Any form of academic dishonesty represents a grave breach of personal integrity
and of the rules governing WNCC’s community of learners. Academic dishonesty
includes, but is not limited to:
• Cheating in any form
• Plagiarizing in any form
• Aiding someone else in cheating or plagiarizing
Cheating is the giving or receiving of any unauthorized aid, assistance, or unfair
advantage in any form of academic work, such as in-class quizzes and tests, take-
home tests, lab assignments, problem sets, term papers, and research projects.
“Unauthorized” means without the instructor’s permission.
Common examples of cheating include:
• Using unauthorized materials or information during a quiz or exam (
e.g.,
material written on a “cheat sheet”, bluebook, desk, piece of clothing, etc.
)
• Looking at another student’s quiz or exam (or knowingly allowing him/her to
look at yours)
• Telling students in another section of the same course what questions were on
an earlier exam (or willingly receiving such information from another student)
• Changing answers on a quiz or exam and claiming the changed answer was
the original answer
Ordinarily, cheating also includes submitting work that counts towards a grade
or degree that is not the sole product of individual effort (unless, for example, the
instructor explicitly allows group work or other forms of collective or cooperative
efforts). It may also mean submitting work done in a previous course in response to
an assignment required in a class in which a person is currently registered.
Plagiarism consists of using —WITHOUT providing proper attribution — someone
else’s proprietary material in the form of:
• Words
• Ideas (even paraphrases of general ideas, if they derive from a proprietary
source)
• Information
• Facts (those not in the realm of common knowledge (
e.g. things like folklore,
common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events)
but
not historical documents)
Plagiarism also includes:
• Copying passages from any course texts or materials without giving proper
attribution to the author(s)
• Using material from the Internet without providing proper acknowledgment to
the Internet site.
If a student has any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, he/she must consult
the instructor immediately.
Process for Handling Alleged Violations of the Academic Integrity Policy
MINOR OFFENSES -
these are offenses that the instructor determines are not severe
and can be addressed informally with the student(s) involved. The assignment
grade does not put the student in any danger of failing the class.
1. An instructor has reason to believe that a student has violated the Academic
Integrity Policy.
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