Academic Integrity

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, violates standards of academic integrity. Plagiarism is the act of submission of work that is not the student’s own work or submitting the ideas, writings, or thoughts of another person without proper documentation; use of someone’s exact words as quotes in assignments without proper citation; also use of material from the internet (including artificial intelligence) without proper citation, etc. Students are responsible for educating themselves as to the proper mode of attributing credit, where credit is due.

Self-Plagiarism 

Students are required to submit original work for all courses; papers and written work submitted for one course may not be used for an assignment in another course, this includes work first produced in connection with classes at MCCN or other institutions attended by the student, except with prior and explicit approval of all faculty members to whom the work will be submitted. Submitting duplicate work is considered self-plagiarism and violates standards of academic integrity.

Cheating

Cheating is the use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, study aids, or unauthorized collaboration on in-class examinations, take-home examinations, or other academic exercises. It is the responsibility of the student to consult with the professor concerning what constitutes permissible collaboration. Cheating or assisting another student to cheat in connection with an examination or assignment violates standards of academic integrity. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to: using notes or textbooks without the instructor’s consent, looking at another person’s paper, bringing items with notes written on them with the intent of using the notes during an exam, communicating with another student during an examination, using electronic devices (phones, wristwatches) without the instructor’s consent. This includes the use of artificial intelligence technology without prior approval.

Fabrication

Defined as constructing, manufacturing, inventing, or creating for the sake of deception, any classroom or clinical assignment; forging or falsifying any clinical or academic information; documenting clinical hours that were not actually completed; falsifying any patient record or other document used during clinical experiences. Fabrication includes submitting false data, data that has been fabricated, altered or contrives in such a way as to be deliberately misleading. Fabrication also includes falsifying academic documentation.

Using False Citations

False citation is the attribution of intellectual property to an incorrect or fabricated source with the intention to deceive.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The use of AI tools in writing assignments should be guided by ethical principles, including respect for intellectual property rights, privacy, and confidentiality. Faculty and students should be mindful of any ethical implications associated with the use of AI tools and take steps to address them appropriately.

The use of AI tools must not compromise academic integrity. Faculty and students are expected to adhere to all relevant policies and guidelines regarding plagiarism, citation, and the proper attribution of sources. Any use of AI tools to generate content must be accompanied by appropriate citations and references. APA citation assistance can be found at https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt. 

Failure to follow the guidelines stated in the course syllabus, or improper citing, will result in a referral for an Academic Integrity violation, which may result in disciplinary action. 

Programs such as CoPilot, ChatGPT, Grammarly, Grok, or other similar programs in existence now or in to the future may constitute unauthorized use of Artificial Intelligence.