Academic Integrity

Examples of Academic Integrity Violations

Plagiarism: The most common form of academic dishonesty is presentation of the work of another person as one’s own and is referred to as “plagiarism.” Plagiarism is a serious academic infraction that tarnishes everyone associated with it. Civil and criminal penalties may also apply where conduct violates U. S. copyright laws.

Cheating: The use or sharing of confidential information by any means, including quizzes/tests/exams and/or completed assignments. This includes hired and/or compensated work from another person or organization to prepare and/or complete academic work on the learner’s behalf and hiring individuals or services to perform data collection and/or analyses for project or research studies.

Copy and Paste/Patchwriting: Pieced together the work of other people, section by section or as-a-whole, and presented such copied work as their own. Per the American Psychological Association, 2022, patchwriting is “when students mistakenly think they have paraphrased an author's words because they added or removed a few words or replaced some of the words with synonyms. This is called patchwriting. If your wording has a similar sentence structure and uses the same words and phrases of the original author, you are patchwriting.”

Direct Duplication: Copied of the work of another person and presented such copied work as their own; may include work from an article, website, book, online repository, or another student.

Paraphrasing: Paraphrased without citing or incorrectly citing the original author; did not give credit to another person's work when the ideas/facts presented were not their own.

False References: Used false references (incorporated references that are not relevant or are fictitious, to misrepresent sources).

Manipulated Assignment Submission: Manipulated an assignment to avoid detection of content that is non-original and/or similar to other sources by plagiarism software; this includes the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any form.

Self-Plagiarism or Submission of Work Previously Submitted for a Grade: Learners are not permitted to use previously submitted assignment content. This includes part of a paper or excerpts from a previously graded paper for an assignment from another class. The only exception is when the course Mentor grants permission to a learner repeating the same course to submit work that was previously graded in the same class or if work from one course carries over to another course as in the Doctoral project courses. The learner must notify the current course Mentor if they are repeating the course.

Use of Aids: The use of any aid and/or resource not expressly permitted. For example, the use of calculators, notes, textbooks, electronic recordings, cell phones, the Internet, and any other aid, device, or resource that is not expressly permitted to complete an assignment or course requirement for a grade.

Acts of Dishonesty: Any misrepresentation by any means and in any situation for the purpose of altering academic standing, delaying assignment submission, misrepresenting clinical/practicum/fieldwork activities/hours, or

Facilitating academic dishonesty: This is also considered a violation of CalSouthern’s Academic Integrity policy. It includes but is not limited to:

• Intentionally assisting another learner to commit an act of academic dishonesty.
• Attempting to assist another learner to commit an act of academic dishonesty.
• Not reporting another learner that is committing an act of academic dishonesty.
• While facilitating academic dishonesty may not directly benefit the facilitator, it does assist another learner in violation of the policy.

Other: Any activity, behavior, or representation to alter academic standing that a reasonable person in the discipline of study would consider dishonest or that violates the disciplines’ Professional Code of Ethics.

Reporting and Resolving Charges of Plagiarism

All members of the Cal Southern community are expected to assist in maintaining the integrity of the University, which includes reporting incidents that violate this Academic Integrity Policy. Charges of plagiarism must be raised by anyone with knowledge of the incident, including but not limited to:

• Mentors
• Administrators
• Peers (other learners or co-workers)

Violations are cumulative across the program of study. If a learner is found to be in violation of the university’s academic integrity policy, disciplinary actions (sanctions) include:

Minor Violation

Less than 10% of the assignment includes incorrect paraphrasing, incorrect or missing citations, or short, direct quotes that are cited without quotation marks.

• First Offense: Resubmission of the assignment within 3 calendar days with a 10-30% grade reduction and a verbal warning.
• Second Offense: Grade of zero on the assignment and written warning.
• *Third Offense: Grade of zero for the course with a written warning and referral to the AIUS Code of Conduct committee with a recommendation for final warning or dismissal from the Program/University.

Major Violation

All academic integrity violations that do not meet the definition of a minor violation are considered a major violation.

• First Offense: A failing grade on an assignment with a written warning.
• Second Offense: A failing grade for the course with a written warning.
• Third Offense: Referral to the AIUS Code of Conduct committee with a recommendation for final warning or dismissal from the Program/University.

Multiple Academic Integrity Violations

Academic integrity violations are cumulative over a learner’s tenure with the University. If a pattern of academic integrity violations is confirmed, the learner will be notified by the Dean or designee and asked for an explanation. Faculty, staff, and learners acknowledge that failure to prevent plagiarism, regardless of the cause, will result in sanctions. Learners with more than two academic integrity violations are subject to the following actions:

• Creation of a learning plan and signed Academic Integrity Acknowledgement form in collaboration with Dean or designee.
• Referral to the Code of Conduct Committee wherein a recommendation may be made for final warning or dismissal from the University.
• Review of all current and previous coursework (whether graded or ungraded; whether by a current learner or graduate) of any learner found to have engaged in plagiarism. Previous assignment and/or course grades may be adjusted to reflect violations that are identified during this review.

Right of Appeal

In cases where disciplinary action is applied, the learner shall have the right of appeal.

• The learner may appeal the disciplinary action applied by the Department Chair, if there were procedural irregularities in the process that affected the outcome, within five business days to the Dean.
• The learner may appeal the disciplinary action applied by the Dean within five business days to the Vice Provost. The decision of the Vice Provost is final and non-appealable.
• Learners may formally appeal the Code of Conduct Committee decision if there were procedural irregularities in the process that affected the outcome with submission of a written grievance to the Office of the Ombudsman in the CalSouthern at Ombudsman@CalSouthern.edu (please refer to the Grievance Procedure section of this catalog for more information).