The World Campus is committed to maintaining academic integrity in this and all other courses it offers. The World Campus, the academic unit that is the home of each course, the course instructor, and exam proctors take academic integrity matters seriously.

Academic integrity—scholarship free of fraud and deception—is an important educational objective of Penn State. Academic dishonesty can lead to a failing grade or referral to the Office of Judicial Affairs

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

• cheating
• plagiarism
• fabrication of information or citations
• facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others
• unauthorized prior possession of examinations
• submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor and securing written approval
• tampering with the academic work of other students

In cases where academic integrity is questioned, Penn State's policy on academic integrity requires that the instructor give the student notice of the charge as well as the recommended sanction. Procedures allow the student to accept or contest the charge through discussions with the instructor. If a student accepts the charge and the recommended sanction, the respective College files the case with the Office of Judicial Affairs. If a student chooses to contest, the case will then be managed by the respective College or Campus Academic Integrity Committee. If a disciplinary sanction also is recommended, the case will be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs.

All Penn State colleges abide by this Penn State policy, but review procedures vary by college when academic dishonesty is suspected. Information about Penn State's academic integrity policy and college review procedures is included in the information students receive upon enrolling in a course. For that information in advance of enrolling in a course, please contact us.

Additionally, students enrolled at Penn State via the World Campus are expected to act with civility and personal integrity; respect other students' dignity, rights, and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite to respect for self and others, and a civil community.

For more information on academic integrity at Penn State, please see the Academic Integrity Chart for specific college contact information or visit one of the following URLs:
www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G-9.html
http://www.sa.psu.edu/ja/

All students are expected to act with civility, personal integrity; respect other students' dignity, rights and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their own efforts.  An environment of academic integrity is requisite to respect for self and others and a civil community.

Academic integrity includes a commitment to not engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty include cheating or copying, plagiarizing, submitting another persons' work as one's own, using Internet sources without citation, fabricating field data or citations, "ghosting" (taking or having another student take an exam), stealing examinations, tampering with the academic work of another student, facilitating other students' acts of academic dishonesty, etc.
Students charged with a breach of academic integrity will receive due process and, if the charge is found valid, academic sanctions may range, depending on the severity of the offense, from a grade of "F" for the assignment to a grade of "F" for the course. The University's statement on academic integrity, from which the above statement is drawn, is available at http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G-9.html and http://www.hbg.psu.edu/hbg/acadint.html

Plagiarism

Derived from the Latin word Plagiarius, plagiarism is defined by Alexander Lindly as "The false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person's mind, and presenting it as one's own." (Plagiarism and Originality. New York: Harper, 1952, p. 2). Plagiarism may take the form of repeating another's sentences as your own, adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own, paraphrasing someone else's argument as your own, or even presenting someone else's line of thinking in the development of a thesis as though it were your own. In short, to plagiarize is to give the impression that you have written or thought something that you have in fact borrowed from another. Although a writer may use another person's words and thoughts, they must be acknowledged as such. Plagiarism is cheating. Any student caught plagiarizing the work of another will, at the very least, receive an "F" for the course, and could lead to expulsion from the University. Your attention is again directed to the Senate Policy 49-20 "Academic Integrity" with regards to this important topic.

Plagiarism is considered to be any one or more of the following:

1. Extracting any sentence from another text without quotation marks and a supporting citation.
2. Extracting a portion of any sentence from another text without enclosing it in quotation marks and a supporting citation.
3. "Cut-&-Paste" or “Mosaic” plagiarism occurs when a student eliminates or adds one or two words to an existing sentence, or abbreviates a compound sentence. (For example, the first of the three following sentences is the original in a text, and it appears as a properly cited quotation. Those that follow the first sentence would be considered "cut-and-paste" plagiarism. "The German sociologist Max Weber, although best known to students of public administration for his analysis of rational bureaucracy, has had a broad impact on the social sciences" (Denhardt, 1993, p. 30). "It has been said that Max Weber, although best known to students of public administration for his analysis of rational bureaucracy, has had a broad impact on the social sciences." "The German sociologist Max Weber has had a broad impact on the social sciences."
4. Also considered under this title is any paper submitted in which the cited material is not designated by quotation marks in the text of the paper. It has been my experience that authors of such papers are attempting to shield themselves under a mantle that has come to be known in political circles as "Plausible Deniability." In short, the defense "I didn't know what I was doing was wrong" will not be accepted.
5. A good rule of thumb would be, if you use four or more of the original words of an author in succession, then they must be enclosed by quotation marks and a proper citation should accompany their use.
   Contained in this endnote are important observations and statements from Penn State and other national and universities on the topic of plagiarism. Please review these carefully as you will be held responsible for their contents.

Accommodating Disabilities

Additional Policies

Disclaimer: Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus are subject to change, and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. Your instructor will notify you of any changes.