Faculty and GSI Tips on Cheating in the Classroom

Academic integrity is fundamental to maintaining the high standards of academic quality and institutional achievement at Berkeley. The key to maintaining an environment of academic integrity in the classroom is consistency, not only in terms of setting the standards applicable to all of the students, but also in the enforcement of those standards whenever an act of academic dishonesty is discovered. This brochure is intended to assist faculty and GSIs in maintaining an environment that supports and promotes academic integrity in the classroom.

Suggestions for Prevention

Faculty and GSIs can help to create an environment that supports academic honesty and fairness by undertaking some of the following steps.

• Outline your expectations for academic integrity at the beginning of each semester. Include specific guidelines in your syllabus about topics such as collaboration, citation of research materials, use of the internet, and the re-use of assignments submitted for a different course.
  
  
• Discuss the importance of academic integrity within the educational process. Encourage an open dialogue with your students, both in class and in discussion sections.
  
  
• Establish clear guidelines for assignments and for awarding grades. Encourage students to talk to you if they are experiencing difficulties in the course. Help them feel as though they can succeed in the class without having to resort to academic dishonesty.
  
  
• Ensure equal access to study and research materials. Consider establishing a file in the library or department office of old homework assignments and exams, or attach a sample to the syllabus.
  
  
• If possible, collect papers in class or section. If papers are to be turned into a department office, consider using a locked mailbox with slot for collection.
  
  
• Shortly before scheduled midterms and finals, revisit the subject of academic integrity and your expectations. Inform students of the option available to instructors and GSIs of reporting suspected cases of cheating to the Student Judicial Affairs Office and the campus policy governing retention of disciplinary records for five years. Encourage students to report any cases of suspected cheating that they become aware of.
  
  
• Carefully follow-up on cases where academic dishonesty are brought to your attention. GSIs who report suspected cases of academic dishonesty should always be supported.

Suggested classroom techniques

One of the best ways to promote an environment of academic integrity is preventing the opportunity for dishonesty. Consider employing some of the following techniques.

• Use multiple forms of an exam – collating the exam pages in different orders (page 2 before page 1, etc.), printing the same page on different color paper so it appears that the pages are in a different order, mixing up the order of the questions on a given page.
  
  
• Maintain control of exams by collecting all of them after each exam or rewriting exams each semester. This is useful because some student groups maintain examination/test files.
  
  
• Keep exams in a secure place; try to eliminate extra copies that may surface later.
  
  
• Utilize GSI-proctors to assist in staffing examinations for large classes.
  
  
• Avoid using undergraduate student employees or volunteers to photocopy or duplicate examinations before they are given.
  
  
• Before an exam, ask students not to sit near friends with whom they have studied, to avoid situations arising in which their exams end up looking “too similar.”
  
  
• Remind students of any restrictions regarding the use of cell phones, pagers, palm pilots, and other similar devices are in the classroom during an exam.
  
• Tell students that your department may be using plagiarism detection software.

If you suspect cheating has occurred, consider the following steps:

• If this occurs during an examination, allow the student to finish the exam, but do not take the test away from them. You can also ask them to move to another seat, and/or take away a cheat sheet or other materials they may be using. Write down a detailed narrative of the circumstances as soon as possible.
  
  
• Flag the examination when it is turned in so that you can examine it more closely to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred.
  
  
• Ask the student to meet with you after the examination or class is over. If you are hesitant or unsure about how to proceed with a meeting, talk with an experienced colleague or the department chair beforehand.
  
  
• When you meet with a student about a suspicion of academic dishonesty, explain the concern you have in an objective manner, describe why it may pose problems for issuing a grade, but avoid making any statements that imply guilt on the part of the student.
  
  
• Listen to the student’s explanation, but be prepared for excuses, pleas, and tales of hardship or extenuating circumstances. If the student becomes distraught, show some sympathy, and suggest a referral to the campus counseling center, if appropriate under the circumstances.
  
• If the student denies wrongdoing, review specific aspects of the paper with him or her, or ask for more information about terms or points made in the assignment in question.
  
  
• If the student admits wrongdoing, explain what the consequences will be, and then take whatever administrative action is prescribed by your department.

---

Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Defined

The Berkeley Code of Student Conduct provides clear definitions about what types of student behavior are not acceptable. Academic misconduct includes:

1. Cheating is defined as fraud, deceit, or dishonesty in an academic assignment, or using or attempting to use materials, or assisting others in using materials which are prohibited or inappropriate in the context of the academic assignment in question. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Providing answers to or receiving answers from others for any academic assignment without the instructor’s knowledge and express approval.
   
