Academic Integrity Policy

Introduction

Students, faculty, and staff who exhibit academic integrity pursue and produce scholarly work that is free from fraud, deception, and unauthorized collaboration with other individuals. Academic dishonesty in any form is a serious offense against the academic community. Any acts of academic dishonesty will be addressed according to the Standards, Procedures and Definitions set forth in this policy.

CityU is committed to an educational approach to instances of academic dishonesty. Academic integrity is best taught and reinforced by faculty as part of regular classroom instruction. Students are individually responsible for understanding and exercising standards of academic integrity in every aspect of study and in all work submitted. Faculty and staff use a variety of methods to identify instances of academic dishonesty in City University of Seattle courses, including a plagiarism detection software available through the learning management system. 

Responsibility

Standards of academic integrity at City University of Seattle are overseen by faculty, course managers, primary supervisors, members of the Academic Integrity Board, and the Provost.

Standards of Conduct

City University of Seattle defines academic dishonesty broadly as any act that constitutes cheating or misrepresentation of the author of an individual’s scholarly work. Student behavior that demonstrates academic dishonesty or evidences lack of academic integrity is strictly prohibited. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following examples.

Plagiarism:

  • Presenting another person’s work as your own including written work, images, designs, or web content.
  • Purchasing a paper or other academic work from a 3rd party and presenting it as your own.
  • Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation.
  • Failing to document direct quotations with a proper citation.
  • Copying word-for-word, using select phrases from another’s work, or failing to properly cite all sources from which data, examples, ideas, or theories are found.
  • Copying and pasting content and changing a few words or phrases without proper citation.

Cheating

  • Using unauthorized materials, such as books, notes, or electronic devices to answer examination questions.
  • Copying from another student’s homework, written assignments, examination answers, electronic media, or other sources.
  • Assisting or allowing someone else to cheat.
  • Unauthorized possession of a test prior to the examination date.
  • Allowing someone other than yourself to complete a paper or examination in your name.
  • Taking an exam or completing a paper on another student’s behalf.

Other forms of academic dishonesty: 

  • Submitting work created for any other assignment in any course without prior approval from the faculty.
  • Changing or falsifying data, research, or official documents.
  • Selling or providing papers, course work, exams or other types of assignments to another student or to 3rd parties outside the institution, when it is reasonable to assume that the intention is to facilitate academic dishonesty. This includes uploading any work to file sharing websites including, but not limited to, academia.com and coursehero.com.
  • Collaborating with another person(s) without prior approval from the faculty.
  • Changing examination answers after the fact.
  • Misrepresenting oneself or one’s circumstances to gain an unfair advantage.
  • Bribing, or attempting to bribe, a faculty.