Academic Integrity is comprised of acts of academic dishonesty, which includes cheating, plagiarism, or obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for work by the use of any dishonest, deceptive, fraudulent, or unauthorized means. Academic dishonesty also encompasses helping someone else to commit an act of academic dishonesty.
Cheating may take place in many forms, including the following:
- Communicating with fellow students during an exam; copying another’s work on an exam or allowing another student to copy during an exam; possessing or using unauthorized materials during an exam; taking an exam for another student, or any behavior the defeats the intent of an exam.
- Copying another’s work on a paper, assignment, or project; providing coursework for another student to turn in as his or her own effort; unauthorized collaboration on a project, homework, or other assignment where the instructor expressly forbids such collaboration.
- Fabricating, falsifying or misrepresenting data or results from experiments, interviews or surveys.
- Submitting the same work in more than one class for credit without permission from the instructor.
- Knowingly furnishing false information to the college including dishonesty, forgery, altering of campus documents or records, tampering with grading procedures, fabricating lab assignments, or altering medical excuses
Plagiarism is defined as representing the words, ideas, or work of another as one’s own in any academic exercise. Plagiarism consists of taking the work of another and offering it as one’s own without giving credit to that source, whether that material is paraphrased or copied verbatim or near verbatim form. Plagiarism is applicable to written, oral, and artistic work. The following examples are only some of the many forms plagiarism may take:
- Word-for-word copying of work written by someone else
- Failure to give proper credit for ideas, statements of facts, or conclusions derived by another, including undocumented Web source usage
- Failure to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether a paragraph, sentence, or phrase
- Close and extended paraphrasing of another work without acknowledging the source
- Submitting a paper purchased or downloaded from a research or term paper service, including the internet
Other Specific Examples of Academic Dishonesty:
- Giving homework, term paper or other academic work to another student to plagiarize
- Having another person submit any work in the student’s name
- Lying to an instructor or college official to improve a grade
- Altering graded work after it has been returned, then submitting the work for re-grading
- Stealing tests or being in possession of an unauthorized test or related document
- Gaining unlawful or unauthorized access to college or district computers or servers
Academic Dishonesty
Faculty members have the right to choose whether or not to pursue suspected cases of plagiarism and cheating. When addressing plagiarism or cheating with reasonable evidence, the faculty member should meet with the student to discuss the concern. The student should have the opportunity to share his/her side of the story and explain his/her behavior.
Faculty members may consult with their division dean or Dean of Student Affairs when determining whether academic dishonesty has occurred. For situations in which cheating or plagiarism has been identified, the faculty member is to determine the academic consequence in compliance with Education Code, board policies, or administrative procedures that prohibit dropping a student from a course. Faculty members shall inform students of the grade penalty that will be assessed. The consequences may include.
- Receiving a “0” on that assignment.
- Being referred to the Dean of Student Affairs for further disciplinary action.
All pertinent documentation, such as exams, plagiarized sources, and/or other possible evidence, should be retained by the instructor.
Students have the right to grieve an action they feel violates their student rights. Students are referred to the Executive Dean of Student Affairs and receive due process. The Executive Dean of Student Affairs will address the behavior reasonable through the procedures outlined in Administrative Procedure (AP) 5520, “Student Conduct Procedures.” The Office of Student Affairs will maintain records related to violations of academic dishonesty and other violations of the College policy and procedures on Standards of Conduct (BP 5500/AP 5500).
For more information regarding academic integrity, see the following PDF https://www.riohondo.edu/president/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2014/08/AP5520_StudentConductProcedures.pdf