   
2. Using notes, information, calculators, or other electronic devices or programs during exams or for assignments from which they have been expressly or implicitly prohibited;
   
   
3. Improperly obtaining or using improperly obtained information about an exam or assignment in advance of its availability to other students, or assisting others in doing so;
   
   
4. Putting one's name on another student’s exam or assignment, or placing another student’s name on one’s exam or assignment;
   
   
5. Altering previously graded work for purpose of seeking a revised grade; or
   
   
6. Collaborating with others on an assignment, such as sharing information or discussing the assignment, without the authorization of the instructor.

2. Plagiarism is defined as the use of intellectual material produced by another person without acknowledging its source in the submission of formal or informal academic assignments. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Copying from the writings or works of others into one's academic assignment without proper attribution, or submitting such work as if it were one's own;
   
   
2. Paraphrasing the characteristic or original phraseology, metaphor, or other creative, artistic or literary device of another without proper attribution;
   
   
3. Using the views or insights of another without proper attribution; or
   
   
4. Copying, paraphrasing or otherwise using the research data, results, codes, formulae or algorithms of another without proper attribution.

3. Furnishing false information in the context of an academic assignment includes, but is not limited to:

1. Writing an exam or term paper for another student;
   
   
2. Soliciting and/or allowing another person to take an exam or write a paper for one's own class;
   
   
3. Submitting the same piece of work in partial fulfillment of the requirements of more than one course without the instructor’s knowledge or express approval;
   
   
4. Representing oneself as another person, or failing to identify oneself forthrightly and honestly in the context of an academic obligation;
   
   
5. Representing, explicitly or implicitly, that work obtained from another source was produced by oneself; or
   
   
6. Fabricating any information required for an academic exercise, such as altering data to support one’s research or crediting source material not actually used.

4. Creating an improper academic disadvantage to another student or an improper academic advantage to oneself includes, but is not limited to:

1. Removing, defacing, hiding or deliberately withholding library books or other materials, particularly those with short-term loan periods or on reserve for courses;
   
   
2. Contaminating a laboratory sample (e.g., a "mystery substance" in qualitative chemistry); or
   
   
3. Altering the indicators of a practical exam (e.g., moving the pin in a dissection specimen in anatomy).

5. Interference with courses of instruction includes, but is not limited to:

1. Failure to comply with the instructions or directives of the instructor; or
   
   
2. Disruption of classes or other academic activities (e.g., repeatedly preventing other students from participating in a classroom discussion).

6. Theft of, or damage to, intellectual property includes, but is not limited to:

1. Sabotaging or stealing another person’s assignment, book, paper, notes, experiment, or project; or
   
   
2. Improperly accessing or electronically interfering via computer or other means with the property of another person or the University.

7. Selling course lecture notes, handouts, readers or other information provided by an instructor, or using or distributing them for any commercial purpose without the express permission of the instructor.

 

---

Disciplinary Procedures

Generally, when an instructor becomes aware of possible academic misconduct, he or she may discuss and resolve the allegation with the student directly, report the allegation(s) to the Student Judicial Affairs Office for formal adjudication, or do both.

The instructor may at any time discuss and attempt to resolve a suspicion of academic misconduct directly with the student. If the student admits responsibility, the instructor may impose a punitive grade for the assignment in question or, if the violation is sufficiently serious, for the course as a whole, and may require the student to undertake additional academic work. A punitive grade for a course may not be removed without the written approval of the instructor. In such circumstances, the instructor may also report a student’s admission of responsibility for academic misconduct to the Student Judicial Affairs Office. This information may be used to take administrative action if the student is subsequently accused of and found responsible for academic misconduct. Such information may also be used to determine whether the student has a prior discipline record, in which case formal charges against the student may be brought by that Office after consultation with the instructor.

If the student denies responsibility or declines to respond, the instructor may elect not to pursue the matter further or he or she may refer the allegation(s) to the Student Judicial Affairs Office for formal adjudication. The instructor may not impose a punitive grade until the matter has been formally resolved. In case the matter is not resolved by the end of the semester, a course grade of "I" (“Incomplete”) shall be noted on the grade sheet pending final resolution of the allegation.

After the matter has been referred for formal adjudication, the Student Judicial Affairs Office shall consult with the instructor about a proposed resolution before final disposition of the allegation(s). In all cases, the Student Judicial Affairs Office shall inform the instructor of the final disposition after the matter has been resolved.

If the matter proceeds to a disciplinary hearing, the burden will be on the instructor to establish through a “preponderance of the evidence” that the allegation of academic dishonesty or plagiarism should be sustained. This simply means that the evidence should show that it is “more likely than not” that the allegation is true.

---

References:

From the Report of the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Subcommittee (June 18, 2004)

Portions of this brochure have been adapted with permission from UCLA’s “Faculty and Teaching Assistant Guide to Academic Integrity,” September 2002, and from Barbara Gross Davis, Tools for Teaching (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2001).