Academic Integrity, Troubled Students, and other Special Circumstances

Academic Integrity

It is the policy of The University of Texas at Arlington to uphold and support standards of personal honesty and integrity for all students consistent with the goals of a community of scholars and students seeking knowledge and responsibility. Furthermore, it is the policy of the University to enforce these standards through fair and objective procedures governing instances of alleged dishonesty, cheating and other academic/non-academic misconduct. Students found responsible for dishonesty in their academic pursuits are subject to sanctions that may range from disciplinary probation, suspension and expulsion from the University.

The Office of Student Conduct is responsible for the implementation of the Student Conduct & Discipline and the Regents’ Rules and Regulations. There is information on this page about reporting a suspected violation and the discipline process.

Academic Integrity and Scholastic Dishonesty

What Is Academic Integrity? Academic integrity is defined as being a firm adherence to five fundamental values: honesty, truth, fairness, respect, responsibility.

It is the policy of the University that if a student chooses to act in an academically dishonest way, he or she will be held personally accountable for that choice and any consequences that follow. The official definition of academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, and collusion on an examination or an assignment being offered for credit. Each student is accountable for work submitted for credit, including group projects. The Office of Student Judicial Affairs defines the key terms in the definition of academic dishonesty in the following manner:

Cheating:

Copying another’s test or assignment
Communication with another during an exam or assignment (i.e., written, oral or otherwise)
Giving or seeking aid from another when not permitted by the instructor
Possessing or using unauthorized materials during the test
Buying, using, stealing, transporting, or soliciting a test, draft of a test, or answer key

Plagiarism:

Using someone else’s work in your assignment without appropriate acknowledgement
Making slight variations in the language and then failing to give credit to the source

Collusion:

Without authorization, collaborating with another when preparing an assignment.
Clearly, it is better to take steps to promote academic integrity than to respond to instances of academic dishonesty. However, despite your efforts you may have to respond to situations where you feel academic dishonesty has taken place.

UTA Honor Code Syllabus Insert

All syllabi must contain the following student pledge and statement:

Academic Integrity: Students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:

I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington’s tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence. I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.

UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents’ Rule 50101, §2.2, suspected violations of university’s standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student’s suspension or expulsion from the University.

Responding to Academic Dishonesty

Procedures regarding allegations of academic dishonesty must be followed carefully. The process begins with a discussion with the student regarding the alleged act of dishonesty. This should be done discreetly and privately. If you determine (through the use of evidence and/or witnesses) that the student was not acting dishonestly, the process comes to an end. If you remain convinced that he or she violated rules of academic honesty then you should follow the directions and guidance laid out by the Office of Student Conduct’s page on Suspecting Academic Dishonesty. You may also refer to the Academic Dishonesty Discipline Process Flow Chart for guidance.

Ways to Promote Academic Integrity and Discourage Dishonesty

Faculty and staff members in their respective roles can educate students regarding the importance of academic integrity and/or implement strategies that discourage scholastic dishonesty. Your attitude and response to scholastic dishonesty creates a climate that can either foster or inhibit dishonesty. What you do is very important. Ignoring an incident implies that scholastic dishonesty is accepted. Below are some strategies to employ:

General Academic Practices:

Stress the importance of academic integrity in course syllabi. Include test-taking rules (e.g., no books, no caps, ID required) and clearly detail behaviors you consider scholastically dishonest that others may not (e.g., one paper submitted for credit in two different courses; students who work together on a lab or take-home assignment).
Discuss scholastic dishonesty policies, procedures, and possible penalties on the first class day.
Take action against all involved, including those who assist, when evidence of scholastic dishonesty exists.
Assign a small percent of the final grade to activities that cannot be closely controlled (e.g., take-home exams, lab reports, homework assignments).
Do not give answer manuals to graders.
Personally deliver the final course grades to the proper administrative official.

Classroom Exams and Quizzes:

Advise students in advance that restroom use during the test is not permitted and that silence will be enforced.
Do not use the same exam twice, including different sections of the same course.
Develop alternate test forms (i.e., same items and response options but one or both are presented in a different order).
Print the same test using different type fonts so that it looks like different test forms are used.
Assign more than one number to each question (e.g., the first question might be numbered 8/6) and break students into groups (e.g., odd and even on the basis of the last digit in their social security number) and ask that they record the answers using their group’s designated question number.
Include a statement like the following on exams and answer sheets if students are not permitted to retain them: Any test file that includes this document was developed with stolen materials. Stealing this document or using it prior to an examination is cheating and will be dealt with as such.
Do not use students to type/duplicate exams.
Secure exams/answers in a locked cabinet.
Put different forms of the test on different colors of paper and distribute them so that the colors alternate.
Check desks and the surrounding area for notes and other unauthorized materials.
Staple scratch paper to the answer sheets before distributing them to the students.
Ask that backpacks, notebooks, etc. be put in a designated area or not be taken to class.
Check photo Ids when students enter the test site, ask that they be placed on the desktop for verification during the exam, or put students’ names on exams and answer sheets and give test materials to them after checking the names against the IDs.
Separate students or assign seats.
If blue books are used, ask students to write on different lines (e.g., every third line) for specific pages or require them to bring the booklets at the beginning of the semester and distribute them on the exam day.
Mark each computer-readable answer sheet with an identifier that is not accessible to students (e.g., rubber stamp with the department address) to prevent them from bringing in sheets with “crib notes.”
Number the tests and answer sheets and ask students to sign both to prevent copies from being taken out of the testing area.
Remain in the classroom during the exam and use additional proctors.
Walk around and occasionally stand at the rear of the room since students will want to know where the professor is and turn around before cheating.
Do not permit students to grade their own exams
Request that students leave their test papers so that the answer sheets can be collected in row sequence.
Ask students to return both the exam and the answer sheet.
Advise that some answer sheets will be photocopied before being returned so that students cannot subsequently change their answers and claim grading errors.
Develop a computer program to identify identical answers (e.g., same errors, sequence of items).

