Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the practice of being honest in all your academic endeavors. It includes:

• Giving credit to everyone whose work you rely on.
• Clearly distinguishing between your work and others’ work.
• Following course rules designed to help you and others learn and be accurately assessed on your learning.
• Being careful and thorough in your research and in communicating the results of your research.
• Reaching out for help to your professors, the librarians, the writing center faculty and staff, and your teaching assistants.

If you’re a student, we hope you will consider how you can give generous credit to the people who have helped you; make every effort to accurately represent opposing views in your essays; cite your sources; reach out to professors when you feel like you can’t succeed; abide by course rules regarding collaboration on assignments, projects, and take-home exams; and, finally, that you will help your peers do the right thing even when it’s difficult.

In summary, the three fundamental principles of academic integrity are giving credit, building trust, and reaching out.

If you’re a professor, we hope you’ll discuss academic integrity with your classes; clearly state your expectations regarding collaboration and citations; explain the reasons for your policies; remind students of the help available to them when they’re struggling; and, finally, that you’ll consider how you might structure your classes so that students are trained in making ethical choices rather than unethical choices.

The Academic Integrity Coordinator is available to discuss academic integrity and academic dishonesty issues – students and faculty are encouraged to reach out with ideas or questions!