the paper as well as in a references page at the end of the paper, in accordance with accepted citation practices.

Plagiarism

The following sources require citation: • Word-for-word quotation from a source • Paraphrasing others’ words and ideas • Audio, video, digital, or live exchanges of ideas,

dialogue, or information

The Hodges University Style Guide provides proper APA citation information. Additional assistance can be found through Academic Achievement Services, the Library, and on the Library web page.

Plagiarism

Following the Hodges Style Guide will help students develop writing skills that demonstrate credibility by avoiding plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Following these guidelines also improves chances of earning better grades, saves time, and builds an important set of skills for the future.

Plagiarism

Following the guide will help students: • Develop writing skills for courses and all

writing. • Lessen formatting problems. • Increase credibility. • Avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty.

Cheating

intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic coursework.

Cheating

Examples of Cheating include, but are not limited to: • Unauthorized use of notes, text, internet, or other aids

during an examination • Copying from another student’s academic work • Unauthorized communication during an examination • Handing in the same paper for more than one course

without explicit permission of the instructor • Intentionally viewing a test before it is administered • Storing notes in a portable electronic device for use during

an examination

Fabrication

intentional falsification, misrepresentation, or invention of any information, data, or citation in an academic assignment.

Fabrication

Examples of fabrication include, but are not limited to: • Inventing data or facts for an

assignment • Altering the results of a lab

experiment or survey • Citing a source in a references list

that was not used

Unauthorized collaboration

when students submit individual academic works that are substantially similar to one another. While students may use similar resources, the analysis, interpretation, and reporting of the data must be each student’s independent work.

Unauthorized collaboration

Examples of unauthorized collaboration include, but are not limited to: • Working on a take-home examination or

assignment with another student without express permission of the professor

• Completing an academic assignment with the help of another student, and taking full credit

Participating in academically dishonest

activities

taking an action with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage.

Participating in academically dishonest

activitiesExamples of academically dishonest activities include, but are not limited to: • Misrepresenting oneself or one’s circumstances to

a professor • Intentionally missing an examination or

assignment deadline to gain an unfair advantage • Stealing an examination • Selling, loaning, or distributing materials for the

purpose of cheating, plagiarism or any other academically dishonest acts

• Purchasing a pre-written paper

Facilitating academic dishonesty

intentionally or knowingly helping to violate any provision of this policy.

Facilitating academic dishonesty

Examples of facilitating academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to:• Doing academic work for another

student • Making available previously used

academic work including examinations to another student to submit as his or her own

Sanctions

Students found to have breached academic integrity will be subject to academic and administrative sanctions.

Sanctions

Academic sanctions are related to the grade, academic standing and honors. Hodges University is committed to academic integrity and seeks to develop a student’s integrity through continued academic development.

Sanctions

Administrative sanctions are related to the position of the students within the University, such as leadership positions within student organizations, and will be handled by the Dean of Students.

Sanctions

Repeat violations of the Academic Honesty Policy will not be tolerated. Sanctions are imposed to reflect the impact of academic dishonesty on the university as a whole.

– For more on sanctions, see the Academic Honesty Policy.

Tips for making research a little less painful

When researching:1. know what you're looking at2. email good citations and articles to yourself as

you find them3. keep track of what you've done and what

worked4. take good notes5. keep things in one place6. print out web pages that you plan to use as

sources for your assignment (UCLA Library, n.d.)

Quick tips for your plan and your time

• Estimate how much time you think it will take to do your assignment and double it. This may sound overkill, but padding your time could help you deal with obstacles like writer’s block, a dying printer, or other types of issues. Besides, if you finish early you can concentrate on going out and having a good time while the rest of your classmates are stressing.

Quick tips for your plan and your time

• Break your assignment down into small parts and set mini-deadlines for yourself leading to the instructor's deadline. Getting all the little pieces done will help you complete the final version on time and help you avoid stressing out as the instructor's deadline approaches. This might sound kinda dorky, but it'll work. Check out UCLA’s The Assignment Calculator which does just that!

Quick tips for your plan and your time

• Look over all your syllabi at the beginning of the quarter and stick due dates for assignments in your calendar or mobile device. Don't let deadlines surprise you.

• Attend a time management workshop or other workshop for more tips and practical ideas.– Workshops at Hodges (UCLA Library,

n.d.)

Quick tips for keeping things on track

Think about how your assignment is going so you can adjust your plan before it's too late.Ask yourself:• Do I really understand the

assignment?If you have any question at all about whether or not you understand the assignment, talk to your professor or T.A. as soon as you can. Avoid wasting a lot of time going in the wrong direction.

Quick tips for keeping things on track

• Am I spending too much time researching?Remember that you still have to get the assignment done. Don't leave analyzing the information and writing the paper or constructing the project until the last minute. Besides, part of being a good researcher is knowing when you've found enough—know when to move on.

Quick tips for keeping things on track

• Am I completely lost and can't find any information?It's easy to get lost or feel overwhelmed when there's access to so much information. Sometimes the library can seem like a chaotic labyrinth, but it's probably one of the most organized places that you'll ever come across, which makes it easy to find stuff—really, it's true.

Quick tips for keeping things on track

• Am I completely lost and can't find any information?Becoming familiar with how information is organized in the library and on the library web site will save you time and frustration. A few ways that you can get help with library research is by speaking with a librarian at the reference desk, by making an individual research appointment or by chatting with a librarian online.

Here are some things that you should consult your professors

about• Turning in an assignment completed for a

different class• Authorized and unauthorized "group work"• Not understanding the assignment or content,

having problems getting started, and other resolvable roadblocks

• Remember to read the policies and ask your professors or the Dean if you have questions. They're here to help you, and would much rather answer your questions early on than find you in trouble later. (UCLA Library, n.d.).

Quick tips for keeping things on track

• Is my paper or project starting to come together?As you get closer to your deadlines, are things starting to gel? If not, find someone to bounce ideas around with like a classmate, a friend, a family member, a tutor, a T.A., a professor… (UCLA Library, n.d.)

Tutorial Design & Development

This tutorial is based on the Academic Integrity tutorial developed by the University of Alaska Anchorage and Bruin Success with Less Stress from the UCLA Library. They graciously provided Hodges University with permission to use their design concept and content for the basis of this tutorial.

ReferencesUCLA Library. (n.d.). Bruin success with less stress. Retrieved from

http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/col/bruinsuccess/

University of Oklahoma. (n.d.). What is academic integrity? Retrieved from

http://integrity.ou.edu/index.html