Academic Conduct Policy Statement

All members of the academic community at Oakland are expected to practice and uphold standards of academic integrity and honesty. An instructor is expected to inform and instruct students about the procedures and standards of research and documentation required of students in fulfilling course work. A student is expected to follow such instructions and be sure the rules and procedures are understood in order to avoid inadvertent misrepresentation of his work. Students must assume that individual (unaided) work on exams and lab reports and documentation of sources is expected unless the instructor specifically says that is not necessary.

* ACADEMIC INTEGRITY MEANS REPRESENTING ONESELF AND ONE'S WORK HONESTLY. MISREPRESENTATION OF ONE'S WORK IS CHEATING AND TAKES TWO FORMS. THE FIRST OF THESE IS CLAIMING CREDIT FOR IDEAS AND WORK WHICH ARE ACTUALLY NOT ONE'S OWN AND THEREBY TRYING TO GET A GRADE ONE HAS NOT ACTUALLY EARNED. THE SECOND IS SUBMITTING WORK FOR A COURSE ONE IS PRESENTLY TAKING WHICH ONE HAS ACTUALLY COMPLETED FOR A COURSE TAKEN IN THE PAST OR IS, IN FACT, ALSO COMPLETING FOR ANOTHER PRESENT COURSE. UNDER SOME CIRCUMSTANCES, AN INSTRUCTOR MIGHT PERMIT A STUDENT TO SUBMIT FOR A PRESENT COURSE WORK COMPLETED FOR A PAST COURSE OR ANOTHER PRESENT COURSE, BUT THE INSTRUCTOR'S PERMISSION MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE A STUDENT DOES THIS. THE FOLLOWING DEFINITIONS ARE EXAMPLES OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

1. Cheating on examinations by 
    a. using materials such as books and/or notes when not authorized by the instructor,
    b. by taking advantage of prior information not authorized by the instructor regarding questions to be asked on the exam,
    c. copying from someone else's paper,
    d. helping someone else copy work or
    e. other forms of misrepresentation.

Students would be well advised to be careful to avoid the appearance of cheating.

Wording in upper case is entirely new wording and represents the principal change proposed by the Committee. The previous wording of this paragraph is as follows: Academic integrity means representing oneself and one's work honestly; misrepresentation is cheating since it means a student is claiming credit for ideas or work that is not actually his and is thereby trying to get a grade that is not actually earned.

The following definitions are examples of academic dishonesty:

2. Plagiarizing from work of others. Plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas without giving the other person credit; by doing this, a student is, in effect, claiming credit for someone else's thinking. Whether the student has read or heard the information he uses, the student must document the source of information. When dealing with written sources, a clear distinction would be made between quotations (which reproduce information from the source word-for-word within quotation marks) and paraphrases (which digest the source information and produce it in the student's own words). Both direct quotations and paraphrases must be documented. Just because a student rephrases, condenses or selects from another person's work, the ideas are still the other person's, and failure to give credit constitutes misrepresentation of the student's actual work and plagiarism of another's ideas. Naturally, buying a paper and handing it in as one's own work is plagiarism.

3. Cheating on lab reports by
    a. falsifying data or
    b. submitting data not based on student's own work.

4. Falsifying records or providing misinformation regarding one's credentials.

If a student feels that practices by the instructor are conducive to cheating, he may convey this information either directly to the instructor or to the PACE Director. Instructors are expected to bring evidence of plagiarism, cheating on exams or lab reports, falsification of records or other forms of academic misconduct before the Academic Conduct Committee of the University Senate for determination of the facts in the case and a if warranted, assessment of penalty. If academic misconduct is determined the Committee assesses penalties ranging from academic disciplinary reprimand (which is part of the student's confidential University file), to academic probation to suspension or dismissal from the University.

GUIDELINES FOR INSTRUCTORS

Instructors have at least three roles to play in maintaining proper standards of academic conduct:
1. To assist their students in recognizing the way in which general standards apply in context of a particular course or discipline.
2. To take practical steps to prevent cheating and to detect it when it occurs.
3. To report academic misconduct to the PACE Director.