Academic Integrity

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Academic Integrity

The basic rule for CSE 8B is: Work hard. Start early. Make use of the expertise of the CSE 8B staff to learn what you need to know to really do well in the course. Don't cheat.

If you do cheat, we will enforce the UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship (see the General Catalog or the corresponding web page, scroll 2/3 of the way down). This means: You will get an F in the course, and the Dean of your college will put you on probation or suspend you or dismiss you from UCSD.

What counts as cheating?

In CSE 8B, you can read books, surf the web, talk to your friends and the CSE 8B staff to get help understanding the concepts you need to know to solve your PA problems. However, you must write your program alone for all PAs. 

The goal of CSE 8B will be a turning point for most of you on your programming skills. Future instructors, employers, and colleagues will expect that you will attain a certain proficiency in problem-solving and programming. Using unauthorized aids in doing your work will prevent you from attaining the proficiencies that others will expect. Meeting or not meeting these expectations relate directly to getting internships, retaining employment, and success in your future studies.

In CSE 8B, using or even looking at program code or the write up of algorithms that someone else has written (unless it was explicitly provided as part of the assignment), or providing program code or detailed algorithms to someone else, or turning in code that you have written with someone else other than your partner, is considered cheating. Yes, we do electronically check every program that is turned in. In recent quarters, we also found out that people unintentionally post their codes on public github repos and it is a violation of the AI policy! We report all these cases to the academic integrity office. If you want to share your work with future employers or simply want to save a copy of your work, you can post them privately on your github account!

Receiving a grade on a PA doesn't mean that you have passed the plagiarism checking. We can report cheating cases any time during the quarter, even after we submit your final letter grade. So the safest bet is don't cheat!

How can I be sure that my actions are NOT considered cheating?

To ensure you don't have a problem with this, here are some suggestions: 

• • Don't even look at or discuss another student's code or detailed algorithms for a PSA you are working on, and don't let another student look at your code or show him/her your algorithms.

  • If you are talking to another student about the assignment, don't take notes, and wait an hour afterward before you write any code. 

  • Don't start with someone else's code and make changes to it, or in any way share code with other students.

In CSE 8B, you must write your own answers on the closed-book exams. Getting answers from someone else, or providing answers to someone else, is cheating. Everyone needs to stop writing on the exam/quiz once the exam/quiz period has ended. Failing to follow this policy will result in an F for this course.

To reinforce these points, every student in CSE 8B must read, understand, and sign the Integrity of Scholarship Agreement. You must sign an integrity statement before completing any of the assignments or labs. Go to the course website main page and find the link for the tutorial there. 

To detect instances of academic integrity violations in programming assignments we will use 3rd party software. We recommend you only include your class lab account ID (not your name or PID) in your submissions. Including your name and/or PID will disclose that information to the 3rd party.