New Student Guide: Academic Integrity

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the act of representing someone else’s work as one’s own. It includes, but is not limited to:

a. Quoting verbatim or with significant similarity from any source without citation or with incorrect citation or in any way that creates the appearance that material written by someone else was written by the student.

b. Submitting someone else’s work, in whatever form, without appropriately referencing the source.

c. Purchasing or otherwise acquiring (e.g., from social media, “tutoring,” or note-sharing websites) assignments and submitting them as one’s own work. 

SELF-PLAGIARISM OR DOUBLE-DIPPING

This is the act of a student submitting coursework that is identical or substantially similar to work that they have already submitted for credit at Yorkville or another institution. It is an academic offense unless it is explicitly required or approved by the course instructor or program director. Note that intention to deceive or to cheat is not a defining characteristic of plagiarism. It is the responsibility of every student to learn and apply proper practice for citing sources to avoid unintentionally causing the reader to believe that someone else’s work is the work of the student.

CHEATING

Anything done to dishonestly or unfairly gain unearned academic advantage, grades, or credits is a serious breach of academic integrity. Cheating includes, but is not limited to:

a. Using unauthorized notes, texts, instructor’s manuals, or other material during examinations or tests;

b. Allowing another person to complete course assignments, tests, or examinations;

c. Obtaining an examination, test, or other course material through theft, collusion, purchase, gift, or any other way to dishonestly or unfairly gain academic advantage;

d. Collaborating with one or more other individuals on a work to be evaluated when the instructor has required the work to be completed on an individual basis;

e. Falsifying credentials, records, transcripts, or other documents or misrepresenting professional experience;

f. Employing any unauthorized academic assistance in completing assignments or examinations, including:

i. Downloading material from websites that offer “tutoring” services;

ii. Using professional editing services in such a way that the final product does not accurately represent the student’s academic abilities;

g. Tampering with, or altering, in any deceptive way, work subsequently presented for a review of the grade awarded. 

ABETTING PLAGIARISM AND/OR CHEATING

It is a breach of academic integrity to encourage or facilitate academic dishonesty in others. Such activities might include:

a. Selling, giving, posting online, or otherwise distributing assignments, projects, exams, reports, or other work completed as a student at Yorkville when it can be reasonably assumed that such action will allow others to plagiarize or cheat. This includes posting, selling, trading, sharing, uploading or otherwise distributing the content mentioned above, on sites or platforms including, but not limited to, Course Hero, Chegg, and Facebook.

b. Knowingly allowing one’s assignments, projects, exams, reports, or other work completed as a student at Yorkville to be copied by another person when it might be reasonably assumed that this will allow others to plagiarize or cheat.

c. Impersonating another person for the purposes of completing course assignments, tests, or examinations.

d. Colluding with one or more other students to prepare and submit substantially the same piece of work, without prior permission of the instructor.