ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AT UCSB

Academic Integrity: What You Need To Know
As a UCSB student, and future graduate and holder of a degree from UCSB, it is important to protect the value of the degree you are working towards. We all play a part in this. As part of a world-class research university, we rely on our students, staff, and faculty to uphold the highest standards of integrity both inside and outside of the classroom. As such, our mission is to maintain the integrity of the academic and co-curricular experience for all students and to ensure campus safety and security through the investigation and adjudication of University policy violations.

All students are responsible for upholding academic integrity and the rules and policies outlined in the Student Conduct Code, Campus Regulations, and Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence, that govern behavior on campus. These policies can be located on our website. Our office can also help with no contact orders and connect students to resources, upon request. Honesty and integrity in your own academic work, and holding peers to the same standards, are ways to do your part in maintaining the esteemed reputation of the campus and desirability of a UCSB degree.

Students are expected to refrain from cheating and plagiarism, refuse to aid or abet any form of academic dishonesty, and notify professors of any knowledge one has about cheating, plagiarism, or collusion. Papers, examinations, laboratory reports, and homework must always be your own work. Cheating, plagiarism, and collusion are all forms of academic dishonesty and are violations of the Student Conduct Code. Students found responsible for these violations face possible suspension or dismissal from the University. 

Types of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to: cheating, plagiarism, internet plagiarism, and collusion. Cheating is the unauthorized use of information in any academic exercise, including, but not limited to: 
  • Copying from others during an examination
  • Sharing answers for homework, lab reports, or a take-home examination 
  • Using unauthorized notes during an examination
  • Taking an examination for another student
  • Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you
  • Tampering with an examination after it has been corrected, then returning it for more credit than deserved
  • Submitting substantial portions of the same academic work for credit in more than one course without consulting with the second instructor (and the first instructor if the courses are concurrent at UCSB)
  • Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book before an examination
  • Allowing others to do the research and writing of an assigned paper (for example, using the services of a commercial term paper company), or doing the research or writing for another student’s assigned paper
  • Sending electronic messages to another student during an examination
  • Stealing or using another student’s paper or examination and claiming it as your own
Plagiarism/Internet Plagiarism is the use of another’s idea or words without proper attribution or credit. An author’s work is his/her property and should be respected by documentation. Students should always ask their instructors how sources are to be cited if this information is not provided. Internet sources must always be cited, even if the author is unknown. Citations must be given for every direct quotation, when a work is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in your own words, and for information which is not common knowledge. Students needing assistance with understanding how to avoid plagiarism are strongly encouraged to visit the Campus Learning Assistance Services Office located on the third floor Oceanside of the Student Resource Building.

Collusion is assisting someone else in cheating or plagiarizing. Any student who helps another student to perform any of the above acts, knowingly or unknowingly, is subject to campus discipline for academic dishonesty. There is no distinction between those who cheat and plagiarize and those who knowingly allow it to occur.

All students are expected to protect their academic work from easy theft. This includes, not showing a paper or examination to another student without first receiving permission from the instructor of the course, and protecting academic work that may be accessed by other students electronically or otherwise. For example, posting course notes or materials (either your own or those owned by the instructor or teaching assistants) to any commercial online study resource, or failing to protect your own work from being copied (leaving your exam within view of others, loaning your computer to another student without securing your academic work, etc.). 

For more information, please visit http://judicialaffairs.sa.ucsb.edu