Academic Integrity

Contract cheating is a form of plagiarism that involves outsourcing academic work to a third-party including, but not limited to, a commercial provider, current or former student, family member or acquaintance, and submitting the work as one's own.

Examples of this include purchasing a term paper or assignment to be submitted as one’s own; submitting essays or assignments that have been obtained from homework sites, essay mills, tutor sites, friends, family members or classmates. 

Deception involves misrepresenting the accuracy of information, the authenticity of a document, one’s self, one’s work, or one’s relation to the University.

Examples of this include creating or causing to be created and/or submitting any falsified official academic document, including a transcript; altering any official academic documents, including transcripts; creating and/or submitting any falsified medical note; altering any information on documentation provided by a third party (such as a date); impersonating someone in a test or examination or allowing someone to impersonate you; fabricating or falsifying laboratory or research data; fabricating references and/or information derived from references; using another person’s credentials or representing yourself as having credentials that are not rightfully yours.

Plagiarism involves presenting ideas, words, or work, created by others or by technological assistance, as if they are one’s own or without proper attribution/citation. Self-plagiarism is also a departure from academic integrity. Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of submitting the same work, in whole or in part, for credit in two or more courses, or in the same course more than once without the prior written permission of the instructor. Self-plagiarism can also include presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new.

Examples of this include copying or using quotations or paraphrasing material from a print or other source, including the internet and output from artificial intelligence, without proper acknowledgement; copying another student’s work; submitting the same piece of work in more than one course without permission.

Unauthorized content generation is the production of academic work, in whole or in part, for academic credit, progression, or award, using unapproved or undeclared human or technological assistance.

Examples of this include response generation from artificial intelligence such as text-, image-, code-, or video-generating artificial intelligence tools as well as submitting assignments to online forums or websites for generating solutions. 

*Retrieved from Guidance on the use of generative artificial intelligence in assessment (PDF)

Human-centred decision making

Assessment is a crucial element of student learning and instructor feedback. It is essential that human judgement and interaction remain central to this process. Any final assessment and interpretation related to the evaluation of student work needs to involve human judgment and engagement. AI-generated assessment outputs should be critically reviewed and interpreted by humans, with final decisions resting with human evaluators. Throughout the assessment process, humans retain responsibility, ensuring that generative AI serves as a tool and not as a substitute for human oversight.

Manage risks to do no harm

Instructors will need to manage the known risks of generative AI tools, such as the introduction of unintended bias from the generative AI tool’s training data and the lack of transparency in how decisions are made by these tools (the “black box” problem). Due to of our emergent understanding of how best to manage these risks, and the significance of grades for students’ future opportunities, it is strongly recommended that generative AI tools not be used for summative assessment at this time. These tools, however, may be used to enhance the formative assessment processes, providing support for student learning.

Protect privacy

It is an instructor's responsibility to manage students’ right to privacy. It is recommended that any generative AI tool used for the purposed of student assessment has undergone Queen’s security assessment process (SAP). See Appendix A for a list of AI tools that have undergone Queen’s SAP.

Respect intellectual property

Student’s intellectual property must be respected. Current University policies, such as the Intellectual Property Commercialization Policy, state that students retain the intellectual property (IP) of what they create at Queen’s. The terms of service for many third-party generative AI tools may contravene the retention of IP.

Seek informed consent

Given the university's IP and privacy policies, it is recommended that students are informed of, and that consent is sought for the planned use of a generative AI tool for any assessment purposes. In cases where a student chooses to opt out, instructors or TAs should evaluate the student’s work without the use of generative AI tools.

This resource was remixed from the McMaster University Library and adapted to Queen’s University context. All content is licensed under CC-BY-SA.

By full and correctly citing AI generated content, you are: 

• Upholding the principle of academic integrity by giving due credit to your sources
• Providing transparency about the origin of the output
• Contributing to the important task of tracking the influence of AI in our collective knowledge, highlighting its role in various domains

Example: Citation for the adjacent AI-generated image in MLA style, Works Cited list.
"AI robot helping a university student write a paper in the library, abstract art" prompt. Bing Image Creator, DALL-E 2, Microsoft, 10 August 2023, https://www.bing.com/images/create.
 

This resource was remixed from the McMaster University Library and adapted to Queen’s University context. All content is licensed under CC-BY-SA.

As you navigate the evolving landscape of generative AI in your courses, you may find it helpful to set clear expectations around how students should acknowledge their use of these tools. Regulations on AI use may be different from one department to the other, and from one course to the other! Consider incorporating language like the following into your syllabus or assessment guidelines:

"Citation practices are important in this course! We ask that you be transparent about it. Just as you would cite a book, article, or website, any content generated by AI tools that makes its way into your work should be properly referenced. We want you to build productive habits around academic honesty and giving credit where it's due. Keep in mind that submitting non-original work without proper acknowledgment, including AI-generated content, may be considered academic misconduct."

Framing this expectation in a straightforward way can go a long way in helping students feel comfortable being open about their AI use, rather than feeling the need to hide it. This is especially important for students who may be taking your course as an elective and come from a different Faculty, where expectations around AI use may differ. When students understand the reasoning behind the requirement, they are far more likely to embrace it as a meaningful part of their academic practice. 

Queen’s University Library has provided succinct, easy-to-follow instructions for referencing AI outputs in common citation styles including APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Vancouver, CSE, and COAL based on the latest recommendations. We encourage you to share these resources and recommendations with your students, especially when assessments are due.

In some cases, you may also ask your students to share their generative AI activity in a methodology section or appendix. If needed, encourage students to save their generative AI inputs and outputs using some of the following methods.

• Save or download as a web page or PDF file
• Copy and paste to a Text or Word file
• Export as a Word, PDF or Text file
• Take a screenshot
• Create a shareable link, e.g.: 
  • ChatGPT - ChatGPT Shared Links
  • Google Gemini - create a public page and link to share a prompt and response or an entire chat
  • A.I. Archives - save discussions with ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta and Claude into a URL.
  • Bing Image Creator - copy Share button URL or right click on an image > select Open Image in New Tab > copy the URL in the web browser's address bar (e.g., https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIG1.NDGDhQqxD8jL4iDrEK6Z?pid=ImgGn)
  • Copy and paste AI-generated content into a document, then create a shareable link to the file (e.g., Google, Microsoft)

NOTE: Some of these shareable links may not be persistent or stable over time. To ensure future, long-term access to AI generated content, encourage students to save or download a copy to their local device.

Citation practices related to generative AI are evolving. We will make every effort to keep this guide up-to-date, but both educators and students are encouraged to check that guidance provided here aligns with their expectations.

This guide from Queen’s University Library also includes generative AI tools and resources to further assist in your understanding and utilization of this technology.

Student Academic Success Services

• To ensure your students understand the importance of academic integrity and how to avoid academic dishonesty: Academic Integrity
• Students can discuss academic integrity-related questions with academic skills and writing specialists at SASS: Book an Appointment

Academic Integrity Council of Ontario

• To review the information sheet from the Academic Integrity Council of Ontario: Supporting Academic Integrity: Ethical Uses of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Information Sheet (PDF, 372KB)