Plagiarism and Cheating #
DIG faculty and members of the academic community must be confident that each student’s
work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and presented. Any effort to gain
an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful.
One of the Five Values and Student Commitments is Respect. Respect for the academic process
and the process of learning requires academic honesty. The most common forms of academic
dishonesty are cheating and plagiarism. Examples of cheating and plagiarism are provided in
this policy as a means of helping to define expectations. The examples are not exhaustive and
should not be viewed as such. Cheating may include using any unauthorized information, such
as a copy of an examination before it is given, or the use of web-based search tools while taking
an examination. Inappropriate behavior could consist of collaborating with others on
assignments without the consent of the instructor or collaborating with others to enable
cheating. Other forms of dishonest behavior may include having another person take an exam
for you, fabricating information such as data for a report, submitting material such as a skill
photo that is not yours as part of your course performance, or communicating with anyone other
than a proctor or instructor during an exam.
Plagiarism is the use of another person’s words or ideas without giving that person appropriate
credit. “Plagiarism” shall be defined as the appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, or
obtaining by any means another’s work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of
it in one’s own written work. Academic work is evaluated on the assumption that the work
presented is the student’s own. Plagiarism may include directly quoting the words of others
without proper credit given to them and/or without using quotation marks or other accepted
notations to identify the borrowed words. An additional example of plagiarism includes
representing an idea or strategy as a student’s own when it comes from someone else.
Plagiarism can also be simply using any prior work produced by the student for another course
without prior approval from the current instructor.
Students who use any form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) improperly are seeking to gain an
unfair advantage, are committing academic dishonesty. The use of any form of AI programs or
submitting words of a chatbot on assignments is prohibited if the faculty does not allow its use.
Submitting the words of AI as your own work is likely a form of plagiarism. Students who use AI
tools without permission, or who use them in improper ways are in violation of this policy.
Penalties for cheating in a class may include a zero grade on the assignment, a failing grade in
the course, or any other course/school-related sanction the instructor and administration
determine to be appropriate for the cheating incident such as suspension. Penalties for
Plagiarism are as follows: first offense, failing grade on assignment; second offense, failing grade
in the class; third offense, suspension from DIG.
