This policy statement is unfortunately necessary, thanks to the actions of a tiny minority of students. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask in lecture, during office hours, on Piazza, or by email.

EXPECTATIONS

Each student (or permitted group of students) must write their own problem set solutions, in their own words, and must properly credit all sources. We strongly encourage students to use any printed, online, or living resource at their disposal to help solve the problem sets, but you must cite your sources. This includes but is not limited to: books, papers, websites, previous versions of this course, and finally, other students.

This is the same ethical standard that researchers are expected to follow in their formal publications. For comparison, see the guidelines published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the American Physical Society (APS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Citing your sources will not lower your problem set grade.

Avoiding plagiarism is really very simple: never present someone else's words or ideas as your own.

• Repeating ideas from other people, papers, or web pages without giving proper credit is plagiarism.
• Verbatim duplication of any source, even with proper citations, is plagiarism. In particular:
  • Copying from a solution manual for a textbook is plagiarism.
  • Copying a previous semester's official pset solution is plagiarism.
• Turning in a copy of someone else's work as your own is plagiarism, even if you have their permission.
• Allowing someone else to copy your work verbatim, or to use your ideas without giving you credit, is also a violation of academic integrity.

See Article 1, Part 4 of the UIUC student code for more examples and information. If you have any doubt about whether something constitutes plagiarism, talk to the tnstructors, and err on the side of caution.

There are much more serious ways to violate the university's academic integrity policies, such as collaborating with or copying from another student during an exam, hiring an impostor to write pset solutions or take exams for you, changing the answers on a graded pset or exam before asking for a regrade, falsely claiming to have submitted a pset or taken an exam, and modifying or destroying other students' graded work. Hopefully you already know not to do anything that stupid!

PENALTIES

Violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated.

• The default penalty for cheating on the problem sets is a grade of zero on the entire pset, which will not be dropped when we compute your final pset average.
• The default penalty for cheating on an exam is a grade of zero on the entire exam.
• The penalty for a second offense of any kind, or a particularly egregious first offense, is an F in the course.

By department and university policy, all academic integrity cases are reported to the CS department, to the student's home college, and to the Senate Committee on Student Discipline. Multiple offenses, even in different classes, can result (and have resulted) in suspension or expulsion. These penalties are consistent with the CS department's recommendations.

Our high expectations for graduate students extend to issues of academic integrity. Any cheating offense by a graduate student will be reported to the student's advisor, and a notice will be entered into their file. For PhD students, this notice will be visible to the student's qual, prelim, and thesis committees, and to all faculty in the student's research area during the annual student evaluations. Several computer science faculty members have publicly stated that they would refuse to advise or serve on a committee for a MS or PhD student who has committed even a single cheating offense, no matter how minor or how far in the past. If you cheat, you are signing your own academic death warrant.

Except for pset 0, groups of up to three people are allowed to submit a single solution for each problem set. Every member of the group receives credit for the entire assignment. That means every member of the group is responsible for the entire assignment. If a submitted pset contains plagiarized material, every member of the group will be given the same penalty. Again, this is the same standard that is applied to coauthors of research papers. If you cheat, you are not only endangering your grade, and possibly your academic career, but your colleagues' as well.

Regardless of whether it constitutes plagiarism, or whether you get caught, getting too much help on your problem set will hurt your final grade. If you don't learn how to solve algorithmic problems on your own, you will perform poorly on the (closed-book, closed-notes) exams, which make up 75% of your final course average. Several students with pset averages over 90% have failed the course.

GROUPWORK

Except for problem set 0, groups of up to three people are allowed to submit a single solution for each pset. Every member of the group receives the same grade and the same credit for the entire assignment. That means every member of the group is responsible for the entire assignment.

Group solutions must represent an honest collaborative effort by all members of the group. In particular, groups must not delegate one problem to each group member; only the students who actively worked on a problem may add their names to the solution. At a minimum, you must read, understand, and approve anything submitted with your name on it. Allowing someone else to add your name to a solution to which you made no contribution is plagiarism. This does not mean that every student in a group must contribute good ideas or must help in the actual writing of every group solution. Asking "stupid" questions, proposing bad ideas, shooting down bad ideas, working out examples (even if they don't appear in the solution), uncovering bugs, and even just acting as a sounding board for other group members are all legitimate contributions.

