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Honesty vs. Plagiarism
[ fromfile: honesty.xml id: honesty - with modifications ]
When you submit work to your instructor with your name on it,
it must be your own best quality work.
Talking about the ideas, problems, and techniques of
the topics in this course with your classmates and colleagues is desirable and
is an important part of the learning process.
But, when you prepare homework for submission you must not submit the work of others.
Ultimately, you will have to personally and privately
demonstrate your mastery of the course material on the exams
that are given. The instructors use the exams
as reality checks on the homework.
If a student submits excellent homework assignments,
but performs poorly on the exams, then the
instructor can only conclude that the student
was submitting the work of other people.
If an instructor concludes that you have tried to pass off
someone else's work as your own, the instructor will respond quite punitively -
with possible sanctions including:
- 0 points on the assignment
- Immediate failure in the course
- Notification to the Dean of Students of academic dishonesty
- More trouble than any of this is worth
The instructors try their best to protect the interests of students who do not cheat.
Bottom line: if you let other people help you too much
then you deprive yourself of the opportunity to learn,
and eventually master, the course material and you will do poorly in this course.
Honestly doing your own work is the best academic survival strategy.
Remember: the Cheat-ees (those who make copies of their work
available to other students) will share the
same fate as the Cheat-ers (those who turn in another's work as their own). Be
warned about who you share your work with. This does not mean "don't help others
with questions" - quite to the contrary - helping others is good, and by doing
so, you will solidify your own knowledge of the material. Simply e-mailing your work
to another student is what we are talking about here - it is definitely not a wise
thing to do.
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