Mt. San Antonio College
Instructors have the responsibility of planning and supervising all academic work in order to encourage honest and individual effort, and of taking appropriate action if instances of academic dishonesty are discovered. However, honesty is primarily the responsibility of each student. The College considers cheating to be a voluntary act for which there may be reasons, but for which there is no acceptable excuse. The term “cheating” includes but is not limited to:
Plagiarism;
Receiving or knowingly supplying unauthorized information;
Using unauthorized material or sources;
Changing an answer after work has been graded and presenting it as improperly graded;
Illegally accessing confidential information through a computer;
Taking an examination for another student or
having another student take an examination for you;
Forging or altering registration or grade documents.
The instructor who determines that a student has cheated may give the student a failing grade for the assignment, for the course, or drop the student from the course. Since the student has failed to abide by the standards of academic honesty, the instructor has a right to give an F for the assignment or the course even though the student may have successfully and, presumably, honestly passed the remaining portion of the assignment or course. If the instructor issues a failing grade for the course or drops the student, the actions shall be reported to the Dean of Student Services and to the Director of Admissions and Records. An instructor may also recommend that appropriate action be taken under provisions of the Administrative Regulations and Procedures on Student Discipline.
Plagiarism
“Plagiarism is a direct violation of intellectual and academic honesty. Although it exists in many forms, all plagiarisms refer to the same act: representing somebody else’s words or ideas as one’s own. The most extreme forms of plagiarism are the use of material authored by another person or obtained from a commercial source, or the use of passages copied word for word without acknowledgment. Paraphrasing an author’s idea or quoting even limited portions of his or her text without proper citation is also an act of plagiarism. Even putting someone else’s ideas into one’s own words without acknowledgment may be plagiarism. In none of its forms can plagiarism be tolerated in an academic community. It may constitute grounds for a failing grade, probation, suspension, or expulsion."
“One distinctive mark of an educated person is the ability to use language correctly and effectively to express ideas. Faculty assign written work for the purpose of helping students achieve that mark. Each instructor will outline specific criteria but all expect students to present work that represents the student’s understanding of the subject in the student’s own words. It is seldom expected that student papers will be based entirely or even primarily on original ideas or original research."
“Therefore, to incorporate the concepts of others may be appropriate with proper acknowledgment of sources, and to quote others directly by means of quotation marks and acknowledgments, is proper. However, if a paper consists entirely of quotations and citations, the paper should be rewritten to show the student’s own understanding and expressive ability. The purpose of the written assignment (i.e., development of communication and analytic skills) should be kept in mind as each paper is prepared. It should not be evaded through plagiarism.” **
** Adopted, with permission of California State University,
Los Angeles, from their policy
printed in the 1987-88 General Catalog.
| Last Updated: 10/19/22 |