Center for Learning and Teaching in Collaboration

with the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies

Teaching Assistants
Professional Development
Understanding Academic Integrity
Part I
Academic Integrity Matters
In one sentence, describe what
being ethical means to you.
What does it mean to be ethical
You must have a Honesty,
commitment to five
fundamental values:
Trust,
(Code of Academic Ethics, p. 2)
Fairness,

Did any of these five values Respect,

appear in your definition to
the word "ethical"? Responsibility
Drawing on your experience
as student or TA, how do
students sometimes violate
academic integrity?

Why do you
think they do that?
 Why do students cheat ?

The most frequently stated reasons students choose

to plagiarize or cheat include:

● Desire to get a good grade

● Fear of failing
● Procrastination or poor time management
● Disinterest in the assignment
● Belief they will not get caught
● Confusion about what constitutes plagiarism or
current university policies
 What forms of cheating have you
seen in exams?

Image from: http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/wooden-tile/images/cheating.jpg CC-BY-SA

Video: What is Academic Integrity
and Academic Dishonesty
(A brief introduction to Mercy College of Ohio's Academic Integrity Policy)
 Students can violate academic integrity
and the five fundamental values by
■ Cheating
■ Plagiarism
■ Fabrication
■ Multiple Submissions
■ Obtaining Unfair Advantage
■ Unauthorized Access
■ Aiding and Abetting
■ Impersonation
■ Threatening Harm
■ Misconduct
■ Lying
■ Unauthorized collaboration
 Cheating

“Using unauthorized notes, aids or

information on an examination; altering a
graded work prior to its return to a faculty
member; allowing another person to do
one’s own work and submitting it for
grading.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Cheating – Exam Related
■ Copying from another student during an exam
■ Bringing notes into an exam unless permitted to do so
by an instructor
■ Previewing the exam questions when this has not been
permitted by the instructor
■ Asking for assistance in answering leaked exam
questions before an exam
■ Not coming forward upon discovery of leaked exam
questions
■ Memorizing exam questions and recording them later
for a test file
 Cheating – Exam Related
■ Selecting more than one answer on an MCQ exam
when instructed to make one choice
■ Allowing another student to see your answers in an
exam
■ Discussing take home exam questions with other
students in the class or the TA without instructor
permission
 Plagiarism

“Submitting material that in part or whole is not one's own

work; submitting one's own work without properly
attributing the correct sources of its content.”

Source: AUC’s Academic Integrity Policy

 Fabrication
“Inventing or falsifying information, data, or citation;
presenting data gathered outside of acceptable
professional guidelines; failing to provide an accurate
account of how information, data, or citations were
gathered; altering documents affecting academic records;
forging signatures or authorizing false information on an
official academic document, grade, letter, form, ID card
or any other university document; submitting false
excuses for absence, delay, or illness.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

Case #1 Who violated academic integrity?

Three students (Alaa, Ahmed and Rana) worked

together in a group project and divided the work
amongst themselves.
During an exam, Alaa could not remember the
answer to a part because it was in Ahmed’s part.
Alaa tries to look at Ahmed’s paper and Ahmed
moves his paper to help. Rana sees this happening
from afar
 Multiple Submissions

“Submitting identical papers or coursework

for credit in more than one course
without prior permission of the
instructor.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

If the student uses in-text
citations (of his/her own
previous work) and includes
them in the reference list, it is
acceptable. Otherwise it is
considered “plagiarism”.

This is called self-plagiarism

 Obtaining Unfair Advantage
■ “Gaining or providing access to examination materials
prior to the time authorized by an instructor
■ Stealing, defacing, or destroying library or research
materials, which can deprive others of their use
■ Unauthorized collaboration on an academic assignment
■ Retaining, possessing, or circulating previously used
examination materials without the instructor’s
permission.

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Obtaining Unfair Advantage
■ Obstructing or interfering with another student’s
academic work
■ Engaging in any activity designed to obtain an unfair
advantage over another student in the same course.
■ Offering bribery to staff or any university employee to
effect a grade change or obtain unfair advantage over
other students.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Unauthorized Access

“Viewing or altering in any way computer

records, modifying computer programs or
systems, releasing or distributing information
gathered via unauthorized access or in any way
interfering with the use or availability of
computer systems/information.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

Case #2 Is this considered a violation of
academic integrity? Justify your answer.

Shady has multiple deadlines on the same day.

For one of his courses, a paper is due on a
topic similar to one he had written two
semesters ago. Shady takes parts of the paper
he wrote from two semesters ago, adds a few
new references and some new text and
submits it.
 Aiding and Abetting

“Providing material, information, or other

assistance, (sic) which violates academic
integrity; providing false information in
connection with an inquiry regarding academic
integrity.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Impersonation

“Impersonating or allowing to be impersonated

by another individual during classes,
examination, or other University activities.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Threatening Harm

“Threatening, effecting, or encouraging bodily,

professional, or financial harm to any faculty,
staff, administrator, or student who has
witnessed a violation of the “Code of Academic
Ethics.”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Case #3 Who violated academic integrity
and why?

Gina is taking an online exam; she takes screenshots of the

exam questions to send them to a friend who is taking the
same exam the next day.
 Misconduct

“Behaving in a manner that violates or adversely

affects the rights of other members of the AUC
community (disrupting meetings or activities,
unruly behavior, etc.)”

Source: AUC’s Code of Academic Ethics

 Lying

■ Pretending to be ill before or during an exam in order

to postpone the exam or to leave the exam room.

■ Claiming that someone close to you died or is in the

hospital in order to receive exceptional treatment
related to a quiz, exam, or submission of an
assignment.
 Unauthorized Collaboration
Collaborating with peers when collaboration is
not permitted by the course instructor.
Examples:

–Working in a group of two or more on an

assignment that was assigned as individual work.

–Discussing take home exams with peers without

the instructor’s permission
Case #4 Is this considered a violation of
academic integrity? Justify your answer.

Farah asks Ahmed who took the course she is

currently enrolled in before to help her write a
paper, but they only talk about it rather than sit
and write it for her.
THANK YOU

This is the end of Part 1, now please

go to Part 2 on the academic integrity
module