General Definition
Briefly stated, Colgate University defines academic dishonesty as any attempt to misrepresent one's performance on any academic exercise submitted for evaluation. Departments, at their option, may further clarify this general definition in writing (and distribute this clarification in courses in that department), and a violation of the Department's statement shall be considered a violation of the academic dishonesty policy of the University as a whole. In any situation where a student questions the appropriateness of representing a work as his or her own, it will be the student's responsibility to raise the question with the instructor. Ignorance of University policy concerning academic dishonesty shall not be a defense in any Disciplinary Board proceeding.

Forms of Academic Dishonesty
Colgate University recognizes four forms of academic dishonesty: Cheating, Fabrication (of data or sources), Facilitating Academic Dishonesty, and Plagiarism. The full definitions of these forms of academic dishonesty are listed below. All students are urged to read these definitions carefully to gain a complete understanding of behavior that the University considers academically dishonest. Ignorance of the definitions will not be seen as a defense in University Disciplinary Board proceedings.

Cheating
Cheating shall be defined as attempting to use prohibited materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. To prevent possible claims of cheating, there should be strict adherence to the following guidelines:

1. Faculty members should state, in advance, their policies and procedures concerning examinations and other academic exercises. Students should request such information if a faculty member neglects to offer it.
2. It is especially important that clear guidelines be established and followed concerning the use of "take home" examinations.
3. Students completing an "in class" or "take home" examination should assume that any external assistance (e. g., books, notes, calculators, conversations with others) is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the instructor.
4. Substantial portions of the same academic work may not be submitted for credit or honors more than once without the permission of the instructor(s).
5. Students must not allow others to conduct research or prepare any work for them without advance authorization from the instructor. This comment includes, but is not restricted to, commercial term paper companies and files of past papers.

Fabrication
Fabrication shall be defined as the attempt to falsify or invent without authorization any information or citation in an academic exercise. To prevent possible claims of fabrication, there should be strict adherence to the following guidelines:

1. "Invented" information may not be used in any laboratory experiment or other academic exercise without notice to and authorization from the instructor. It would be improper, for example, to analyze one sample in an experiment and covertly "invent" data based on that single experiment for several more required analyses.
2. A student should acknowledge the actual source from which he or she obtains cited information. For example, a writer should not reproduce a quotation found in a book review and indicate that the quotation was obtained from the book itself.

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty
Facilitating academic dishonesty shall be defined as attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty. For example, if a student gives another student a specific answer to a homework assignment and knows that such assistance was either prohibited or would not be acknowledged, he or she is facilitating academic dishonesty.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is by far the most common form of academic dishonesty reported. Plagiarism is defined simply as attempting to represent the "words or ideas of another person as one's own." ¹  At its core, plagiarism is a form of theft, the theft of the intangible property of another scholar. According to James D. Lester, author of several well respected works on writing research papers, the most common forms of plagiarism include:

1. Failure to acknowledge the source of borrowed words or ideas (footnotes or other equivalent forms of citation are required at any time another writer's words or ideas are borrowed.)
2. Failure to put direct quotes in quotation marks. Even if footnotes or other citations are used, failure to set out direct quotes in quotations marks is considered academically dishonest.
3. Improper paraphrasing (with or without footnotes or other citations.) The mere rearrange-ment of another's words will not suffice.
4. Failure to include in a bibliography or other list of works consulted listing every book, article, etc. that was used in the preparation of the assignment. ²

(Note: Different academic disciplines use different techniques for documenting citations in papers, articles, laboratory reports, etc. Students should consult with faculty members concerning the type and form of citations expected. Printed style manuals are available to guide the student in proper documentation techniques.)

Avoiding Academic Dishonesty
At Colgate University, academic honesty is assumed to be the norm, and there is no evidence that acts of academic dishonesty are commonplace. Nevertheless, in recognition of the importance the Academic Honor Code places on academic integrity, Disciplinary Board penalties for infractions are severe. The Community has high standards in this area, and students must be careful to avoid all forms of academic dishonesty.

Acts of academic dishonesty can be avoided by: (a) Knowing the definitions of the forms of academic dishonesty recognized and (b) Avoiding these dishonest behaviors scrupulously. Any questions concerning the standards or requirements in a course should be referred to the professor to whom the work will be submitted.

Careful planning and skillful time management will also help a student avoid instances of academic dishonesty as experience has shown that most acts of plagiarism, cheating etc. occur when a student runs out of time to properly prepare an assignment or study for an examination or quiz. In some cases, extensions (with or without a grade penalty) may be arranged, but in all cases, it is better to fail an assignment rather than risk the serious disciplinary consequences of an academic dishonesty infraction. When time has run out, and a student does not believe he or she will be able to meet an academic deadline, a meeting with the instructor in the course and/ or the administrative adviser is in order to consider viable options.

A special note about the use of computers and word processing equipment: The vast majority of Colgate students use word processing computers in researching and preparing papers, take-home examinations and other written assignments, and in recent years, many academic dishonesty cases have had a "computer" aspect that a Disciplinary Board panel has been asked to consider. Sophisticated electronic word processing equipment and software make it relatively easy to download and manipulate files, articles and even whole manuscripts from other sources, and students suspected of academic dishonesty have occasionally sought to "blame the computer" for acts of dishonesty. Students are reminded that a concern about academic dishonesty will be based on what the student submits for evaluation and not how the assignment was prepared. Claims that: "The computer printed out my notes (or first draft) and not my final paper" (or) " I wrote my footnotes into the memory of the computer and the computer forgot to record the footnotes as I went along" (or) "A friend printed out my paper and submitted it for me, but he got the wrong paper off my disk" or similar explanations will not excuse acts of academic dishonesty. Word processing computers are wonderful aids in writing academic assignments, but one must be especially careful in using them to adhere strictly to Colgate's standards of academic integrity.

¹  J. D. Lester, Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide, Fourth Edition (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1986), p. 95.

²  Ibid. p. 96.