Various
ways in which academic integrity can be violated are described below.
The comments and examples within each section provide explanations and
illustrative material, but do not exhaust the scope of possible
violations. For context and specific details, the University Code of
Student Conduct (http://polcomp.rutgers.edu/judaff/ucsc.shtml) as well as the Office of Student Conduct (http://judicialaffairs.rutgers.edu) websites should be consulted.
A. Cheating
Cheating
is the use of impermissible and/or unacknowledged materials,
information, or study aids in any academic activity. Using books,
notes, calculators, conversations with others, etc., when their use is
restricted or forbidden, constitutes cheating. Similarly, students may
not request others (including commercial term paper companies) to
conduct research or prepare any work for them. Students may not submit
identical work, or portions thereof, for credit or honors more than
once without prior approval of the instructor to whom the work is being
submitted for the second or subsequent time.
B. Fabrication
Fabrication
is the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an
academic work. "Invented" information may not be used in any laboratory
report or other academic work without authorization from the
instructor. It is improper, for example, to analyze one sample in an
experiment and "invent" data based on that single experiment for
several more required analyses. Students must also acknowledge the
actual source from which cited information was obtained. A student
should not, for example, reproduce a quotation from a book review and
claim that the quotation was obtained from the book itself.
C. Plagiarism
Plagiarism
is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own in
any academic work. To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be
identified by quotation marks, or by appropriate indentation, and must
be cited properly according to the accepted format for the particular
discipline. Acknowledgment is also required when material from any
source is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in one's own
words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: "to
paraphrase Plato's comment..." and conclude with a footnote or
appropriate citation to identify the exact reference. A footnote
acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not suffice to
notify the reader of any preceding or succeeding paraphrased material.
Information that is common knowledge, such as names of leaders of
prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc., need not be cited;
however, the sources of all facts or information obtained in reading or
research that are not common knowledge among students in the course
must be acknowledged. In addition to materials specifically cited in
the text, other materials that contribute to one's general
understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography.
Sometimes,
plagiarism can be a subtle issue. Students should be encouraged to
discuss any questions about what constitutes plagiarism with the
faculty member teaching the course.
D. Denying others access to information or material
It
is a violation of academic integrity to deny others access to scholarly
resources or to deliberately impede the progress of another student or
scholar. Examples of violations of this type include giving other
students false or misleading information; making library material
unavailable to others by stealing or defacing books or journals;
deliberately misplacing or destroying reserve materials; and altering
someone else's computer files.
E. Facilitating violations of academic integrity
It
is a violation of academic integrity for a student to aid others in
violating academic integrity. A student who knowingly or negligently
facilitates a violation of academic integrity is as culpable as the
student who receives the impermissible aid, even if the former student
does not benefit from the violation.
