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Students are expected to submit work which is their own. Plagiarism or cheating will not be
tolerated. If either is the case, the student may have his/her grade for the assignment/quiz
lowered or may fail the course. See the College’s Academic Honesty Policy that follows.
VII. RIGHTS AS CONSUMERS
Federal and state agencies mandate that all colleges provide prospective and currently
enrolled students with written information concerning college policies, programs, activities,
and services. Specific written information required for distribution to students include
policies on admissions, financial aid, notices on student rights to inspect their records, and
college retention standards.
Failure to comply with these regulations may result in the College’s loss of eligibility to
participate in certain federal and state programs.
Copies of all necessary documents can be obtained from the Student Involvement
Office located in the Student Center Building, Room 109 and/or the Office of Student
Development located in the Student Center Building, Room 219.
VIII. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY
Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism,
and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the College’s educational mission and the students’
personal and intellectual growth. Westchester Community College students are expected to
bear individual responsibility for their work and to uphold the ideal of academic integrity. Any
student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be sanctioned.
Cheating harms the college community in many ways. Honest students are frustrated by the
unfairness of cheating that goes undetected and therefore unpunished. Students who cheat
will skew the grading curve in a class, resulting in lower grades for students who have worked
hard and did their own work.
DEFINITION OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research, or writing as your own
work. Examples include:
1.
Copying another person’s actual words without both the use of quotations and
documentation.
2.
Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without documentation.
3.
Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the
source.
4.
Using a paper-writing “service” or having a friend write the paper for you.
Note: The guidelines that define plagiarism also apply to information secured on Internet
websites. Internet references must specify precisely where the information was obtained
and where it can be found.
You may think that citing another author’s work will lower your grade. In some unusual
cases this may be true, for instance, if your instructor has indicated that you must write
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your paper without reading additional material. But in fact, as you progress in your studies,
you will be expected to show that you are familiar with important work in your field and can
use this work to further your thinking. Your professors write this kind of paper all the time.
The key to avoiding plagiarism is that you show clearly where your own thinking ends and
someone else’s begins.
For more information on the topic of plagiarism please visit our library’s website at:
Cheating
Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids,
devices or communication during an academic exercise.
Examples include:
TESTS AND EXAMS:
1.
Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy
your work.
2.
Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination.
3.
Using unauthorized devices during an examination.
4.
Asking or allowing another student, or anyone else, to take an examination for you.
5.
Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit.
6.
Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination.
7.
Taking an examination for another student.
8.
Taking an examination or any examinationmaterial out of an examination room at any time
without the expressed permission of the instructor who created that examination.
TAKE-HOME TESTS AND INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS:
1.
If tutors or others aid the student in the preparation of an assignment, the submitted
assignment should represent the student’s current level of ability.
2.
Unauthorized collaborating on a take-home assignment or examination.
3.
Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the
second instructor.
4.
Using a paper-writing “service” or having someone else write the paper for you.
5.
Preparing an essay or assignment, or allowing one’s essay or assignment to be copied by
someone else.
6.
Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper or using someone else’s outline to write
your own paper.
7.
Intentionally citing inaccurate or nonexistent source materials.
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