Academic Integrity
Expectations: The Writing Process
The writing process is important because reading, writing, and thinking are skills that develop over time. While your grade reflects your final product, it’s the process that truly supports your growth as a writer and thinker. These expectations are in place to help you strengthen your reading, writing, and analysis skills, and to ensure you have the tools and support needed to improve and succeed.
Evidence of Originality
Having evidence of originality is important because it helps others understand and evaluate your process as a writer. This includes seeing how you develop and refine your ideas. Demonstrating originality not only helps me
make sure your work is your own, but it’s also essential for your learning and growth. If your work isn’t your own, it’s difficult for me to know what skills you’ve developed, or where you might need additional support. Engaging with your own ideas and showing how you arrived at your conclusions strengthens your analysis and writing skills, which will help you succeed both in school and beyond.
Ways to Show Originality
If your work is in question, one or more of these items may be used to help determine originality:
1. Rough Drafts: Save and attach to the assessment any brainstorming, outlines, or drafts you made while working on your assessment.
2. Notes: Keep any digital or physical notes you took while gathering information, such as: annotated texts, digital or paper note catchers, digital notebooks, or a list of sources.
3. Google Docs: Using your school account and completing work in a google doc that is attached to the assignment can allow you to use your revision history as proof of your writing and revising process.
4. Citation and Acknowledgment: Any work, writing, searchable info, or AI use requires citations; if it is not your writing, it must be cited. If you used outside sources,including whatever text the whole class is reading, be sure to cite those sources correctly & using the proper format
5. Conversations About Your Work: You may be asked to discuss your process, including your analysis of the text, how you developed your ideas, or how you approached different aspects of your assignment. During these conversations, you may also be asked to expand on your ideas or explain your thinking and writing in more detail.
If originality is unable to be determined, or if it’s found that the work is not original, see the policy in the next section.
The Policy:
The Warning: Your warning is the lessons and information you are given that teach you about how and when to cite, and the expectations regarding AI. The lessons may come before each assessment, or they will simply be a reminder about past lessons and an instruction to ask questions if you need help remembering.
1st Offense: The first time your originality is unable to be verified, or if there is proof that it’s not original, the following things will happen:
Conference with teacher & email/phone call to family
Classroom Referral on Skyward
50% (F) on assessment
Alternate assessment assigned
Can be completed for up to 100% credit, but does not replace the prior 50%. It will be an additional assessment in Skyward.
2nd Offense: The second time your originality is unable to be verified, or if there is proof that it’s not original, the following things will happen:
Conference with teacher, principal, and family
Office referral on Skyward
0% (F) on Assessment
Alternate assessment assigned
Can be completed for up to 100% credit, but does not replace the prior 0%. It will be an additional assessment in Skyward.
Alternate assessment must be completed on paper, in the presence of the teacher
After the 2nd Offense:
All further assessments in the course must be completed on paper, in the presence of a teacher (class time, PPT, after school on Wednesdays, etc.)