Academic Dishonesty (also known as academic misconduct or academic fraud) is defined as any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It may include, but is not limited to plagiarism, fabrication, deception, cheating, bribery, sabotage, impersonation, or complicity.

• • Plagiarism: the use of another person’s distinctive ideas or words without acknowledgement (word-for-word copying, interspersing/rewriting of one’s own words here and there while copying another’s work, fabrication of references, submission of another’s work as one’s own, neglecting quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged)

  • Fabrication: falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise

  • Deception: providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise (i.e. giving a false excuse to missing a deadline or missing an examination)

  • Cheating: any attempt to obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise (the possession, communication, or use of information, materials, notes, study aids or other devices not authorized by the instructor - i.e. copying from another’s paper or receiving unauthorized assistance from another during an academic exercise or in the submission of academic material, asking another student for the contents of an exam already administered to the student you are asking)

  • Bribery: giving assignment answers or test answers for money or a service (i.e. you tell me what’s on test B and I’ll tell you what’s on test A)

  • Sabotage: acting to prevent others from completing their work

  • Impersonation: assuming a student’s identity with intent to provide an advantage for the student (i.e. logging into an electronic submission system as another student and completing their work)

  • Complicity: knowingly contributing to another’s act of academic dishonesty (i.e. willingly providing information that should not be shared in order to give an advantage to another student or allowing a student to sign their name to work they did not participate in completing)

The definition for academic dishonesty is credited to Wikipedia and the University of Colorado, Denver.