Office of the Provost
Info For:
Academic Policies

Academic Integrity

POLICY NUMBER: PO - 05
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 6, 2008
REVISION DATE: September 6, 2016
SUPERSEDES: N/A
RESPONSIBLE EXECUTIVE: Provost

Populations Affected

This policy applies to all students.

Statement of Policy

Drexel University expects all members of its community to uphold the highest values of academic integrity. In upholding these values, the University is committed to investigating any allegation of violations of academic integrity against a student. Violations include, but are not limited to: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and academic misconduct.

Sanctions for violations of academic integrity are administered through the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards in conjunction with the Office of the Provost and other University offices as deemed appropriate. It is generally the responsibility of the faculty member overseeing the academic activity to report the violation to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards and to determine the appropriate sanction. A student who believes they have been wrongly sanctioned has a right to an appeals process.

In addition to any other sanction, the University reserves the right in its sole discretion to withdraw an earned degree even though it has been granted should it be discovered at any time that the work upon which the degree was based, or the academic records in support of such degree, have been falsified. In that situation, the degree will be withdrawn promptly upon discovery of the falsification and the academic record will be updated to reflect the withdrawal of degree.

Statement of Procedure

Procedure information for reporting an Academic Integrity Incident can be found at Report an Incident or Faculty Academic Integrity Resources on the Student Life website.

Procedure information for students can be found in the Academic Integrity Conduct Process on the Student Life website.

Definitions

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone’s previously documented words, ideas, or data in one’s own new and original work. When a student submits work for credit that includes the words, ideas or data of others, including one’s own previously submitted work, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete, accurate and specific references, and, if verbatim statements are included, through quotation marks as well. By placing their name on work submitted for credit, the student certifies the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments. A student must obtain permission from the current instructor, prior to submission, to use their previously submitted work in a new and original work.

Plagiarism covers unpublished as well as published sources. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:

  • Quoting another person’s actual words, complete sentences or paragraphs, or an entire piece of written work without acknowledgment of the source
  • Using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theory, even if it is completely paraphrased in one’s own words, without acknowledgment of the source
  • Using one’s own previously submitted work as new and original without permission from the instructor
  • Using facts, statistics, or other illustrative materials that are not clearly common knowledge without acknowledgment of the source
  • Copying another student’s essay examination
  • Copying, or allowing another student to copy, a document or computer file that contains another student’s assignment, and submitting it, in part or in its entirety, as one’s own
  • Collaborating on an assignment or sharing computer files and/or programs, and then submitting individual copies of the assignment as one’s own individual work. Students are urged to consult with individual faculty members, academic departments, or recognized handbooks in their field if in doubt regarding issues of plagiarism.

Students are urged to consult with individual faculty members, academic departments, or recognized handbooks in their field if in doubt regarding issues of plagiarism.

Cheating
Cheating is an act or an attempted act of deception by which a student seeks to misrepresent that they have mastered information or a skill on an academic evaluation instrument, such as (by example, not limitation) a test, exam, quiz, that has not in fact been mastered. Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Copying from another student’s examination paper
  • Allowing another student to copy from your examination paper, text, quiz, or similar evaluation instrument
  • Unauthorized use of a course textbook or other materials, such as (by example, not limitation) a notebook, to complete an examination or other assignment
  • Collaborating on an examination, test, quiz, or other project with any other person(s) without authorization
  • Using or processing specifically prepared materials during an examination such as (by example, not limitation) notes, formula lists, notes written on the students clothing, calculators, and/or smart devices, that are not authorized
  • Taking an examination for someone else or permitting someone else to take an examination for you

Fabrication
Fabrication is the use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings. Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Citation of information not taken from the source indicated; this may include the incorrect documentation of secondary source materials
  • Listing sources in a bibliography not used in the academic product
  • Submission in a paper, thesis, lab report, or other academic exercise of falsified, invented, or fictitious data or evidence, or deliberate and knowing concealment or distortion of the true nature, origin, or function of such data or evidence
  • Submitting as your own any written work, printing, sculpture, or other material prepared in whole or in part by another
  • Other forms of scientific misconduct

Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct includes academically dishonest acts such as tampering with grades or taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of an administered or unadministered examination, test, quiz, project, or similar evaluation instrument. Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Stealing, buying, or otherwise obtaining all or part of an administered or unadministered examination
  • Selling or distributing all or part of an administered or unadministered test including questions and/or answers
  • Bribing a person to obtain an administered or unadministered test or any information about the test
  • Entering a University building or office for the purpose of obtaining an administered or unadministered test
  • Signing-in, swiping-in, or logging-in as someone else or permitting someone to sign-in, swipe-in, or log-in for you in any academic setting such as, but not limited to, classes or common exams
  • Any unauthorized action taken for the purpose of changing a grade or grade record
  • Changing, altering, or being an accessory to the changing and/or altering of a grade in a grade book, on a test, a "change of grade" form, or other official academic record of the University that relates to grades
  • Continuing to work on an examination or project after the specified allotted time has elapsed
  • Buying or otherwise acquiring in any way a theme, report, term paper, essay, computer software, other written work, painting, drawing, sculpture, or other scholastic art work, and submitting it as your own work to fulfill academic requirements
  • Selling, distributing, or otherwise supplying in any way a theme, report, term paper, essay, computer software, other written work, painting, drawing, sculpture, or other scholastic art work to another student for that student’s use in fulfilling academic requirements

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