Academic integrity policy for CS 173

We've had very little cheating in this class and I'd like it to stay that way. Cheating ruins the experience for everyone and we will pursue appropriate penalties if we catch someone cheating. Please don't.

You can find a general discussion of cheating, plagiarism, and the like on the university's web page. See our assigned work page for details about what sorts of help and collaboration are allowed on each type of work. You are expected to be familiar with these policies. In particular, notice that you must do long-form homeworks on your own (no working in groups).

If you aren't sure whether some type of help or resource is ok to use, please consult the course staff. If you aren't sure you've done the right thing, or you got a particularly large amount of help from course staff, or something unusual happens (e.g. a roommate blurts out advice that you didn't ask for), consult with us and/or write an explanation on your homework. If you have made a good-faith attempt to clearly acknowledge all help you received, you might not get full points but it won't be considered cheating or plagiarism.

Although everyone should be familiar with standard rules for taking exams, it is sometimes less clear what's ok for homework assigments. If it appears that you've been trying to understand and follow these policies, but are having trouble with the details, we'll warn you.

If you don't make a good-faith attempt to follow these policies, we may take action up to and including a academic integrity charge. Our standard penalty for cheating or plagiarism is a zero for the exam or assignment in question, plus lowering your final course grade by a whole letter grade. A second offense will typically cause you to fail the course.

The penalties for facilitating cheating or plagiarism, e.g. giving someone else the answer, depend on the circumstances. If the facilitation is deliberate, the facilitator may receive the same penalty as the person who did the copying.

Also notice that the department and college keep an electronic record of academic integrity cases. They may take more serious action if someone has prior offenses.