If a submitted problem set contains plagiarized material, we will separately determine each student's culpability (if any) and penalty (if any), in accordance with Student Code. By default, every member of the pset group will be given the same penalty. (Again, this is the same standard that is applied to coauthors of research papers.) If you cheat, you are not only endangering your grade, and possibly your academic career, but your colleagues' as well.

As illustrations, consider the following scenarios. All scenarios involve a group of three students (A, B, and C) collaborating on a three-problem problem set, who agree in advance that each student will write up and submit the solution for one problem -- A will handle problem 1, B will handle problem 2, and C will handle problem 3 -- with all three names at the top. Variants of all these scenarios have actually happened. Yes, even the last two.

• Each student writes up a complete solution for their problem, in their own words and properly citing of all sources, but with no involvement from the other group members. The students then email their solutions to each other; after some discussion, everyone agrees to submit all three solutions exactly as written. Each student submits the solution they wrote, with all three names at the top.

  Everything's cool.

• All three group members first discuss and jointly work out sketches of solutions for all three problems. Then each student writes a detailed solution to their individual problem, in their own words and properly citing all sources. With no further discussion, each student submits the solution they wrote, with all three names at the top.

  Everything's cool.

• Each student writes up a complete solution for their problem, in their own words and properly citing of all sources, but with no involvement from the other group members. With no further discussion, each student submits the solution they wrote, with all three names at the top.

  All three students are guilty of plagiarism and would receive an undroppable zero on the entire problem set.

• All three group members first discuss and jointly work out sketches of solutions for all three problems. Student A later finds a solution to problem 1 on the web and submits it without proper citation, with all three names, with no further discussion with B and C. Students B and C independently write up solutions to their problems, properly citing all sources, and submit them with all three names, with no further discussion.

  Student A is guilty of plagiarism and would receive an undroppable zero on the entire problem set. Students B and C followed the rules; their problem 1 would be forgiven.

• Student B finds a solution to problem 2 on the web and submits it verbatim with all three names at the top of the first page, as the group agreed. A and C had no knowledge of student B's plagiarism, and no other involvement in solving problem 2. Students A and C collaborate on problems 1 and 3, with no involvement from student B, and submit a properly written solution with all three names, as they had agreed.

  All three students are guilty of plagiarism, although for different reasons. All three students would receive an undroppable zero on the entire problem set.

• The solution for problem 3 is a verbatim copy of another source. Immediately after submitting the pset, but before the plagiarism is discovered, all three students drop the course. None of the students responds to the initial charge of plagiarism or to repeated emails from the instructor asking to discuss the situation.

  All three students are guilty of plagiarism. An academic integrity infraction is added to their permanent records even though they dropped the course.

• All three group members discuss and jointly work out sketches of solutions for all three problems. Student A later finds a solution to problem 3 on the web and emails the text (copied verbatim) to student C, with a clear citation to the original source. Student C copies the text of student A's email verbatim into his solution, without consulting or citing the original source, under the mistaken belief that the text is student A's own work. All three students submit their respective solutions with all three names at the top, with no other involvement by the other group members.

  Student C is technically guilty of plagiarism, but they would probably receive only a warning. Problem 3 would be forgiven for all three students.

• Each student writes up a complete solution for their problem, with no involvement from the other group members. A and C write their solutions in their own words, properly citing all sources, but B copies their solution verbatim from another source. B and C email their solutions to the entire group. A does not respond to B and C's email or send their own solution. After some discussion (without A), B and C agree to submit their solutions exactly as written, with only B and C named on the first page. B never reveals that their solution to problem 2 was plagiarized. A also submits their solution to problem 1, with all three names on the first page, without B and C's knowledge or agreement.

  Let's go through this one carefully.

  • Student A is technically guilty of facilitating plagiarism, but would probably receive only a warning, along with (droppable) zeros on problems 2 and 3.
  • Student B is guilty of plagiarism and would receive an undroppable zero on the entire problem set.
  • Student C followed the rules. They would receive a (droppable) zero on problem 1; their problem 2 would be forgiven; and they would be strongly encouraged to find new pset partners.
  • The instructor has a headache.

WARNING SIGNS

Almost every instance of plagiarism I've ever seen has been motivated by a combination of desperation and an expectation that cheating is tolerated.

