Why Academic Integrity Matters and How to Uphold It

Why Academic Integrity Matters Cheating costs everyone something Doing the work helps you improve, cheating misses out on that Allowing or helping someone else cheat puts you at risk Cheating degrades the value of the degree (including how its value is perceived by potential employers, grad schools, etc.) Educate yourself and those around you You may be able to help yourself and others avoid trouble You can set a strong example for others if you teach them

Study Academic Integrity as a Topic Review and learn the school and university policies Engineering school academic integrity Washington University undergraduate student academic integrity Washington University graduate student academic integrity Think about different scenarios and what they mean E.g., when cheating often occurs and why How to avoid ambiguous situations, and how to clarify them Not knowing the policy is not grounds for being excused for violating the policy

Things you can do in this course Collaborate with members of your group on studio and lab solutions You will only turn in one solution for each assignment Discuss studio solutions with other groups while class is in session Search google for the meaning of compiler errors, kernel panics, algorithmic problems Ask the TAs and instructor for help in debugging programs

Things you cannot do in this course Collaborate with members outside of your group on lab solutions Discuss studio solutions with other groups outside of class sessions Base your work off of external resources without attribution Copy code from the internet (with or without attribution)

Illustrative Academic Integrity Examples Turning in code copied from other groups Different teams submitted verbatim or lightly fuzzed solutions without attribution of others contributions Collaboration policies were clearly noted in lab assignment and did not allow collaboration except within a lab team The students involved did not ask TA or professor to clarify Violations were detected by TAs, through MOSS runs, etc. In some cases students whose code was copied were exonerated, but in others received same penalty as students who submitted code they had copied

Illustrative Academic Integrity Examples Turning in copied problem sets, studios, etc. Often, copied materials are turned in with identical mistakes even when students are expected to do their own work Even if allowed to discuss solution approaches, you need to write up your solution (and make your own mistakes!) Reflects poorly on perceived initiative, organization, ethics Still subject to academic integrity penalties, even if value of the work is minimal with respect to overall course grade

Illustrative Academic Integrity Examples Using existing materials without attribution Many technical problems solutions appear on the internet Some of those solutions are correct (caveat) None of those solutions should be used without attribution And yet students cut-and-paste entire paragraphs without proper attribution (surrounding in quotes & citing source) Be aware that automated tools to detect this are available (not least of which, typing a fragment into Google search)

Thought Experiment Why would the penalty for cheating on an assignment be twice an assignment s value? E.g., if a lab assignment were worth 10% of the course grade Penalty for cheating on it would be -20% of the course grade What should someone do, if having difficulty getting the assignment finished on time? Hint: at least 3 other options are much better than cheating

Keep Thinking about Academic Integrity If in doubt, ask the instructor If you aren t sure what s ok, please ask for clarification If you or someone you know is in a tough spot, ask for help (many more solutions are available before cheating occurs) Coming forward as early as possible demonstrates integrity, and gives us the most (and best) options for success and integrity Thank you for your attention Please ask questions now or as they may come up later We are always available as a resource to consult