Avoiding Academic Dishonesty

Students should acquaint themselves with the University’s policy on plagiarism, cheating, exam personation, and duplicate submission. For definitions of these terms, refer to the Office of Student Advocacy’s information site and to the University of Manitoba Calendar (General Regulations and Requirements).

It is also a serious breach of academic integrity to manipulate, falsify, or falsely represent data used in a paper, presentation, or thesis. For example, the Faculty of Graduate Studies says data manipulation includes “[creating] the data used in a paper or presentation without performing the needed experimental [or field] work to produce the data or changing the data so that your results are what you were hoping for.” (http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/graduate_studies/media/Academicintegrity200804.pdf ). The Faculty of Arts treats data manipulation as exceptional cases of academic fraud, with penalties of a grade of F on the paper or thesis, a final grade of F (DISC) (for disciplinary action) for the course, and suspension ranging from one (1) to five (5) years.

The Student Discipline By-Law of the University of Manitoba governs academic integrity for undergraduate and graduate students at the University. Students should review the By-Law and understand its implications for their behavior.

Penalties for Academic Dishonesty

The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism on a written assignment is a grade of F on the paper and a final grade of F (DISC) (for disciplinary action) for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as purchase of an essay and repeat violations, this penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five (5) years from registration in courses taught in a particular department/program in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized to Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism or to other experts for authentication.

The common penalty in Arts for academic dishonesty on a test or examination is F for the paper, F (DISC) for the course, and a one-year suspension from courses acceptable for credit in the Faculty. For more serious acts of academic dishonesty on a test or examination, such as repeat violations, this penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular department or program in Arts or from all courses taught in or accepted for credit by this Faculty.

Resources to Help You Maintain Academic Integrity

The University of Manitoba provides excellent resources (many on-line and some interactive) to help students learn about correct citation and bibliographical referencing. These include the Academic Learning Centre and the Office of Student Advocacy. Both sites provide helpful, supportive advice on all aspects of learning---from time management to test-taking to writing essays and term papers, and many more.

A particular recommendation is to take the 12:58 -minute interactive tutorial on plagiarism posted on the University of Manitoba Student Advocacy website at http://umanitoba.ca/student/resource/student_advocacy/AI-and-Student-Conduct-Tutorials.html.

Some General Tips

• Read the course outline (syllabus) (and any additional materials provided by the instructor) completely and carefully as soon as they are made available.
• Learn what plagiarism, cheating, personation, and academic fraud are.
• Identify the instructor’s expectations for citation and referencing for written work and for your role in group or collaborative projects.
• If these expectations are unclear, consult the course instructor immediately for clarification.
• Always back up electronically all written assignments (and keep the original and the back up in secure, but separate locations).
• Keep notes from all media used in the research for a written assignment, including
  • The source references (the title and publication information of the text, journal article, or internet resource from which the information comes)
  • The specific pages in the source references from which you may have extracted direct quotations
  • The date you retrieved the book, article or report in either paper copy or internet format
  • The location where the book, article or report resides (e.g., Elizabeth Dafoe Library, inter-library loan, the url for material retrieved on line). When in doubt at any stage, contact your course instructor or the grader-marker or teaching assistant for your course. Be proactive in maintaining your academic integrity.
• When in doubt at any stage, contact your course instructor or the grader-marker or teaching assistant for your course.
• Be proactive in maintaining your academic integrity.