Academic Integrity and Ethics
Academic integrity is fundamental to every facet of the scholarly process and is expected of every student in the School of Continuing Studies in all academic undertakings. Integrity involves firm adherence to academic honesty and to ethical conduct consistent with values based on standards that respect the intellectual efforts of both oneself and others.
Ensuring integrity in academic work is a joint enterprise involving both faculty and students. Among the most important goals of higher education are maintaining an environment of academic integrity and instilling in students a lifelong commitment to the academic honesty that is fundamental to good scholarship. These goals are best achieved as a result of effective dialogue between students and faculty mentors regarding academic integrity and by the examples of members of the academic community whose intellectual accomplishments demonstrate sensitivity to the nuances of ethical conduct in scholarly work.
University Principles
Northwestern University has established the following framework within which policies of SCS operate.
Academic integrity at Northwestern is based on a respect for individual achievement that lies at the heart of academic culture. Every faculty member and student, both graduate and undergraduate, belongs to a community of scholars where academic integrity is a fundamental commitment.
A complete statement of the University’s principles regarding academic integrity can be obtained from the Office of the Provost and online at http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/uniprin.html. Links to additional resources are posted at http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/.
SCS Policy
A. Standards of Academic Integrity
It is the responsibility of every SCS faculty member to be familiar with SCS’s policy on academic integrity. Please note that when a breach of academic integrity occurs in a School of Continuing Studies class, the administration takes a hard line and the sanctions imposed may be severe-including dismissal from the University. Each student is urged to be informed on this subject and avoid being implicated in any incident where his/her integrity might be questioned.
Registration at the School of Continuing Studies requires adherence to the University's standards of academic integrity. These standards may be intuitively understood, and cannot in any case be listed exhaustively; the following examples represent some basic types of behavior that are unacceptable:
Cheating: Using unauthorized notes, study aids, or information on an examination; altering a graded work after it has been returned; allowing another person to do one's work and submitting that work under one's own name; submitting identical or similar papers for credit in more than one course without prior permission from the course instructors.
Plagiarism: Submitting material that in part or whole is not entirely one's own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source.
Fabrication: Falsifying or inventing any information, data or citation; presenting data that were not gathered in accordance with standard guidelines defining the appropriate methods for collecting or generating data and failing to include an accurate account of the method by which the data were gathered or collected.
Obtaining an Unfair Advantage:
- Stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining access to examination materials prior to the time authorized by the instructor
- Stealing, destroying, defacing or concealing library materials with purpose of depriving others of their use
- Unauthorized collaborating on an academic assignment
- Retaining, possessing, using or circulating previously given examination materials, where those materials clearly indicate that they are to be returned to the instructor at the conclusion of the examination
- Intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student's academic work
- Otherwise undertaking activity with the purpose of creating or obtaining an unfair academic advantage over other students' academic work
Aiding and Abetting Academic Dishonesty:
- Providing material, information, or other assistance to another person with knowledge that such aid could be used in any of the violations stated above
- Providing false information in connection with any inquiry regarding academic integrity
Falsification of Records and Official Documents: Altering documents affecting academic records; forging signatures of authorization or falsifying information on an official academic document, grade report, letter of permission, petition, drop/add form, ID card, or any other official University document.
Unauthorized Access to Computerized Academic or Administrative Records or Systems: Viewing or altering computer records or systems; viewing or altering computer records, modifying computer programs or systems, releasing or dispensing information gained via unauthorized access, or interfering with the use or availability of computer systems or information.
When a breach of academic integrity occurs in a School of Continuing Studies class, the administration takes a hard line and the sanctions imposed are severe-often including dismissal from the University. Each student is urged to be informed on this subject and avoid being implicated in any incident where his/her integrity might be questioned.
B. Preventing dishonesty. All instructors should take reasonable measures to promote academic integrity among their students, explaining to students their responsibility to acknowledge the sources they use in preparing written work. Students should be led to understand the conventions of citation and attribution within the discipline of the course; the scope of collaboration, if any, that will be permitted between students in completing work; any special conventions about materials that may or may not be used in completing assignments; and any departures from the normal convention that students may not use notes or course materials when taking examinations.
New faculty members, especially those unfamiliar with university life, should acquaint themselves with the SCS policy on academic integrity and its procedure for dealing with violations (see “Suspected dishonesty” below). Members of the faculty, in turn, should ensure that any teaching assistants understand and comply with these basic procedures. Each faculty member is responsible for the security of his or her examination questions. At no time may a student be given custody of, or other responsibility over, examination questions before the examination is administered. Ideally, empty seats should be left between students taking the examination. When the faculty member knows in advance that such seating will not be possible, he or she should use other measures to safeguard the security of the examination, such as alternating question formats.
The instructor should decide in advance whether a given examination will be posted on the course website, or otherwise made available for review by students in the future. Examination questions that will be placed on public file need not be collected after the test. Questions that will not be placed on public file should carry the notice that each student's examination questions must be returned with his or her answers, and that requirement should be enforced. This is intended to reduce the possibility that some students will save the exams and pass them on to others. The goal is to provide equal access—or else no access—for students who take the course in subsequent terms.
C. Checking the Internet for Possible Plagiarism. Northwestern University has subscribed to Safe Assignment, an electronic service that allows instructors to check electronically submitted papers against internet websites for matching phrases and against a database of previously submitted papers for possible plagiarism. The Safe Assignment tool is implemented within the university’s Course Management System (Blackboard). Instructors should read the Safe Assignment “tipsheet” posted at http://course-management.northwestern.edu/tipsheets.html and/or contact Course Management support staff for information on how to use the software.
D. Suspected violations of academic integrity. Any instance of apparent dishonesty in academic work in an SCS course must be reported to the appropriate assistant dean or administrator:
Instructors may not take personal action, but should involve the Assistant Dean or administrator immediately. If a faculty member is uncertain about whether a suspected action would constitute academic dishonesty, he or she should also contact the Assistant Dean or administrator about how to proceed.
In most cases, only the instructor of the course, any TA involved, and Assistant Dean or administrator should discuss the incident. If it becomes necessary to consult any other person, this must be done in a way that conceals the student’s identity.
When an offense is alleged, the instructor is asked to submit a brief, written description of the circumstances, together with all relevant documents, to the Assistant Dean or administrator. Specific guidelines for this letter and the supporting documents will be supplied to the instructor when he or she contacts the Assistant Dean or administrator. On coming to a judgment, the Assistant Dean or administrator observes the principles and practices set forth in “SCS Procedures for Cases of Alleged Academic Dishonesty,” a statement that is online at [to come].
Adherence to this policy by every faculty member is essential. The policy protects all parties—the instructor, any teaching assistant, the alleged offender or offenders, all students—and it helps to ensure that cases are judged consistently and equitably.
|
