CVR Academic Integrity Policy (7-11)
Cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable at CVR; they violate integrity, equity, and trust.
As an academic institution, first and foremost, this is the worst ‘crime’ a student can commit as a student within their academic careers. This is why students are taught properly from grades 7-11 in every discipline what intellectual property is, what plagiarism and cheating are, how to conduct reliable research, and how to effectively cite their sources.
More and more information is available online and more and more the boundaries between public and private space are being blurred. This is exactly why learning how to properly protect intellectual property is so important, as well as understanding what can and cannot be taken freely. Intent cannot be measured. Students are measured by their actions and what they submit and claim as their own work; this cannot be a fraudulent representation.
CHEATING
Cheating is a form of fraud in which deceit, collusion, distortion of truth (lying), or the efforts of another person are used to gain an academic advantage; it is also using unauthorized material to complete assignments, inventing sources, recopying on a test, forging medical notes, and submitting work procured via payment or coercion that is not one’s own.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is a form of theft in which the words, phrases, ideas, or thought patterns (organization) of another person are used as though they were one’s own; it is the use of poor paraphrasing, submitting work that is too similar in content, organization, or language use to another person because of close collaboration, as well as memorizing protected material and recopying or re-stating it. It is also the re-submission of one’s own work for a different course or teacher without properly referencing oneself. It can be as little as a few words or a sentence, or as much as an entire paper.
CONSEQUENCES
All instances of cheating and plagiarism will result in the following consequences:
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(1) an unconditional grade of "zero" on the assignment, project, or exam/test/quiz regardless of the amount of plagiarism or cheating;
(2) notification to administration and parents/guardians by the teacher;
(3) a memo/notification in the student's digital file entered by the administration; and,
(4) the comment “Plagiarized on an assignment, project, test/exam/quiz, or report” and/or “Cheated on an assignment, project, test/exam/quiz, or report” will be printed on a report card.
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In the case of cheating on an exam/test/quiz, all those obviously involved, as interpreted by the teacher/invigilator, on a case-by-case basis, will receive a “zero”. This is because often the direction of the cheating cannot be proved due to complicit participation from classmates.
It is at the teacher’s sole discretion whether or not to provide an opportunity to redo or make up, and at what cost. In addition, various departments may have addenda to this policy. Also, repeat offenders may face additional sanctions.
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Parents/guardians and students can further inform themselves at: http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/plagiarism.html
NOTE: “Collusion” and “complicit participation” include the willing participation of friends, acquaintances, and/or relatives in the partial or total production of school work that is claimed by the student as authentically her/his own, but, which is, in fact, not.