Resources for Students
The Code of Academic Integrity
PORT (Penn Online Research Tutorial)
provided by the Penn Library an excellent source for help on documenting sources
Why does Penn need a Code of Academic Integrity?
Why does Penn need a Code of Academic Integrity?
as articulated by Council Member Alex Wong, SAS '02
When asked the question, "Why have an Code of Academic Integrity?" the obvious answer would be to "prevent cheating." And yes, that is true. But implicit in that seemingly simple answer is the foundation on which this university was founded, on which it operates, and on which it is able to be a success.
When Benjamin Franklin founded Penn, he urged the students to "learn everything that is useful, and everything that is ornamental." He did not take the European view of the time that students were insulated from the world, captive in the hermetic seal of academia. Instead, he conceived the University to be a place where theory and practice were fused, where what is learned inside the classroom not only affects the outside world, but makes it better. There are no shortcuts to this goal. You can’t make the world a better place if you have no idea how to do it. It takes hard work and dedication. Our founder knew this, and he marked this University as a place of learning, of thinking, and of application.
And Penn still holds that ideal at its core. Students have to engage their minds here, engage themselves in order to fully realize the possibilities of their education. Learning at Penn is not passive. Right now, undergraduates are not just reading and listening, but doing and publishing. From groundbreaking research on single-celled organisms to how cyberspace is affecting education, Penn students are making this world a better place.
At the heart of these pursuits is the striving for truth, a truth not found through plagiarism, through copying, nor through fabrication. Because truth begins with honesty. And honesty begins with the self.
Cheating: using or attempting to use unauthorized assistance, material, or study aids in examinations or other academic work or preventing, or attempting to prevent, another from using authorized assistance, material, or study aids.
Basically cheating refers to the dishonest act of gaining an unfair advantage over other students or the deliberate act of denying other students an equal opportunity to score.
Examples of cheating.
- Using a cheat sheet in a quiz or exam
- Altering a graded exam and resubmitting it for a better grade
- Copying homework
- Storing notes in the calculator during an exam
- Having a friend take your exam
- Handing in someone else's work as your own
- Plagiarism
- Using of cell phones, pagers, or other wireless devices during exams
- Copying from a desk-mate
- Swapping exams with a desk-mate
- Collaborating on a take-home exam
Penalties for cheating?
If students are caught for cheating, the OSC will conduct an investigation into the matter and if there is evidence to prove that they cheated, the OSC will recommend the appropriate sanctions. If the students reject these sanctions, the case will be brought to a hearing. If the students are once again found guilty by a panel consisting of 3 faculty and 2 members of the University Honor Council, the panel will recommend the appropriate sanctions, which the Provost must then approve. Whatever the sanctions may be, may it be just a warning or expulsion from the university, academic integrity violations are recorded and stay with you as part of your permanent record. This means that it is noted by your future employers.
Generally the minimum sentence for any academic integrity violation is a one-semester suspension.
