Policy Overview

Cummings Graduate Institute supports students and faculty in understanding and applying standards of Academic Integrity. CGI defines plagiarism within the online Learning Management System and Library for students to review. Cummings Graduate Institute strictly applies its Academic Integrity Policy and adheres to the procedure to address acts of academic dishonesty. It is considered a serious violation to cheat or plagiarize someone else’s work, even unintentionally. The key to the Academic Integrity Policy originates in the writer’s choices on how to divide one’s voice from the voices of others.

Cheating is defined as giving or receiving unauthorized use of an individual’s work with the intent or purpose of using it for an additional academic assignment.

Intentional plagiarism can be defined as appropriating the words or ideas of someone else and passing them off as one’s own. Intentional plagiarism can include, but is not limited to, the following:

• copying entire documents and presenting them as one’s own, original work;
• cutting and pasting from the work of others without properly citing the source;
• stringing together quotes and /or ideas of others without connecting their work to one’s own original work;
• asserting ideas without acknowledging their sources, or reproducing verbatim work written by others without properly citing their sources. 

Unintentional plagiarism is the accidental appropriation of the work of others due to a lack of understanding of documentation or citation conventions. However, this accidental misuse of sources still violates the Academic Integrity Policy. 

Self-plagiarism is the act of presenting one’s previously created and submitted work as original in subsequent assignments and violates honesty and truthfulness in scholarship. Submitting the same coursework across multiple assignments or courses also violates the Academic Integrity Policy unless the re-submitted work is substantially changed and cited as previous work or is part of an ongoing project.

Contract Cheating is the utilization of a third party or source to complete academic work (labs, exam papers, quizzes, homework assignments, sketches, graphic design, etc.) or facilitating the use of third party’s services, for which another then submits as academic work for credit. Examples include the following:

• Unauthorized selling of a student’s papers, study materials or exams, or the faculty or Institute’s teaching materials or exams.
• Paying another to copy their answers whether it is an exam, homework, project, assignment, etc.  Payment does not have to be money; it can include ‘favors’ with no exchange of money, trade-in-kind (like swapping papers with another student), or exchange of goods or services (buying someone a meal, etc.) Utilizing or accessing an online resource or account service (Chegg, StackOverflow, Discord, etc.), whether such resource/service is free or requires payment for use or access, where the professor’s or university’s materials are uploaded without authorization.
• Take an exam for someone or have another take an exam for you.
• Asking or hiring someone (a friend, family member, partner, classmate, private tutor, etc.) to complete any portion or all of an assignment or paper for you or provide extensive input.
• Using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce ideas and/or ghostwrite content for assignments without instructor knowledge or permission or providing appropriate citations.

Fabrication/Falsification is intentional and unauthorized lie, alteration, exaggeration, or invention of any information or citation in any academic discourse, assignment, or assessment. Examples include the following: 

• Artificially creating data when it should be collected from an actual experiment.
• Unauthorized alteration or falsification of data, documents, codes, images, music, art, or other work.
• Unauthorized omission of data, information, or results in documents, reports, and presentations.
• Hiding data, results, or information using inappropriate scales, magnification and representation in charts, graphs, and other forms of representation.
• Unauthorized impersonation of another person to complete an academic activity.
• Unauthorized use of another individual's computer login ID and password.
• Citing nonexistent or irrelevant works.
• Making up citations on a bibliography or works cited page.
• Skewing data in accord with what you think results should be.
• Changing answers after an exam has been returned.

Unauthorized Collaboration is working with others (friend, parent, classmate, etc.) on assignments, examinations, or projects that will be submitted for a grade without specific permission from the instructor or providing appropriate citations. This applies to tests, papers, projects, or assignments.

Collusion is when more than one student contributes to a piece of work that is submitted as the work of that individual. Individual coursework should be entirely the work of the student submitting that work for a grade or credit. Working together with other students on an assignment or assessment that will be submitted for individual credit or grade violates the Academic Integrity Policy and can result in an accusation of academic misconduct for all the students involved. Examples include the following:

• Sharing work or answers with another student without the permission of faculty.
• Working together with another student on an exam, final exam, paper, or project without faculty approval.
• Submitting assignments or assessments identical to that of another student.

Policy Procedure

1. After the Instructor reviews the Turnitin report for the assignment submission, if there is an assignment  above the 15% mark, the instructor is required to email the Director of the Program: the student’s name, date of the assignment, and the Turnitin report for the plagiarized submission, 
2. First Offense: Faculty member immediately notifies the student via email, copying the Director of the Program and Registrar, and allows the student two (2) business days to rewrite and resubmit the assignment. Violation is documented in the student’s file by the faculty member.
3. Second Offense: Faculty member immediately notifies the student via email, copying the Director of the Program and Registrar, of the zero grade for the assignment (F). Violation is documented in the student’s file by the faculty member.
4. Third Offense: Faculty member immediately notifies the student via email, copying the Director of the Program and Registrar, of the Academic Integrity Violation (XE) grade in the course. The Program Director response to the student within five (5) business days of notification of a Third Offense with sanctions, which can include program termination.

Policy Responsibility

Student Responsibility

Students are expected to inform themselves about all actions that violate the Institute’s Academic Integrity Policy.

• CGI allows no more than 15% similarity match in written assignments (as determined by Turnitin).
  • Exceptions to the15% are up to faculty discretion only.
• Students are responsible for reviewing the Plagiarism Detection report for each written assignment after submission to the Assignment Folder in a course(s).
• After applying filters for bibliography and quotes, match percentages must be no greater than the Program’s allowable 15% similarity match benchmark.
• If the assignment exceeds the 15% similar match benchmark, the student must edit the work prior to the due date, and re-submit the assignment to the assignment folder. The student must revise the assignment until the match percentage does not exceed 15%.
• After the assignment due date has passed, assignments for which the Plagiarism Detection match percentage exceeds 15%, after applying filters for bibliography and quotes, will receive a zero grade. Faculty for the course will contact the Director of the Program to determine whether the action was a first, second, or third violation for the student. Then the Academic Integrity Policy will take effect and dictate next steps.

Instructor & Administrative Staff Responsibilities

1. After the Instructor reviews the Plagiarism Detection report for the assignment submission, if there is an assignment  above the 15% mark, the instructor is required to email the Director of the Program: the student’s name, date of the assignment, and the Plagiarism Detection report for the plagiarized submission, 
2. Then, the Director of the Program will review the email from the instructor and the student’s Populi account for prior Academic Integrity Violations. If this is the:
   1. First Offense: Faculty member immediately notifies the student via email, copying the Director of the Program and Registrar, and allows the student two (2) business days to rewrite and resubmit the assignment. Violation is documented in the student’s file by the faculty member.
   2. Second Offense: Faculty member immediately notifies the student via email, copying the Director of the Program and Registrar, of the zero grade for the assignment (F). Violation is documented in the student’s file by the faculty member. 

Forms

At this time, there are no student forms associated with this policy.

Approvals/Revision History

Policy was revised on: November 28, 2023

Policy was approved by: Amanda Harrison, Chief Operating Officer