Research and Terms Papers and Essays:

Define the term “plagiarism” and proper documentation of sources.
Request that the department purchase catalogs from term-paper services so that suspicious titles/papers can be checked to determine if they have been purchased. Even if your department lacks access to term-paper checking services, check passages of student papers on Google by searching for whole phrases or sentences within quotation marks.
Advise students that these checks for misrepresentation will be made.
Keep a copy of all papers submitted and maintain a filing system by topic to check for papers submitted more than once. Advise students of this practice.
Notify the class that if authorship is questioned, you will query the student to determine familiarity with the topic.
Require an early outline, progress report, or tentative bibliography with library location numbers; do not permit late topic changes; accept only originally typed papers—no photocopies; and require notes and rough drafts to discourage the use of “paper mills”.
Randomly select papers and check citations. (This should be noted in the syllabus and the selection of papers should occur in the classroom to avoid complaints of bias.)

Troubled Students: Know Your Limits

At one time or another everyone feels upset or distressed. However, there are three levels of student distress which, when present over a period of time, suggest that the problems are more than the “normal” ones. The Identifying Behaviors page by UTA’s Behavior Intervention Team (BIT) provides information and tips on what to do to help and where to direct a student if you are concerned about his/her mental health or wellness.

The Behavior Intervention Team (BIT) is a resource for faculty to address the needs of students who are experiencing significant behavioral disturbances. It provides a systematic response to students whose behavior is disruptive to themselves or the environment, or who may be in violation of UT Arlington Code of Conduct.

Disruptions in the Classroom

While rare, you may find yourself in a situation where a student is acting in a manner that makes it difficult or impossible for you to conduct your class. Generally speaking, most of these situations can be handled if you remain calm and simply ask the student to quiet down, see you after class to continue the discussion, etc. However, you may have a more serious problem to handle if a student’s behavior is unusually problematic, going beyond merely being pushy or somewhat rude and becoming truly disruptive or dangerous.

Examples of Disruptive Student Conduct

Conduct that poses a significant threat of danger and/or physical harm to members of the University community.]Unreasonable conduct that interferes with the rights of other students, staff, and/or faculty of the University, or interferes with the exercise of any activity or function of the University.
Negative words or individual behaviors that cause another to become concerned with his or her personal safety.
Distractions involving cellular phones and pagers during classroom lectures.
Excessive chattering, tardiness and blatant inattentiveness that distracts or disturbs the instructor or other students.
Intimidating or harassing statements that affect the living, working and teaching of students, faculty and staff.

Procedures for Dealing with Disruptive Student Conduct

If a student is displaying disruptive behavior, ask the student to refrain from the conduct in concrete terms (e.g., “please lower your voice” or “please sit in your chair”) and briefly remind the student that there are consequences for failing to improve the disruptive behavior.
If the student fails to comply with an order or instruction of an official of the University acting in the course of his/her duties, he or she should be immediately referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action.
If the student continues the disruptive behavior and/ or becomes violent or threatening, contact the campus police immediately (817-272-3003-emergency or 817-272-3381- non-emergency).
Document the incident, make a referral for disciplinary action and notify your department head or supervisor about the incident.

Students With Disabilities

As a UT Arlington educator/teacher, you are required by law to provide “reasonable accommodations” to students with disabilities. All who teach are also responsible for informing students about their right to request reasonable accommodations by posting a statement on the syllabus.

Students are primarily responsible for informing their instructor of their need for accommodation and in providing the proper documentation of the need. For information regarding specific diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining academic accommodations, please visit the Student Access and Resource Center website.

If you have any questions you may contact the Student Access and Resource Center located at 102 University Hall. They can be reached by phone at 817-272-3364. For information regarding ADA for faculty and staff, please visit the Accommodations under the ADA and ADAAA for Faculty and Staff website.

Syllabus Insert

UTA is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of all federal equal opportunity legislation, including The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), The Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. All instructors at UT Arlington are required by law to provide “reasonable accommodations” to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of disability. Students are responsible for providing the instructor with official notification in the form of a letter certified by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). Students experiencing a range of conditions (Physical, Learning, Chronic Health, Mental Health, and Sensory) that may cause diminished academic performance or other barriers to learning may seek services and/or accommodations by contacting:

The Student Access and Resource Center, (SARC)
www.uta.edu/student-affairs/sarcenter or calling 817-272-3364.

Counseling and Psychological Services, (CAPS)
www.uta.edu/caps/ or calling 817-272-3671.

Student Motivation

How do I keep highly motivated and outstanding students engaged? What future opportunities could I provide those students? Below are some resources:

Other Resources

Check out this blog by an educational developer on how best to design assignments and exams that cannot be plagiarized.
Copyright and Fair Use Guide provided by the UTA Library.
Tutorial on how to acknowledge sources and avoid plagiarism.
A general guide on Understanding Written Plagiarism

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Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity, Troubled Students, and other Special Circumstances