Professors have a responsibility to investigate academic misconduct. Professors are responsible for maintaining academic integrity in their class. This is important. Without integrity, Conestoga's credentials have less value, and the reputation of the college suffers. When something suspicious happens, your professor has to open an investigation.

You have a right to be heard. When there is a concern that academic misconduct occurred, professors must contact students within three business days. This is part of the student's right to be informed of and to be able to respond to allegations of misconduct. You can read about these rights in the Student Rights and Responsibilities policy.

Students have three business days to respond to their faculty. If you're not sure why your professor is concerned, ask! They can provide additional information as needed. Keep in mind that you may have committed misconduct by mistake. Just because you didn't know it was wrong, doesn't mean it's not an AIV.

If you did engage in academic misconduct:

Be truthful with your professor. They will appreciate and value your courage and honesty.

Use this as an opportunity to learn from the experience and to develop your skills. Ask yourself:

• Did I give myself enough time to work on my assessment before submission?
• Did I ask my professor for help understanding the assessment?
• Have I learned enough about the types of academic misconduct, and common mistakes to avoid?
• Could I get support from college services, like Writing Services or Library Services?

If you did not engage in academic misconduct:

Gather relevant evidence and prepare the argument you want to make:

• Were the instructions unclear?
• Is your professor's concern covered in the marking rubric?
• Is there an innocent explanation for the evidence your professor observed?
• Can you provide evidence of original work? For example, can you show your version history, or a draft of the assignment?

Do not argue that you are a "good person," that you're having a difficult time, or that you just want another chance. Focus on concrete facts and relevant evidence, not emotional pleas.

Not sure what to say? Use our student email templates to help you write your response.

After you have responded to your professor, they will make a decision based on the available evidence. You only have three business days to respond. If your professor does not hear from you by then, they will have to make a decision without your evidence.

Your professor will consider all the evidence, and determine what is most likely to have occurred. This is known as the "balance of probabilities." There are two possible outcomes:

• Based on the available evidence, the professor decides that no academic misconduct occurred. No further actions will be taken and no penalty will be applied.
• Based on the available evidence, the professor decides that academic misconduct likely occurred. The Academic Integrity Violation will then be added to your academic integrity record. You may have grades deducted in-rubric, and you may receive an academic penalty.

The first time you commit academic misconduct, your professor might choose to file a warning. Warnings don't have any extra academic penalties applied, but you might still lose grades for unoriginal work. For example, if you plagiarized 40% of your paper, your professor might take 40% off your paper grade. If you didn't write it yourself, your professor can't give you any marks for it.

Some types of academic misconduct are considered too severe for a warning. These incidents must always be filed as offences, even if it is your first Academic Integrity Violation. These include plagiarism, misrepresentation & fraud, contract cheating, and aiding & abetting.

You can only receive a maximum of one warning, and only for your first Academic Integrity Violation. All other Academic Integrity Violations must be filed as offences.

If you get an offence, your professor will deduct grades for unoriginal work, and apply an additional academic penalty. Penalties typically start low and get more severe with time. But if the incident was really bad, your professor might start with a higher penalty.

There is no "three strikes" policy at Conestoga College. All penalties are decided on a case-by-case basis. A student could get discontinued from the College after one or two very severe incidents. Or a student could have seven or eight minor incidents before getting discontinued. Professors and Chairs look to see evidence of learning when considering discontinuance. Be sure to complete any modules you are assigned, and attend any meetings you are invited to.

Category 1 Academic Penalties

• Rework and resubmit the assessment. The new submission is graded and an appropriate late penalty is applied.
• Rework and resubmit the assessment up to a passing mark (if not submitted by faculty assigned date, mark = 0).
• Partial marks on the assessment with no opportunity to resubmit.
• Loss of an alpha grade on the assessment.
• Zero when the assessment value is less than 10%.

Category 2 Academic Penalties

• Fail on a pass/fail assessment.
• Loss of an alpha grade in the course.
• Zero when the assessment value is between 10-19%.

Category 3 Academic Penalties

• Zero when the assessment value is 20% or greater.
• Zero in the Course.
• Other.

Category 4 Academic Penalties

• Suspension from Conestoga College.
• Discontinuance from Conestoga College.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is when we deliberatly take credit for the words, ideas, or work of others.  Plagiarism may be confused with copying; what distinguishes plagiarism from copying is that copying acknowledges the source. Plagiarism includes:

• Submitting our own work from a previous course or assessment. This is known as self-plagiarism, if we do not cite and reference our previous work.
• Submitting the work of another student.
• Submitting or presenting the work of another person, group or organization (in whole or in part) as our own work, without citation and referencing.

