Academic Integrity

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Taken from Section 5.1 of the Graduate Calendar:

“The following brief statements are excerpted in part from the McMaster University Academic Integrity and Research Integrity Policies. For guidance on how to proceed in the case of suspected academic dishonesty or research misconduct, please consult the Office of Academic Integrity and the complete policies at https://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity/. The Associate Deans of Graduate Studies are available for confidential consultations on matters related to academic and research integrity.

Academic Work

Academic work includes any academic paper, term test, proficiency test, essay, thesis, research report, evaluation, project, assignment or examination, whether oral, in writing, in other media or otherwise and/or registration and participation in any course, program, seminar, workshop, conference or symposium offered by the University.

For graduate students, comprehensive/qualifying exams, any research work, and thesis work (a thesis proposal, or thesis draft, or draft of one or more chapters) also constitute academic work and must adhere to standards of academic integrity.

Academic Dishonesty

Definition

Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage.

Wherever in this policy an offence is described as depending on “knowingly,” the offence is deemed to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.

Students and applicants to graduate programs are responsible for being aware of and demonstrating behaviour that is honest and ethical in their academic work. Such behaviour includes:

a.       adhering to the principles of academic integrity when submitting application materials

b.       following the expectations articulated by instructors for referencing sources of information and for group work;

c.       asking for clarification of expectations as necessary;

d.       identifying testing situations that may allow copying;

e.       preventing their work from being used by others, e.g., protecting access to computer files; and

f.        adhering to the principles of academic integrity when conducting and reporting research.

Students are responsible for their behaviour and may face penalties under the Academic Integrity or Research Integrity policies if they commit academic dishonesty or research misconduct.

Graduate students, having been deemed admissible to higher studies, are expected to be competent in the acknowledgement of other people’s work, whether that work is in print or electronic media.

Graduate students are expected to understand the demands of ethical conduct of research and reporting research results and behave ethically and responsibly in conducting and reporting research. All graduate students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the definition of research misconduct in the University’s policy, namely, “a researcher must be honest in proposing, seeking support for, conducting, and reporting research; a researcher must respect the rights of others in these activities.”