Academic Integrity at TCNJ
What Is TCNJ’s Academic Integrity Policy?
You will receive a brochure about the college’s
academic integrity policy and the consequence for
violating it by e-mail in September. Keep it and
read it carefully.
This presentation seeks to explain some of the
details of the policy.
Does Academic Integrity Matter?
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Student Perspective:
“What does all my hard work matter if someone
else cheats and gets away with it?”
Faculty Perspective:
“How can I teach effectively if I can’t trust my
students to do their own work?”
Everyone’s Perspective:
“What kind of school do we want TCNJ to be? A
school of cheaters or a community of scholars?”
What Is Academic Dishonesty?
Academic dishonesty is any attempt by
the student to gain academic advantage
through dishonest means, to submit, as
his/her own, work which has not been
done by him/her or to give improper aid to
another student in the completion of an
assignment.
*From TCNJ’s Academic Integrity Policy
Common Violations
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Submitting work that is not your own whether through plagiarism
(not properly acknowledging the words, ideas, data, etc. of
others), purchase, or using another person’s work
Cheating on an exam
Collaborating when instructions called for independent work
Submitting an assignment with falsified or fabricated data or
results
Submitting the same assignment in multiple classes
Feigning illness or personal circumstances to avoid a required
academic activity
Concealing, destroying, or stealing research or library materials to
deprive others of their use or sabotaging someone else's work
When Is Something Dishonest?
Bottom line:
Would you be willing to tell
the professor what you did?
Why Might a Student Behave
Dishonestly?
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Desperation: For example, a student has been under pressure at
school and home. Several assignments are due at the same time,
and there isn’t time to complete everything. So, the student copies
a paper from a web site.
Shortcuts: For example, a student decides to use falsified
bibliographic entries in a paper for a class outside her major under
the belief that this class isn’t as important as those in her major.
Lack of understanding: For example, a student isn’t intending to be
dishonest, but doesn’t realize that copying material from a website
and pasting it into a paper or presentation without citation or
attribution is academically dishonest.
How To Avoid Violations
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Ask about professor’s policies for collaborating, use of sources, etc.
Talk to your professor if you have academic problems or need an
extension.
Good planning can prevent many problems from ever happening.
For proper use of sources, get help such as:
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“Links” tutorial on the library’s website http://www.tcnj.edu/~liblinks
Help at the tutoring center
Turnitin, a service that searches Internet and a database of over 40
million student papers to help you or your professor tell if you are
relying too heavily a source. Turnitin is available on Canvas.
Case Studies
Some of these cases may have clear-cut answers; some
may depend upon circumstances in a specific class; but all
of the cases are worth discussing to get a better idea about
academic integrity issues.
Academic Integrity Case #1
Jane writes a paper for an Introduction to
Management course on the topic of “Flexible
Workplace Benefits in a Diverse Workforce.”
The following year, in a class on Benefits and
Compensation, she submits the same paper.
Has she behaved dishonestly?
Academic Integrity Case #2
Jeff is writing a paper for a political science class. He
needs to describe the workings of the British
parliamentary system. He has a source that explains the
system very concisely and well. He can’t think of a
better way to summarize the system, so he uses some of
the exact phrases of the source interspersed among his
own words. He cites the source at the end of the
paragraph. Has he behaved dishonestly?
Academic Integrity Case #3
Isaac was working on a group project with three other
students. Each student was required to complete a fair
share, 25%, of the work. Isaac completed about 10% of
the total project. Has he behaved dishonestly?
Does the answer change if Isaac doesn’t contribute
anything?
Academic Integrity Case #4
Sarah and Peter were lab partners in a chemistry class.
One week they split the 30 homework problems
(unrelated to their lab) in half. Sarah did the odd
numbers and Peter did the even numbers. They met
Sunday night to share the answers. On Monday, Sarah
and Peter individually submitted the completed 30
problems. Have they behaved dishonestly?
Academic Integrity Case #5
Sylvia is writing a paper for her economics class. She
finishes the paper a couple days before its due date and
sends a copy to her mother by email. Her mother corrects
the paper to fix the grammar, spelling, and typos and then
sends it back to Sylvia by email. Sylvia turns in the copy
corrected by her mother. Has Sylvia behaved dishonestly?
Academic Integrity Case #6
Arnold hasn’t finished his reading for his history class. The
professor sometimes asks students questions point-blank
about the reading, and Arnold doesn’t want to risk not
being able to answer something. So, he emails the
professor to say that he’s feeling sick and skips class. Has
he behaved dishonestly?
Other Academic Integrity Cases
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What kinds of hard-to-judge cases can you imagine?
Do you have a question about a specific case you know
about or can imagine?
What Happens in Academic Integrity
Cases?
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Academic integrity cases may be decided by the faculty
member, an Academic Integrity Officer in a School, or
the All-College Academic Integrity Board
Result of academic integrity cases may include:
 Being cleared of any wrongdoing
 Redoing the assignment in question (with or without
a penalty)
 Receiving an F for the assignment
 Receiving an F for the course
 Receiving a Disciplinary F (which permanently counts
in the GPA)
 Being suspended or dismissed from TCNJ.
Academic Integrity Procedure.
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An instructor will consult with the student about a
suspected incident of academic dishonesty.
If the instructor believes it to be intentional, s/he will
reports it to the appropriate Academic Integrity Officer.
The AIO investigates. The matter may be settled by the
AIO. The student has a right to a hearing before the AllCollege Academic Integrity Board.
If the instructor believes the incident to be unintentional,
s/he may report it or take other actions such as giving a
grade of zero or requiring the work to be redone.