Examples of Plagiarism

• Failing to cite and reference multiple sources.
• Copying part, or all, of a work without in-text citations or references.
• Using an online translator to convert someone else’s work and then claiming it as one’s own work.
• Copying material from the Internet without citations or referencing.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Who owns an idea or a completed work?

When does an idea or completed work belong to everyone?

Copying from Others, Copying from Ourselves

Copying is when we copy the work of others, without trying to hide the fact that the work was done by someone else, or when re-use our own existing work. If we hide or don't acknowledge our sources, then it is plagiarism.

Examples of Copying from Others, Copying from Ourselves

• Recycling our own work without permission; re-using all or part of a previously submitted assessment.
• Copying work from another student.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

When is it appropriate to copy someone else's finished work? How should a student present the copied work?

How do you feel when someone copies or imitates your original work?

Cheating

College life is demanding. Sometimes it's tempting to take shortcuts. But cheating doesn't help you learn the concepts required to be professionally successful. Students who cheat are likely to continue to behave dishonestly in the workplace (Abasi & Graves, 2008; Harding, Carpenter, Finelli, & Passow, 2004; Sims, 1993). This often leads to getting fired.

Avoid the pressure to cheat by improving your academic integrity skills, including study skills and good time management.

Subtypes of Cheating

Contract Cheating

Contract cheating is contracting another person to complete any academic work for submission to be evaluated as a part of your course marks. Payment for contract cheating may include payment, trade, or  favours.

Examples of Contract Cheating

• Buying an essay or an assignment from a website, editor, or tutor and submitting it as one's own work.
• Paying another student to take an exam or complete an assignment.
• Purchasing or obtaining editing services that make substantial changes to an assignment to the point that it no longer represents the individual student’s own capabilities. 

Improper Behaviour in Testing Situations

Improper behaviour in a testing situation is when a student is behaving in a distracting or disruptive manner. It also includes behaving in a way that could be interpreted as cheating, even if direct evidence of cheating is not observed.

Examples of Improper Behaviour in Testing Situations

• Talking or otherwise communicating with someone other than the professor, proctor or exam supervisor.
• Making noises, such as speaking, tapping or humming.
• Taking a photograph - even a selfie.
• Having an electronic device (e.g., phone, tablet, watch, laptop, etc.) within reach when none are allowed.
• Sharing utensils or tools with another student (e.g. pencils, pens, erasers, calculators).
• Refusing to follow a direction from a professor, proctor or exam supervisor.

Using Unauthorized Aids and Assistance

Unauthorized aids and assistance is using aids, tools, or help that has not been authorized by the professor. This applies to both tests and assignments.

Examples of Using Unauthorized Aids and Assistance

• Communicating with someone other than the professor, proctor or exam supervisor during a test or exam.
• Using unauthorized material or aids (e.g., cheat sheets, materials from file-sharing sites like Chegg) during an assessment, quiz, test, or exam.
• Copying answers from another student during a test or exam.
• Accepting answers given from another student during a test or exam, including online exams.
• Using a phone or other device during a test or exam.
• Using unauthorized material, aids or software (e.g., generative AI) during the preparation of an assignment.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Is it okay to get any help you can access, because doing so shows that you want to get good marks in your submissions and tests?

Should you talk during a test if you have something important to say?

Should students be allowed to have electronics nearby during a test if they don't use the electronics to cheat?

Would you trust that someone you have traded with, or paid, to complete an assignment for you will remain trustworthy? Why or why not?

Team work is a wonderful skill. But at Conestoga, assessments are designed to allow each student to demonstrate their understanding of the learning outcomes of their course. When students collaborate with other students without the knowledge or consent of the professor, their collaboration impedes the instructor's ability to accurately evaluate the individual student’s learning. This hinderance is why unauthorized collaboration is a serious academic offence.

Subtypes of Unauthorized Collaboration

Not Maintaining Security of Work / Loaning Work to Someone Else

This misconduct occurs when students accidentally or willfully share material for individual assignments with other students.

Examples of Not Maintaining Security of Own Work

• Loaning material to a student not knowing that the other student would use the material in their assignment.
• Leaving your computer unattended, allowing another student to copy material and use it as their own.

Unintentional Unauthorized Collaboration

This is when students submit work prepared with another person or people without knowing that collaboration is prohibited for the assignment.

Examples of Unintentional Unauthorized Collaboration

• Discussing an assignment with another student and then independently writing an essay or assignment containing identical themes and ideas as the other student’s work.
• Incorporating suggestions from another student into your own work.

Intentional Unauthorized Collaboration

This is when students know they are to complete their work individually but still choose to work with others to prepare it for submission.

Examples of Intentional Unauthorized Collaboration

• Working on a take-home or online exam with others.
• Asking another student to write part of his or her project.
• Working with another student on developing computer code.
• Dividing parts of an individual assignment with others and then assembling each contribution and submitting the work as their own.
• Reviewing a previously submitted assignment, with instructor’s feedback, which was provided by a student who took the course in a prior semester.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Why might it matter that your faculty has said you must complete your assignment independently?

