Undergraduate Catalog

Undergraduate Academic Integrity Violations

Violations of Academic Integrity

3.1.1. Academic integrity encompasses many principles: respect for intellectual property, fair use, and adherence to the canons of scientific inquiry and reporting. Violations of academic integrity reflect poorly/adversely on the undergraduate student, the academic program, and the University; thus, academic dishonesty in any form undermines individuals’ and the University’s commitment to academic integrity.

3.1.2. Academic integrity may be violated in any number of ways. Common examples of academically dishonest behavior include, but are not limited to, the following:

3.1.2.1. Cheating: Cheating is the intentional or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. This may include, but is not limited to:

  • copying from another student's work;
  • representing material prepared by another as one's own work;
  • submitting the same work in more than one course without prior permission of the instructors;
  • Unauthorized communication, including through electronic devices, to procure, share, and/or access information during exams and in classes and assignments;
  • procuring or using stolen evaluation/assessment materials;
  • violating rules governing the administration of examinations; or
  • violating any rules relating to academic conduct of a course or program.

3.1.2.2. Fabrication and/or Misrepresentation: Fabrication is the creation, sharing, or use of any false or altered information, data or citation in an academic exercise. Misrepresentation is giving incorrect or misleading information or failing to disclose relevant information. Fabrication or misrepresentation of academic records may include, but is not limited to:

  • making a false statement regarding one's academic credentials, and/or
  • concealing material or information, and/or
  • forging someone else's signature, and/or
  • forging a University academic document or record (also a crime), and/or
  • tampering with digital or electronic  records, and/or
  • falsifying academic information on one's resume or curriculum vitae and/or
  • falsifying communications about class attendance and absences, missing assignments, exams or other course expectations and requirements.

3.1.2.3. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the use or representation of the words, ideas, or sequence of ideas of another - whether written, spoken, or signed - as one's own in any academic exercise. Information stored on a computer system or portable device or transmitted electronically is the private property of the individual who created it. Dissemination of information, without authorization from the owner of said information, is a violation of the owner's right to control their own property and is considered a form of attempted theft. Plagiarism may include, but is not limited to:

  • copying another person's work and submitting it as one's own;
  • quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing and utilizing someone else's ideas without attribution;
  • copying or downloading another’s work, in part or in whole, articles or research papers or using ideas or information found from other sources and not giving proper attribution.
  • self-plagiarizing a student’s own work by submitting the same work in two different courses.

3.1.2.4. Facilitation of Academic Dishonesty: Facilitation of academic dishonesty is to use or enable use of one's own or another’s work  without appropriate attribution, whether knowingly or unknowingly. It also includes participation in or the failure to report known or suspected instances of academic dishonesty.

3.1.2.5. Impeding Academic Progress: Impeding academic progress includes, but is not limited to:

  • denying others access to scholarly resources;
  • providing false or misleading information;
  • making library material unavailable to others by stealing or defacing books or journals or by deliberately misplacing or destroying materials; or
  • altering electronic files that belong to another without prior permission.

3.1.2.6. Computer Misconduct: Computer misconduct is the violation of rules regarding appropriate computer usage, as established by Gallaudet Technology Services (GTS).