Very Important Information

Please read this document carefully. Much of it is taken from the university’s “Code of Academic Integrity and Good Conduct” (S10.01). Pay particular attention to the comments at the bottom of this page. If you do something that is prohibited by this policy and claim that you did not know that you were not supposed to do it or that you did not understand the policy, you will still be held accountable. It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand these regulations.

 

4.1.2 Forms of Academic Dishonesty

The following acts or omissions constitute academic dishonesty and are prohibited.

a. Plagiarism, including:

i. submitting or presenting the work of another person, including artistic imagery, as that of the student without full and appropriate accreditation;
ii. copying all or part of an essay or other assignment from an author or other person, including a tutor or student mentor, and presenting the material as the student’s original work;
iii. failing to acknowledge the phrases, sentences or ideas of the author of published and unpublished material that is incorporated into an essay or other assignment.

b. Submitting the same, or substantially the same, essay, project, presentation or other assignment more than once, whether or not the earlier submission was at Simon Fraser University or another institution, unless prior approval has been obtained from the instructor to whom the work is being submitted.

c. Cheating in an examination, including:

i. the unauthorized sharing of material such as textbooks during an “open book” examination;
ii. concealing information pertaining to the examination in the examination room, or in washrooms or other places in the vicinity of the examination room;
iii. using course notes or any other aids not approved by an Instructor during an examination;
or,
iv. the unauthorized possession or use of an examination question sheet, an examination answer book, or a completed examination or assignment.

d. Submitting as one's original work an essay, project, thesis, presentation or other assignment, or part thereof, that was purchased or otherwise acquired from another source, unless the work is commercially available data, images, or other intellectual property the source and acquisition of which is properly and fully described and cited by the student and approved by the course Instructor or supervisor.

e. Cheating in assignments, projects, examinations or other forms of evaluation by:

i. using, or attempting to use, another student’s answers;
ii. providing answers to other students;
iii. failing to take reasonable measures to protect answers from use by other students; or
iv. in the case of students who study together, submitting identical or virtually identical assignments for evaluation unless permitted by the course Instructor or supervisor.

f. Impersonating a candidate or being impersonated in an examination.

g. Falsifying material that is subject to academic evaluation.

h. Submitting false records or information, in writing or orally, including the falsification of laboratory results or research findings.

i. Engaging in misrepresentation, including falsifying documents, to gain a benefit or advantage in a course including the submission of a forged or altered medical certificate or death certificate.

j. Engaging in any action intended to disadvantage students in a course including destroying, stealing, or concealing library resources.

k. Stealing, destroying or altering the work of another student.

l. Unauthorized or inappropriate use of computers, calculators and other forms of technology in course work, assignments or examinations.

m. Misconduct in research as defined in Policy R 60.01.

 

In any of your written work, including all drafts of essays that you submit, you must give proper references for your sources. If you copy something word for word from a book or article, you must indicate that it is a quote by putting it in quotation marks ("like this") and you must identify the source (author, date, page number, etc.). Even if you don’t copy something word for word—if you paraphrase it, changing some of the words—you must still identify the source (author, date, page number, etc.) and specify how you are making use of the source. What is the specific nature of your debt to the author whose work you are citing? (For more details, follow this link. Pay particular attention to the section on paraphrasing.)

You will be guilty of plagiarism:

  • if you fail to provide proper references for your sources, including page numbers;
  • if you do not put quotation marks around material copied from other sources (even if it is only part of a sentence!);
  • if you do not identify fully and clearly any material that you paraphrased (along with its source);
  • if you copy the work of another student;
  • if you submit material that is too similar to that of another student or source (including internet sources) for your instructor reasonably to believe that it is your own original, independently produced work.

    If it is determined that you did any of these things, it is likely that you will suffer one or more of the following penalties:

    • you may receive a failing grade, typically a score of 0, on the assignment;
    • you may receive a failing grade in the course;
    • you may be suspended from the university for one or more semesters;
    • you may lose any financial assistance you were receiving.

This is very serious business. Make sure that you understand the university’s policies.

Here are some important things you need to know about quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing the work of another author.

This link will take you to a helpful tutorial on avoiding plagiarism.

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