Student
Academic Conduct (WMU Student Handbook update: December 2000)
The following
policies and procedures shall apply to all matters of student academic conduct.
If a student
is uncertain about an issue of academic honesty, he/she should consult the
faculty member to resolve questions in any situation prior to the submission of
the academic exercise.
Violations of
academic honesty include but are not limited to:
Definition
Cheating is
intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information,
notes, study aids or other devices or materials in any academic exercise.
Clarification
1) Students
completing any examination are prohibited from looking at another student's
examination and from using external aids (for example, books, notes,
calculators, conversation with other) unless specifically allowed in advance by
the faculty member.
2) Students
may not have others conduct research or prepare work for them without advance
authorization from the faculty member. This includes, but is not limited to,
the services of commercial term paper companies.
Definition
Fabrication is
the intentional invention and unauthorized alteration of any information or citation
in an academic exercise. Falsification is a matter of altering information
while fabrication is a matter of inventing or counterfeiting information for
use in any academic exercise or University record. Forgery is defined as the
act to imitate or counterfeit documents, signatures, and the like.
Clarification
1)
"Invented" information shall not be used in any laboratory
experiment, report of results or academic exercise. It would be improper, for
example, to analyze one sample in an
experiment and
then "invent" data based on that single experiment for several more
required analyses.
2) Students
shall acknowledge the actual source from which cited information was obtained.
For example, a student shall not take a quotation from a book review and then
indicate that the quotation was obtained from the book itself.
3)
Falsification of University records includes altering or forging any University
document and/or record, including identification material issued or used by the
University.
Definition
Multiple
submission is the submission of substantial portions of the same work
(including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization from
instructors of all classes for which the student submits the work.
Clarification
Examples of
multiple submission include submitting the same paper for credit in more than
one course without all faculty members' permission: making revisions in a
credit paper or report (including oral presentations) and submitting it again
as if it were new work.
Definition
Plagiarism is
intentionally, knowingly, or carelessly presenting the work of another as one's
own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source). The sole exception to
the requirement of acknowledging sources is when the ideas, information etc.,
are common knowledge. Instructors should provide clarification about the nature
of plagiarism.
Clarification
1) Direct
Quotation: Every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or
appropriate indentation and must be properly acknowledged, in the text by
citation or in a footnote or endnote.
2) Paraphrase:
Prompt acknowledgement is required when material from another source is
paraphrased or summarized, in whole or in part, in one's own word. To
acknowledge a
paraphrase
properly, one might state: "To paraphrase Locke's comment …"
and then
conclude with
a footnote or endnote identifying the exact reference.
3) Borrowed
facts: Information gained in reading or research which is not common knowledge
must be acknowledged.
4) Common
knowledge: Common knowledge includes generally known facts such as the names of
leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific laws, etc. Materials which add
only to a general understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the
bibliography and need not be footnoted or endnoted.
5) Footnotes,
endnotes, and in-text citations: One footnote, endnote, or in-text citation is
usually enough to acknowledge indebtedness when a number of connected sentences
are drawn from one source. When direct quotations are used, however, quotation
marks must be inserted and acknowledgment made. Similarly, when a passage is
paraphrased, acknowledgment is required. Faculty members are responsible for
identifying any specific style/format requirement for the course. Examples
include but are not limited to American Psychological Association (APA) style
and Modern Languages Association (MLA) style.
Definition
Complicity is
intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an
act of academic dishonesty.
Clarification
Examples of
complicity include knowingly allowing another to copy from one's paper during
an examination or test; distributing test questions or substantive information
about the materials to be tested before the scheduled exercise; collaborating
on academic work knowing that the collaboration will not be reported; taking an
examination or test for another student, or signing another's name on an
academic exercise.