"Academic Honesty
Parkland College’s values include honesty, integrity, and responsibility. Students, faculty, and staff are all expected to maintain academic integrity in their work and take collective responsibility for preventing violations of intellectual ownership. Academic dishonesty is unacceptable, and the institution is committed to helping students learn these values through development and growth. Personal commitment, honest work, and honest achievement are necessary characteristics for an educated person. The process of determining the consequences of academic dishonesty begins with the faculty member and may proceed to include the department chair and/or the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services. All Incidents of academic dishonesty, including developmental or punitive action, should be referred in writing to the Office of the Vice President for Academic Services.
1. Academic Honesty can be broadly defined as performing academic work without cheating, fabrication, or plagiarism:
a. Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic activity. Submitting as one’s own work term papers, homework, and examinations that are not one’s own work or for which a student received unauthorized help. Copying the work of another, or allowing another to copy one’s own work, without proper acknowledgment.
b. Fabrication: Falsifying or inventing any information or citation in an academic activity.
c. Plagiarism: External information borrowed and directly quoted must be indicated by use of quotation marks, and any changes, omissions, or addition to the direct quotation must be shown in bracket, and the source documented. All cited external information that has been paraphrased and summarized must also be documented.
d. Collaboration: Students at Parkland College are encouraged to work together on group projects, study, and other activities. However, work submitted to fulfill an assignment not specifically identified as a group activity must be substantially the work of the author. Instructors should provide guidelines to students to maintain the academic integrity of these collaborative activities. Collaboration beyond this constitutes academic misconduct.
2. Repercussions of Violations
The consequences of a violation of the expectations of academic honesty begins with the concerned faculty member. The faculty member will inform the student privately of her/his findings and attempt a resolution of the problem. Depending upon the nature of the case, such resolution could include additional assignments to help educate the student of the nature and negative consequences of academic dishonesty, resubmission of the assignment, a failing grade for that assignment, or failure of the course."
