Types of Academic Integrity Departures

According to the Academic Integrity Procedures - Requirements of Faculties & Schools, forms of violations of academic integrity include (but are not limited to):

  • Departure from the Core Values of Academic Integrity: In addition to the specific examples listed below, any deviation from the six core values of academic integrity, i.e. honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage, is considered a departure.
  • Plagiarism: Presenting another's ideas or phrasings as one's own without proper acknowledgement.
    Examples:
    - copying and pasting from the internet, a printed source, or other resources without proper acknowledgement;
    - copying from another student;
    - using direct quotations or large sections of paraphrased material in an assignment without appropriate acknowledgement;
    - submitting the same piece of work in more than one course without the permission of the instructor(s).
  • Use of unauthorized materials: Possessing and using any material that is not allowed to complete academic tasks.
    Examples:
    - possessing or using unauthorized study materials or aids during a test;
    - copying from another's test paper;
    - using an unauthorized calculator or other aids during a test;
    - unauthorized removal of materials from the library, or deliberate concealment of library materials.
  • Facilitation: Deliberately enabling another's breach of academic integrity.
    Examples:
    - knowingly allowing one's essay or assignment to be copied by someone else for the purpose of plagiarism;
    - buying or selling term papers or assignments and submitting them as one's own for the purpose of plagiarism.
  • Forgery: Submitting counterfeit documents or statements.
    Examples:
    - creating a transcript or other official document;
    - creating a medical note.
  • Falsification: Misrepresentation of one's self, one's work or one's relation to the University.
    Examples:
    - altering transcripts or other official documents relating to student records;
    - impersonating someone in an examination or test;
    - submitting a take-home examination written, in whole or in part, by someone else;
    - fabricating or falsifying laboratory or research data.

Here are some other common ones:

  • Inappropriate Collaboration (i.e. Collusion): Working with others on work that is supposed to be done independently without permission, or when the type of collaboration taking place exceeds what is authorized by the instructor
    Examples:
    - working on take-home exams with classmates
    - splitting up parts of an assignment and putting it together to submit individually
  • Fabrication: Creating, altering, or reporting information without authorization in an attempt to gain an academic advantage
    Examples:
    - changing or making up lab data to fit the hypothesis
    - inventing quotes or statements to support your argument
  • Sabotage: Disrupting or destroying another's work, so that the person cannot complete an academic activity successfully
    Examples:
    - destroying another person's work (e.g. tearing apart a person's notes, deleting another's computer files or research data, purposefully misplacing another's artwork, etc.)
    - revealing confidential data about another person's project or assignment to others