When is it best to collaborate with other students?

When is it appropriate to collaborate with someone who is not associated with your course, program or college?

What role does trust play between the people who collaborate?

Aiding and Abetting is when a student helps others in acts of academic dishonesty.

Examples of Aiding and Abetting

• Providing another student with solutions to a test or exam.
• Giving another student an assignment from a previous course.
• Borrowing solutions to an assignment from another student.
• Causing a distraction in a testing situation that prevents the professor or proctor from observing other students.
• Helping a student cheat in an exam.
• Writing part, or all, of an assignment for another student.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

When is it right to share course materials with others?

What can you do to help students who might struggle in their courses?

Facilitating academic misconduct is when someone shares course materials with the public. This can include assignments, tests, quizzes, exams, or cheat sheets. This is typically done by uploading course content to file-sharing websites. Some popular websites of this kind are Course Hero, Chegg and Quizlet. It might seem helpful and harmless to share course information. But sometimes this information is confidential, or owned by someone else. If you share your own work, you could be in trouble if another student copies it. Uploading material to these sites can be a risky choice.

Examples of Facilitating Misconduct

• Uploading testing materials to Course Hero, Chegg, Quizlet etc. .
• Uploading material to a third-party website (e.g., Course Hero, Chegg, etc.) that contains Conestoga copyrighted material (e.g., instructions, templates, rubrics, outlines, etc.). 
• Uploading work (e.g., assignment, test, exam, etc.) to a third-party website (e.g., Course Hero, Chegg, etc.); another student took that work and submitted it as their own. 

Ethical Reflection Questions

Is it fair to share course materials to potential future students of the same course?

Will sharing your work with others help them be better learners?

How would you react to finding your own original work publicly available on a resource-sharing website without your knowledge or permission?

Questions for Ethical Reflection

If you were paid to compile content for a course or program and then used that material to pass or fail students of that course, would you make the material available to the public? Why or why not? Who should have access to the material curated for and taught in that course?

Are there situations where sharing course content with the public is appropriate?

Misrepresentation and Fraud

Misrepresentation is falsifying information with the goal of deception. Fraud is lying about identity, documentation, or information. Both are done with intent to deceive, and both are academic misconduct.

Examples of Misrepresentation and Fraud

• Accessing or sharing with others information that was private and confidential.
• Changing the wording, answers or score of an assessment after it was returned.
• Altering or falsifying medical, academic or other documents or records.
• Misrepresenting the reason for requesting an extension on a test or assignment.
• Posing as another student to take an assessment or complete an online course.
• Altering or inventing one or more facts, data or references in an assignment.
• Falsely accusing another student(s) of an academic offence.
• Claiming to have completed work that was in fact completed by someone else.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Why might it matter if we misquote someone else's original work or perspective expressed in their work?

How do fraudulent certificates or reproductions of others' work harm the trustworthiness of those who hold the same certifications through their own original and honest work?

Copyright infringement is when a student or faculty copies more of a published work than is permitted by the copyright owner themselves or what is permitted under the Canadian Copyright Law.

Examples of Copyright Infringement

• Downloading an infringed copy of a textbook or other resource from a website.
• Streaming an infringed copy of a video from a website.
• Photocopying or scanning a substantial part, or in full, a copyright-protected textbook or other resource without permission.
• Selling another student an infringed electronic version of a required textbook or other resource.
• Using licensed material (e.g. material from the Library) in a way that was contrary to the license or user agreement.
• Copying beyond what is allowable as established in the Canadian Copyright Act.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Textbooks are often considered very expensive; if we are permitted to copy some of a text, why might it be academic misconduct to copy a little more than the permitted pages?

Why might a copyright holder set limits to how much of their published work can be copied?

Why is copyright a legal concern with laws that govern its use? 

Any behaviour or actions taken by a student or faculty that interfere with the ability of another student to successfully complete academic work or engage in learning in a safe environment is considered unscholarly behaviour. Not all bad behaviour is uncholarsly behaviour. Bullying and discrimination that don't specifically interfere with another student's academic work are an issue of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Examples of Unscholarly Behaviour

• Withholding information from a team member.
• Excluding another student(s) from a group project.
• Intentionally missing a group presentation.
• Not participating in a group project.
• Giving a friend a higher grade than they deserve in a peer-graded assignment.

Questions for Ethical Reflection

Why do many courses have graded tasks that require working in a group?

Why is the following statement included in Student Rights and Responsibilities at Conestoga College under students' right to be safe?

• the right to learn and work in an environment that is safe, secure, free from harassment and/or discrimination and be treated with respect and dignity.