These procedures protect the freedom granted the Student Body under the Honor Tradition and assure self-protection and consideration of others. Violation of any of these procedures is a violation of the Honor Tradition.
- Quizzes and Examinations:
- Giving or receiving knowledge about a quiz or examination before, during or after a testing situation or attempting to do so is a violation of the Honor Tradition.
- Students are permitted to make use of old quizzes or old examinations in preparation for quizzes and examinations. They may also study the classroom and laboratory notes of others.
- At no time during an examination period is a student permitted to comment to another student about the level of difficulty, specific content, or the general nature of any final examination they have seen or taken. This prohibition applies even when the other student is not enrolled in the course concerned. Discussing examinations in any way is a violation of the Honor Code.
- During a Quiz or Examination:
- Examinations or quizzes must be taken in a classroom within the building in which it is administered or in another place designated by the instructor.
- There should be no supervision in a proctoring sense and the instructor should be free to come and go as desired.
- Students may leave the examination at will, but they are subject to the fixed time limit of the examination or quiz period.
- All books, papers, and notes must be left outside the classroom unless permitted by the instructor.
- Only work carrying the pledge shall be graded.
- Library and Laboratory Procedures
- Improper removal of any library book or material and removal without permission of any laboratory material or equipment violates the Honor Tradition.
- The Honor Tradition and Academic Work
- All written work is to be pledged unless otherwise specified by the professor.
- A student may freely discuss ideas with others, since such discussion is a valuable stimulation to independent thought. But in written work material should be organized and ideas should be expressed without help from others.
- Students are expected to do all academic work in accordance with the principles of the Honor Tradition. These principles specifically applied to the preparation of papers are:
- The student’s written work must be essentially the product of their own mind. Some instructors may prefer that their students have the benefit of consultation with other students in preparing papers. Unless such freedom of consultation is explicitly given by the instructor, a student is expected to do their own work. They may ask other students about specific points of grammar or punctuation. Students should feel free to use the Writing Center without fear of violating the Honor Code.
- All creative writing is expected to be entirely original.
- In any critical research paper, the source of all material not original with the writer must be given full and specific acknowledgment. All phrases, sentences, or longer passages taken directly from another writer must be placed within quotation marks or in a block quotation and then cited properly; all phrases, sentences, or longer passages paraphrased from another writer must also be cited properly. Whether quoted directly or paraphrased, all ideas, opinions, and facts that are not common knowledge must be cited properly. Failure to distinguish one’s own work and ideas from works and ideas taken from another source constitutes plagiarism and is a direct violation of the Honor Tradition. The student is responsible for learning the proper means of distinguishing their own work from material they have borrowed or for asking their instructor if they are in doubt. Whether a student quotes directly, paraphrases, or summarizes, they must remember that they are obligated to acknowledge their indebtedness for the facts, opinions, ideas or words used.
- Facts: Authority must be cited for the use of any fact not generally known. The assertion that Columbus discovered America in 1492 need not be supported. But if the student writes that Columbus strangled his wife with a red stocking, the authority must be produced. Most frequently, the failure to give adequate support occurs when the student is sketching in background information. For example, do not discuss the education of Thomas Hardy, the romance of the Brownings or the friendship of Tennyson for Hallum without some general acknowledgment as the following (in a footnote) “For the information about . ., I am indebted to the following work or works . . .”
- Opinions: Any opinion not the writer’s own used in a paper should be credited to its owner. If the writer’s thinking on a certain subject happens to lie parallel to that of T.S. Eliot, for instance, this fact must be acknowledged in the usual way and the thought then expressed in the writer’s own words. Many questions arise on this point, and the only satisfactory rule is that of common honesty.
- Ideas: Any idea not the writer’s own used in a paper should be credited to its owner. For example, the idea that the structure of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn alternates between the river and the shore should be attributed to the originator of the idea, the critic Henry Nash Smith. As with opinions, many questions arise on this point, so the student must use common sense and honesty.
- For a guide to the correct use of footnotes and other manners of acknowledging borrowed materials, consult a manual or stylebook approved by the instructor. Do not hesitate to consult the instructor about any problem of form or academic honesty.
- Procedure: The instructor must judge evidence sufficient to warrant investigation. The instructor then raises the subject of plagiarism with the student, cites the passages under question, and tells the student either that on the basis of present information, no further action will be taken or that the matter should be reported to the Honor Board. In the former case, the question will not be raised again unless new evidence is uncovered. In the latter case, the instructor should remind the student that they have twenty-four hours to report their situation to the Honor Board. (See Honor Board Procedures)
- Plagiarism is distinguished from inadequate documentation, which involves errors in the form of documentation, but which still allows the reader to distinguish works and ideas originated by the student from words and ideas taken from another source. Evidence of plagiarism is sufficient grounds for referral to the Honor Board. Inadequate documentation shall be handled by the instructor.
- No electronic devices of any kind may be used in the classroom without the expressed permission of the instructor. Neither children nor animals are allowed in classes except by special permission. The University does not provide transportation to off-campus classes.