Academic Integrity and Honesty

The mission of the Theatre Program is to prepare students to be productive, innovative, and professional theatrical contributors to the field. This is done through rigorous, constant practice in creation, collaboration, and feedback. In order for faculty and advisors to adequately push students’ work further, they must see the true measure of each student’s strengths and weaknesses; that is the only way learning happens. Undermining this interaction through cheating or plagiarism is strictly prohibited. It is considered a major breach of standards as a Theatre Program student and a member of the School of the Arts community. What follows are definitions of these infractions and details their consequences. It also provides suggestions on how to avoid these grave violations.

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another’s work, words, or ideas as if they were one’s own or doing so without properly crediting the source. This can be done in a myriad of ways, including, but not limited to, using without attribution:

  • a sequence of words quoted without quotation marks 

  • a paraphrased passage from another writer’s work 

  • ideas, sound recordings, computer data, or images composed or created by someone else.

What counts as another’s work or idea varies greatly depending on the assignment, but the list certainly includes readings, lectures, websites, presentations, information gathered from interviews, and other students’ papers. Instructors should make clear which style conventions students must use; if they do not, it is the student’s responsibility to ask. In all situations, students must make clear in written work where they have borrowed from others—whether it be a matter of data, opinions, questions, ideas, or specific language, regardless of whether the formatting standards are unclear, or if the sources are published or unpublished.
 
It is expected that one’s work is often built upon the work of others; that is part of the creative process. However, the difference between creation and fraud can be as simple as giving proper acknowledgement credit to the original creator.

Students are not allowed to submit the same paper, or substantial sections of the same paper, for an assignment in more than one course.

Cheating is any attempt to give a faculty member a false impression of one’s mastery of a subject through duplicitous means. These means may include, but are not limited to:

  • using notes, books, electronic media, or electronic communications in an exam or independent assignment without permission 

  • talking with fellow students or looking at another person’s work during an exam or any assignment meant to be done independently
  • fabricating a citation or using a false citation 

  • purchasing a paper or hiring someone else to write a paper 

  • having someone take an exam for a different person, or taking an exam for someone else 

  • allowing another student to present a different student’s work as their own 

  • altering or forging academic documents, including but not limited to admissions materials and medical excuses 

  • unauthorized collaboration on work intended to be done individually. 


For take-home examinations and assignments, and for examinations for which the questions are distributed in advance, faculty members should make the rules of collaboration clear, and students should obey them to the letter. If a student is in any doubt as to the meaning of the instructions governing 
such exercises, they should seek explicit clarification from the faculty. In all cases, the work submitted must represent the student’s own understanding of the issues.

Violating the policy on academic integrity can happen intentionally or unintentionally, and the consequences for both are just as dire. So then, how can one avoid breaching this policy?

  1. Manage time. Experience shows that many students who committed breaches of academic integrity were tempted to do so when the due date for an assignment was approaching, or the time for an exam was approaching, and they were unprepared.
  2. Ask for help. If an assignment is feeling overwhelming, contact the faculty member and ask for an extension. Passing in a late assignment pales in comparison to being put on academic probation, or being dismissed from the Program for cheating.
  3. Learn how to cite sources properly. There are several excellent guides to proper citation available online. Find out in advance the preferred citation style of the faculty, if not already indicated in the course syllabus. 

  4. When in doubt as to whether to cite or not cite a source…cite. The feedback on an assignment will alert the student if they are being too cautious, but it is best to let the faculty member decide. 

  5. Take careful and complete notes while conducting research, and save them in case the work’s integrity is challenged. Also keep copies of successive drafts of papers or versions of artistic work.
  6. Make sure the instructor’s expectations about collaboration in a course or on an assignment are clear. Do not assume that because collaboration was permitted on one assignment, it is permitted on another.
  7. If there is uncertainty about the assignment, ask the instructor for clarification.

Any student suspected of plagiarism or cheating will be subject to the School of the Arts’ Policy on Conduct and Discipline. Click here for detailed information on the process.