Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Students are encouraged and expected to perform at the highest level possible. This expectation encompasses academic honesty, disinclination to take shortcuts, and refusal to participate in any action that is commonly defined as cheating or plagiarism. Shiloh University considers all instances of academic fraud as serious academic misconduct. Cheating on assignments or tests violates academic integrity.

To cheat on an assignment includes, but is not limited to, using materials or sources explicitly forbidden by the instructor (including the use of ideas and work of other students when forbidden) and assisting students in cheating as defined above.
To cheat on an exam includes, but is not limited to, using books, notes, or other materials not explicitly permitted by the instructor when taking the exam; copying another student’s work; using copies of examination material (whether stolen or accidentally obtained) in preparing for an examination when the instructor has not made these materials public by prior distribution; helping another student to cheat in any of the aforementioned ways.

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Plagiarism is defined as claiming original authorship of intellectual material produced by another person. It includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Copying of passages from published or unpublished works of others into an assignment, paper, discussion posting, or thesis without proper referencing by citations, quotation marks, and bibliographic references
Paraphrasing another person’s ideas, theories, or opinions without proper referencing
Using another person’s graphics or pictures without proper referencing
Submitting the same work to more than one course, unless prior permission to do so has been given in writing. If permission is given, the prior work must be cited in the new work.

Repeated cases of plagiarism or cheating may result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

Reporting Plagiarism

If the instructor suspects that plagiarism or cheating has occurred, the instructor will contact the student directly to discuss the incident, confirm whether there was plagiarism/cheating, and determine the course of action.

If the instructor determines that plagiarism or cheating has occurred,

The instructor will provide a written notification to the student via the student’s university email account.
The work in question will be assigned a grade of “F,” or zero points.
The student will not be allowed to rewrite or resubmit work to compensate for grades assigned as a result of plagiarism or cheating.
The instructor will provide a written incident report to the Registrar, who will notify the appropriate Academic Dean.
The report will include details of the incident along with a summary of related communication between the instructor and the student.
This documentation will become part of the student’s permanent academic record.

Appealing a Decision

As a human community, we all make mistakes. Students at Shiloh University have, without fear of penalty or reprisal, the right to pursue an appeal of the academic decision. If the student disagrees with the instructor’s decision and the student’s concern is not resolved after communicating with the instructor, the student can:

Appeal to the appropriate Academic Dean within two days of receiving a written notification from the instructor. The appeal shall be done in writing, via the Dean’s university email account.
The appeal must include (1) a summary of the incident and (2) the student’s explanation of why the student disagrees with the instructor’s determination.

The Academic Dean will review the student’s appeal and notify the student, instructor and Registrar of one of the following possible decisions:

Student has been cleared of suspicion. The student’s assignment will be graded without any penalty related to plagiarism or cheating.
Student has admitted guilt and will receive a zero or an “F” for the assignment.
Student has admitted guilt and will redo the assignment with an appropriate penalty assessed.
Student does not admit guilt and will be assessed an “F” for the entire course.

If the student disagrees with the Academic Dean’s decision, the student can appeal to the Vice-President of Academics, following the same process as the appeal to the Academic Dean.

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