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Academic Honesty

Graduate students at Texas A&M University-Commerce are expected to maintain high standards of integrity and honesty in all their scholastic work.  Faculty and staff members are expected to uphold and support student integrity and honesty by maintaining conditions that encourage and enforce academic honesty. Conduct that violates generally accepted standards of academic honesty is defined as academically dishonest. “Academic dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to:

CHEATING: Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices or materials in any academic exercise.  Unauthorized materials may include anything or anyone that gives a student assistance, and has not been specifically approved in advance by the instructor.

COMPLICITY:  Intentionally or knowingly helping, or attempting to help, another to commit an act of academic dishonesty.

EXAMPLES:  ABUSE AND MISUSE OF ACCESS AND UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS: Students may not abuse or misuse computer access or gain unauthorized access to information in any academic exercise.

FABRICATION:  Making up data or results, and recording or reporting them; submitting fabricated documents.

FALSIFICATION:  Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such as that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.

FORGERY:  Making a fictitious document, or altering an existing document, with the intent to deceive or gain advantage.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS:  Submitting substantial portions of the same work (including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization from the instructor of the class for which the student submits the work.

PLAGIARISM:  The appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING GROUP PROJECTS:  If someone in a group commits academic misconduct the entire group could be held responsible for it as well.  It is important to document clearly who contributes what parts to the joint project, to know what group members are doing, and how they are acquiring the material they provide.

UNIVERSITY RULES ON RESEARCH:  Students involved in conducting research and/or scholarly activities at Texas A&M University-Commerce must also adhere to standards set forth in University Procedure 15.99.03.R1 Ethics in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work.

VIOLATION OF DEPARTMENTAL OR COLLEGE RULES: Students may not violate any departmental or college rule relating to academic matters.

If a graduate student is accused of academic dishonesty, the University Procedure 13.99.99.R0.10 Graduate Student Academic Dishonesty will be followed.