Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity
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Why is Academic Integrity Important?
Academic integrity is a fundamental value and is paramount to your success as a student. Protecting the ASU community from violations of academic integrity is everyone’s responsibility.
Academic Integrity Violations negatively impact:
You as a student
If you cheat in a course or another academic exercise, you are taking away your opportunity to learn, develop and improve your skills, and obtain an educational degree that reflects your own academic achievements.
The ASU community
ASU is an intellectual community focused on teaching, research and the values of the New American University. The creation, transmission, sharing and applying of knowledge are central activities of the community. Cheating violates fundamental values of the university community.
Future employers, clients or patients
Cheating can hurt the people you will work with in the future. You are preparing for careers where you will provide services to others—legal, journalistic, medical, research, etc. If you do not learn how to do this work, you have cheated your future employers and clients of a knowledgeable professional.
Keon McGuire, Assistant Professor in Mary Lou Fulton Teacher College, shares why academic integrity is important. We want your time spent here at ASU to be enriching, engaging and full of wonderful educational experiences that prepare you for your future.
What is a violation of the academic integrity policy?
Academic dishonesty falls into five broad areas that include but are not limited to:
- Cheating on an academic evaluation or assignment.
- Plagiarizing.
- Academic deceit, such as fabricating data or information.
- Aiding academic integrity policy violations and inappropriately collaborating.
- Falsifying academic records.
What are the consequences?
At Arizona State University, academic honesty is expected of all students in all examinations, papers, academic transactions and records. The possible sanctions include, but are not limited to: appropriate grade penalties, loss of registration privileges, disqualification and dismissal. ASU strictly adheres to the academic integrity policy.
This policy sets forth the ASU Student Academic Integrity Policy and appeal procedures.
Additional policies to be aware of:
Violations of the ASU Student Code of Conduct, other than the provision concerning academic dishonesty, are more generally considered inappropriate behavior. The Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities reviews and sanctions these matters. If a student violates both the academic integrity provision and additional provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, both the college and the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities will review the matter. Each independently makes determinations concerning violations and appropriate sanctions.
For graduate students and undergraduates involved in research, there can be overlapping areas between Academic Integrity Policy violations, responsible conduct of research and research misconduct. The five areas listed above describe the kinds of Academic Integrity Policy violations and are handled under the ASU Student Academic Integrity Policy by faculty members, colleges and the provost.
If a student is working on a federally-funded research project, some of these items may also be considered misconduct in research. Misconduct is defined as:
Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism and other practices that seriously deviate from those that are commonly accepted within the academic community for proposing, conducting or reporting research. Instances of honest error and honest differences in interpretations or judgments of data are not considered misconduct. (From RSP 004: Definitions)
A student who violates both ASU’s Misconduct in Research Policy and Student Academic Integrity Policy will be reviewed by both the college and the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development's Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA). Each independently makes determinations concerning violations and appropriate sanctions.
In addition, some actions might be considered violations of the norms of responsible conduct of research, but not Academic Integrity Policy violations or misconduct in research. Many of these incidents fall into the general category of “collaborator disputes.” For example, if a doctoral graduate of ASU continued a line of research begun at ASU in a new lab external to ASU, and the ASU mentor objected, generally speaking the matter would be addressed as a collaborator dispute, rather than as an Academic Integrity Policy violation or misconduct in research. Many conflicts over appropriate authorship credit on publications also fall into this area.