Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity Overview

In this class, your writing should be your own. That means doing your own thinking and using your own words.

More than anything, I want to hear your thoughts and read your writing—even if those thoughts are still forming or your writing feels messy. That's part of the process! The discussion boards, in particular, are meant as a space to work out the ideas and the rubrics and grading reflect that. (i.e. you will not be graded on your grammar or academic writing on the Video Viewing Guides or supporting assignments to the Research Project).

So, don't copy someone else's work, have someone else write your responses, or use AI tools to create full or partial drafts.

The full policy is explained below, and if you're ever unsure about what's okay, just ask. I'm here to support you. Still, academic dishonesty is serious and can result in a failing grade on the assignment or in the course.

Bottom line: do your own work, trust the process, and ask for help when you need it.

A Note on GenAI

I allow for the limited use of GenAI for specific assignments, but I always expect the ideas to be your own. See the full Generative AI Policy and Guidelines for more information.

Academic Integrity Policy

Academic honesty is highly valued at Macomb. It is important to submit work that represents your original words or ideas. Whenever you use another's words or ideas, please cite all relevant sources and the extent these sources were used. Words or ideas that require citations include all hardcopy or electronic publications; all verbal or visual communication; and all submissions to public meetings or mailboxes.

Instances of academic dishonesty will result in a lowered grade on the assignment, a zero for the assignment with no opportunity for resubmission, or failure in the course, depending on the degree and type of dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty could involve any of the following:

• Having someone complete a portion of your assignments
• Having a reviewer or GenAI make extensive revisions to an assignment
• Copying work submitted by another person
• Turning in assignments that are similar to another's assignment in the course
• Using information from sources without proper citation
• Fabricating or misrepresenting sources, information, or data (see "Fabrication" section below for more info)
• Using a paper or discussion posting that you used for another course, including a previous enrollment in this class, without discussing it with your instructor.
• Reusing work that you prepared for another course, business use, or other use. Check with me, if you are unsure.
• Having your writing assignments completed in whole or in part by artificial intelligence software. See the full GenAI Policy for more.

For additional information, please refer to Macomb's policies on the Academic Integrity.

Fabrication

Fabrication is when the author makes up data, results, or research, such as:

• Citing non-existent sources (for example, including sources or citations in an assignment that aren't real/don't actually exist)
• Misrepresenting information from one of your sources
• Fabricating quotes, paraphrases, or summaries from sources (for example, including a quote or paraphrase in your assignment that the author did not write).

Fabrication or falsification can also include making up data, changing the results of labs/studies, etc., but those cases will not apply to our class.

As of late, most fabrication seems to stem from unethical and inappropriate GenAI use. GenAI will often make up sources, make up quotes, and sometimes even cite a real author with a fake quote. Fabrication of sources and research is a serious academic integrity violation and will be treated as such.

Consequences for Academic Integrity Violations

Depending on the severity of the violation, the consequences for academic dishonesty can involve the following:

• A warning
• A warning and failure of the assignment with a change to resubmit for partial credit
• Failure of the assignment with no opportunity to resubmit
• Failure of the class

Academic Integrity Violation Report

If you believe you are not at fault (i.e. the issue was an error on your part and not intentional plagiarism or cheating), you will need to provide evidence to support your claim. For the majority of assignments, I will reach out to you before submitting the report. If you fail to respond or fail to provide evidence that the issue was not an academic integrity violation, then a report will be filed.

Since the final project is due at the end of the semester, all academic integrity violations will be automatically submitted to the college since there isn't time to reach out and receive evidence before final grades are submitted. That said, you will still be given an opportunity with the Office of Student Conduct to provide evidence if you believe the issue was an error.

Example Scenario

If a student quotes an article in their research paper, but they accidentally misattributed it to a different author they are also using for that paper, it would appear that they had either fabricated or misrepresented the information. However, the student could provide a PDF that shows the quote from the other author to demonstrate that it was an accidental misattribution instead of an intentional fabrication.