Huntington Junior College works to ensure that its classes are of the highest academic standards. Consequently, the college has a firm policy against academic dishonesty, including cheating or plagiarism. Whenever students doubt what they will do, they must check with the instructor before doing it. Explanations about cheating and plagiarism can be found below.
Students guilty of academic dishonesty will be administratively dropped from the course with a grade of ‘F’ and subject to disciplinary action, which may include suspension and dismissal.
Cheating
The following would be considered examples of cheating in the online environment:
- Giving or receiving any information during testing or graded work from another student, family member, or individual
- Sharing the contents of any test or quiz, including lending or borrowing from past tests or quizzes with another student
- Using notes, internet, books, or any other form of information to look up answers on a test or quiz
- Taking a test/quiz for another student
- Working with another student in the class to complete an assignment or quiz unless expressly permitted by the instructor (i.e., You do this part of the assignment, I’ll do the other part, and we will share our work.)
If a student turns in one paper for two classes without gaining consent from both instructors, it is considered an act of cheating (i.e., receiving double credit for a single assignment). The student will receive an F for both classes and possibly be suspended or dismissed from school.
Plagiarism
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:
- to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
- to use (another's production) without crediting the source
- to commit literary theft
- to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward. Students must use APA citing guidelines to give credit to the source.
Copyright Infringement
In today’s high-tech environment, students must understand the implications of electronic copyright infringement, especially concerning peer-to-peer file sharing. Peer-to-peer programs generally find and download various media files such as music, MP3s, movies, and images. Most of these MP3s, movies, and pictures are copyrighted.
Copyright infringement occurs when material/property is used without authorization from the owner. Downloading, uploading, or sharing copyrighted material without permission is illegal. The most common offenses include downloading movies from an unauthorized source and sharing music peer-to-peer (P2P). These actions are considered theft of the copyrighted work of a director, producer, or artist.
According to the Higher Education Opportunity Act, Huntington Junior College MUST take action against such activities when we receive a notice of violation for electronic copyright infringement.
Huntington Junior College reserves the right to remove or block access to any copyrighted materials and/or temporarily restrict access to the campus network pending the outcome of an investigation of an alleged copyright infringement violation. Huntington Junior College will inform the account holder of any action taken to maintain compliance with federal and state copyright infringement laws.
Violations of copyright infringement laws may result in a formal criminal charge of a breach of law, court case proceedings, and fines up to $150,000 per work/property misappropriated. If a student is found to violate the copyright laws utilizing any computer at Huntington Junior College, the student will be dismissed.
Furthermore, Huntington Junior College computers and internet service are for educational purposes only. Therefore, students should not be using the system for any personal business. If the college finds a student is utilizing the system for reasons other than educational, the college reserves the right to suspend all student access to the computer labs except under instructional supervision.