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 Student Judicial
Affairs (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.