• Desperation: The student feels overhelming pressure to improve their performance, despite gaps in their understanding. The student might be overwhelmed by work in other classes, or financial pressure to graduate, or parental/cultural expectations. They might be a new graduate student, used to being at the top of their class but now among intellectual equals, whose merely good performance is a blow to their aspirations or self-image. The student may be suffering from "Impostor Syndrome", believing that an admission that they can't do something will expose them as a fraud. The student might have trouble with English, and therefore worries that rewriting someone else's text would distort the meaning. Perhaps the student is dealing with depression, serious illness, divorce, or a death in the family. Or maybe the student simply sees no way to satisfy the instructor's unreasonable or unclear expectations without cheating.

  If you find yourself in this situation, ask for help! If you need help understanding the material, come to office hours, ask questions in class, ask questions on the newsgroup, talk to your fellow students. The instructional staff will even make extra apopintments to help guide you through the material or give you feedback on tentative solutions, but only if you ask. (But please remember that our goal is to help you master the material, not just to help you get a better grade.)

  If you think a pset question is unclear, please ask for clarification. Your confusion might indicate a gap in your understanding of the course material, but it might also indicate that the question is poorly stated, unfairly hard, or even impossible. Our job is to help you learn the material; please let us know if we aren't doing our job.

  We do expect solutions to be written in clear, coherent English. If you are thinking of copying someone else's words because you are uncomfortable with English, you are probably better off taking a class to improve your English instead of this course.

  Asking for help does not make you "look stupid". Quite the opposite—it means you are smart enough to recognize your own limitations and work to overcome them. Asking for clarification is not an insult to the instructor or the TAs. Quite the opposite—questions are valuable feedback that we can use to teach more effectively. Everyone suffers from Impostor Syndrome occasionally, including your professors. Most importantly, your grade is not a statement about your intelligence, your potential for success, or your worth as a human being; it's only feedback about your mastery of the course material.

  If your situation is very serious, or not directly related to this class, you may prefer to discuss your situation with your department or college advisor, a family member, a trusted friend, or the counseling center, but please talk to someone.

• Different expectations: The student is used to an academic culture where plagiarism is tolerated or even encouraged. Maybe they come from a high school with litigious parents who discourge teachers from punishing cheaters. Maybe they come from a country where students are expected to parrot back their instructors' exact words to demonstrate understanding. Maybe cheating was inconsistently or ineffectively enforced in their past classes; they've seen cheating students succeed (getting higher grades, or even better jobs) where honest students have suffered. Or maybe the student just wants to pull one over on the instructor.

  Our standards for academic integrity may be different than what you're used to, especially if you are an international student. The standards we apply in this class are a proper subset of the standards applied to U of I faculty and most other professional scientific researchers. (Fortunately, we don't have to worry about authorship and author ordering policies, accurate recording and reporting of experimental results, or ethical issues with human or animal test subjects.)

  Our job as instructors is to help you master the course material. We ask that you write everything yourself so that we can make an honest assessment of your facility with the course material, and therefore give you useful feedback. We allow wide latitude in choosing the resources you need to learn; we trust that you will use those resources responsibly. Plagiarizing other people's work to improve your grade is an abuse of that trust. It is unfair to us and to your fellow students.

  We are painfully aware of differences in cheating policies and their enforcement in different classes, both within and outside the UIUC Computer Science department. Within the guidelines of the Student Code, the university gives faculty broad discretion (under the rubric of academic freedom) in defining what constitutes "cheating" and how stringently cheating policies are enforced. Sometimes these differences lead students to believe that cheating policies are overly restrictive or inconsistent, and so can be justifiably ignored.

  We believe that our policies are fair, but even with the best of intentions, we sometimes make mistakes. If you believe that the policies in this class (or any other class!) are unclear, unfair, or inconsistently applied, we strongly encourage you to voice your complaints to one of the instructors, the TAs, and/or the department administration. If you wish to complain anonymously, feel free to leave a note with my assistant Elaine Wilson, or under my office door.

• Apathy: Very rarely, students will cheat simply because they want good grades (or a degree) at all costs, with no thought whatsoever for learning or fairness. We have absolutely no sympathy for these students. You may have the right to rob yourself of the educational opportunity you (or your parents, or your advisor, or your department, or your fellowship donor) have paid for, but don't expect us to help you.