College Policies

Academic Honesty Policy

Students are expected to abide by ethical standards in preparing and presenting material that demonstrates their level of knowledge and which is used to determine grades. Such standards are founded on basic concepts of integrity and honesty. These include, but are not limited to the following areas:

1) Students shall not plagiarize, which is defined as stealing or passing off as one’s own ideas or words of another and as using a

creative production without crediting the source. The following cases are examples of what constitutes plagiarism:

• paraphrasing published material without acknowledging the source.

• making significant use of an idea or a particular arrangement of ideas, e.g., outlines.

• writing a paper after consulting with persons who provide suitable ideas and incorporating these ideas into the paper without acknowledging the debt.

• submitting under one’s own name, term papers or other reports which have been prepared by others.

2) Students shall not cheat, which is defined as using notes, aids, or the help of other students on tests or exams in ways other than

those expressly permitted by the instructor; and as misreporting or altering the data in laboratory or research projects involving the

collection of data.

3) Students shall not submit an original paper or project to more than one class without approval from the second instructor.

Instructors who do not accept previously submitted papers should so inform the students in the course syllabus.

4) Students shall not furnish materials or information in order to enable another student to plagiarize or cheat.

Plagiarism Prevention and Detection: In its commitment to academic honesty, Cypress College uses Turnitin.com software to prevent and detect plagiarism. The instructor reserves the right to submit student assignments to Turnitin.com to check for textural similarities between those assignments, Internet sources and the Turnitin.com assignment database. Students will be required to electronically submit their written work for plagiarism checking. Assignments submitted to Turnitin.com will become part of their database and will be used only for plagiarism prevention and detection.

Students agree that by enrolling in a course, assignments may be subject to the above plagiarism prevention and detection processes.

An instructor who has evidence that an act of academic dishonesty has occurred, after speaking with the student, is obligated to take

the following steps:

1) Assign an appropriate academic penalty such as an oral reprimand (as in cases where there is reasonable doubt that the student knew that the action violated the standards of honesty); or assign an “F” on all or part of a particular paper, project, or exam (for

example, where there was proof that it was a one-time occurrence). In cases where an “F” was assigned, report the incident to all

appropriate personnel. (See Step 3).

2) In cases where the dishonesty was serious, premeditated, or part of an ongoing scheme, request an ad hoc review board made up

of at least three faculty from the department or division of the instructor involved. This review board is to be appointed by the

Academic Senate President or his/her delegate in consultation with the department coordinator, or if none is in place, with the

members of the department. Supply to the review board the documents which are suspect and any other documents completed by the student which might help determine if academic dishonesty occurred. It would then be the responsibility of the review board to

determine academic penalties as appropriate.

3) Report to the student involved, to the department coordinator, to the Division Dean, and to the Dean of Counseling and Student

Development, the alleged incident of academic dishonesty, including relevant documentation, and recommendations for action that

he or she deems appropriate.

4) The appropriate Division Dean shall maintain an academic dishonesty file of all cases of academic dishonesty with the appropriate documentation.

5) Students shall be informed when their names are inserted into the file and provided with copies of any appeals or disciplinary

procedures in which they may become involved. The appropriate Division Dean may initiate disciplinary proceedings under

Education Code, Article 3, Section 76030-76037; when two or more incidents involving the same student occur, he/she shall do so.

6) Students charged with violations resulting in disciplinary action have the right to appeal the findings to the Petitions Committee

under the Rules and Procedures of Due Process.

If you have any questions, or if you are uncertain of whether or not you may have unintentionally plagiarized, please see me before your assignment is due, and we can figure things out together. You can also utilize Turnitin for further assistance with these matters.

ChatGPT & AI Use Policy

While the use of Artificially Intelligent (“AI”) chatbots, such as ChatGPT, may be permitted to some degree in this course, the two most important things to remember are: 

• Students must always cite when and where they have used AI in their work. 

• Student submissions must be their own original work. 

Here are some guidelines of what a student may or may not use AI for in the course: 

1. Students MAY use AI to help 

   • • give suggestions for proper grammar or improving writing such as Grammarly (basic grammar checker)

     • organize their work and suggestions for answering questions 

     • create an outline or summary of their work 

     • with research 

     • determine where to expand on ideas or strengthen arguments 

     • generate essay topics

2. Students MAY NOT 

   • • submit assignments that are primarily written by AI;

     •  use AI-generated content in any way (including Grammarly) in the following assignments: 

       • • Essays

         • Exams

         • Prewriting

         • Reading Response Discussions

     • submit AI generated summaries or outlines as their own; 

     • fail to properly cite where and how they used AI. 

AI is improving every day and will transform how a lot of work, especially writing and education, is done. Turning in an assignment that is primarily, or completely written by an AI, is not doing your own work, and in violation of academic integrity standards. Due to the recent rise in popularity, the instructor may allow the use of AI in this course according to the following guidelines. 

These have been generated and edited using the help of ChatGPT for its use in a college course that includes critical thinking. Here are Chat GPT’s thoughts on using it while maintaining academic integrity and critical thinking: 

• Students should primarily use AI to help organize thoughts and writing. 

• Students are highly discouraged from using them in any way for discussion posts, however, as the primary point of the discussions is to get practice writing and thinking on your own.

• Any use of AI writers MUST be cited. 

• Include which one used, when used, where it has been used in your assignment, and any other relevant information.

Failure to acknowledge when and where a student has used them will result in a 0 on the assignment.

The ability to resubmit the assignment is at the instructor’s discretion. 

Failure to meet the citation requirements in the assignments will result in a 0. 

This is to ensure that students are doing their own work as AI cannot do this part of the assignment properly. The ability to resubmit the assignment is at the instructor’s discretion. AI writers are tools for expanding one’s understanding but should not be used as a replacement for your own critical thinking and analysis and thus should not be relied upon to do the bulk of an assignment. 

**Do not trust AI and do not expect it to give you anything with real substance.**

You are responsible for your work, and you should double-check anything and everything it gives you. Use AI as a starting point for discussion and analysis. Rather than accepting its responses uncritically, use them as a jumping-off point for further exploration and critical thinking. Consider how the responses align with or challenge your existing beliefs and theories. Avoid relying solely on AI for answers to open-ended questions. While AI can provide useful insights, they may not be able to fully address the complexity of the issues. Use your own critical thinking skills and additional research to explore these issues in more depth. Finally, remember that AI writers are machine learning tools designed to simulate human conversation. They are not a substitute for human interaction or discussion. Always seek out opportunities to engage with your peers and instructors to deepen your understanding of important concepts.

Responsible Employee/ Sexual Harassment/ Discrimination Policy

Because your health and safety are paramount to every member of the Cypress College family, the college has a policy that all Responsible Employees—your instructors included—are required to file a formal report if we hear of any occurrences of gender-based (or sex-based) discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, retaliation, sexual misconduct, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking.  If you disclose information relating to any of the aforementioned occurrences to me or to any other employee on this campus (with the exception of licensed therapists in the Student Health Center), we are obligated to report your name, the name of the alleged perpetrator/s, and any other relevant information you provide.

The college absolutely encourages you to make your own formal report to the Title IX coordinator. Students who believe they have been subjected to unlawful discrimination, including sexual harassment, or who seek information regarding the District's Unlawful Discrimination Policy, should contact the Office of The District Director of Human Resources at (714) 808-4818.

However, we also respect survivors' and victims' rights to choose how to report their experiences. Knowing that I am required to report the incident, you may feel more comfortable contacting one of the licensed therapists in the Student Health Center. They are trained to help survivors and victims of assault and are not required to report the incident to authorities.