Doing the Right Thing
Academic Integrity
To carry out academic pursuits in an honest, fair
and respectful manner.
Academic Dishonesty
Any attempt to gain an academic advantage by
misrepresenting other peoples work as your
own.
“The University takes a most serious view of such
offences against academic honesty as
plagiarism, cheating, and impersonation.
Penalties for dealing with such offences will be
strictly enforced.”
(Source: Nipissing University,
http://www.nipissingu.ca/documents.cfm?itemid=3345)

Applies to everyone who works in an academic
environment


Students
Professors
Sometimes it’s intentional …
… sometimes it’s not.

Dishonest conduct during a test or exam:




Using unauthorized study aids
Communicating with others, verbally or otherwise
Looking at another student’s test paper
Leaving your paper exposed to someone else’s view

Copying:



Another person’s test, assignment, essay, etc.
Allowing someone else to copy your work
Collaborating with others and handing in the same
work


Resubmitting a piece of work evaluated in
another course
Altering a piece of work then resubmitting it
for evaluation






Submitting work produced by someone else as
if it were your own
Fabricating data
Impersonating someone else in an exam
Altering records
Misrepresenting one’s credentials
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the most common form of academic
dishonesty

Using someone else’s work as if it were your
own, such as:




Statistics
Words
Ideas
Images (figures, tables, etc.)
“Essentially, plagiarism involves submitting or presenting
work in a course as if it were the student's own work
done expressly for that particular course when, in fact,
it is not. Most commonly plagiarism exists when:
a. the work submitted or presented was done, in whole or
in part, by an individual other than the one submitting
or presenting the work.
b. parts of the work (e.g. phrases, ideas through
paraphrase or sentences) are taken from another source
without reference to the original author.
c. the whole work (e.g. an essay) is copied from another
source and/or
d.
e.
f.
a student submits or presents a work in one course
which has also been submitted or presented in another
course (although it may be completely original with
that student) without the knowledge or prior
agreement of the instructors involved.
plagiarism should be noted and reported to the Dean.
students should be informed of the University's
definition and policy on plagiarism at the beginning of
each course.”
(Source: Nipissing University, http://www.nipissingu.ca/documents.cfm?itemid=3346)



Sometimes it is intentional = cheating
Sometimes it is unintentional = ignorance
Intentional or unintentional … the penalties are
the same (more on those later!)

Cite all sources of information


Unless you are presenting your own opinion, ideas,
figures, or data that you yourself have collected, you
must cite the source of the information … unless it is
‘common knowledge’
There are many citation styles (MLA, APA, Chicago
Author/Date, etc.); use the style appropriate to your
discipline
Need to Document
No Need to Document
•When you are using or referring to
somebody else’s words or ideas from a
magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV
program, movie, Web page, computer
program, letter, advertisement, or any other
medium
•When you use information gained through
interviewing another person
•When you copy the exact words or a
"unique phrase" from somewhere
•When you reprint any diagrams,
illustrations, charts, and pictures
•When you use ideas that others have given
you in conversations or over email
•When you are writing your own
experiences, your own observations, your
own insights, your own thoughts, your own
conclusions about a subject
•When you are using "common
knowledge" — folklore, common sense
observations, shared information within
your field of study or cultural group
•When you are compiling generally
accepted facts
•When you are writing up your own
experimental results
Source: OWL; http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html

When using another author’s exact words




Short quotes: use quotation marks
Long quotes: indent the passage
AND
Provide the source
Only use a direct quotation if paraphrasing would
change the ‘effect’ of the idea presented
 “Gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in
love.”
- Albert Einstein

Make it obvious to the reader that the ideas or
information is from another source



According to Smith (1997) …
Smith suggests that …
In Plagiarism: A Student’s View, Smith proved that …

Paraphrasing:



Presenting the information of another author in your
own words
A ‘translation’ of sorts
Even though you don’t use the other author’s words
you are still presenting their ideas/information,
using their sentence structure, so you must cite the
source

When one source seems to hold all the
information:


When each sentence in a paragraph is based on one
other author’s information, each idea/fact must be
cited (rather than one citation at the end of the
paragraph)
Generally speaking, this is not an appropriate way to
present information

Don’t underestimate your professor’s ability to
spot plagiarism (or any other form of academic
dishonesty)





Experience
Familiarity with the sources
Internet
Turnitin.com
Prepare to pay the price
“A student guilty of academic dishonesty may be subject
to the imposition of one or more penalties, of which
those listed below shall be exemplary:
a. assignment of a grade of zero in the assignment, test, or
exam;
b. assignment of a grade of zero in the course in which
the offence is committed;
c. suspension from attendance in all courses in which the
student is registered at the time the offence was
committed, and loss of credit for any course or courses
which have not been completed or in which no grade
or final evaluation has been registered at the time the
offence was committed;
d.
e.
f.
g.

suspension from the Faculty;
expulsion from the Faculty;
suspension from the University;
expulsion from the University.
Withdrawal from a course will not preclude
proceedings in respect of academic offences committed
in the course, and the right to withdraw may be
refused where an academic offence is alleged.”
(Source: Nipissing University, http://www.nipissingu.ca/documents.cfm?itemid=3348)
1.
2.
3.
4.
“The symbols AD (Academic Dishonesty) will be entered on the student's
Academic Transcript.
The notation "suspended (or expelled) from the Faculty (or University)
for academic dishonesty" will be entered on the student's Academic
Transcript and Grade Report upon receipt of such a notice by the
Registrar from the Dean.
The symbols RW (Required to Withdraw) will be entered in the grade
column on the student's Academic Transcript or Grade Report in the
courses in which he or she was registered for that session except for the
courses in which a "0" was given as a penalty or which have already been
completed and a grade assigned.
The record of a student will be cleared of the notation "suspended (or
expelled) for academic dishonesty" upon re-admission to and successful
completion of a degree program. The zero grades given because of
cheating will remain but the symbol AD will be changed to F. The symbol
RW will remain as such.”
(Source: Nipissing University,
http://www.nipissingu.ca/documents.cfm?itemid=3353)