In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote the six core values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.
As a student, academic integrity means making ethical decisions, asking questions, and following instructions - even when faced with difficult situations. These skills are important to help you learn and grow in your post-secondary education, and are equally important for your success and reputation in your future careers. Waterloo Math graduates are going to go out into the world and make a difference, and it is important that our graduates have good decision-making skills and ethical judgement for both their own personal development and to help create a strong civic culture.
Students who aren’t aware of the expectations of these six core values or the nuances of academic misconduct may be committing an academic integrity offence unintentionally. Many offences that happen in university happen by accident but regardless of good intentions, the consequences that result from misconduct are significant and never worth the risk. It’s important that you know what to do so that you don’t end up in the same situation.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting, whether intentionally or not, the ideas or work of others as one’s own. Plagiarism isn’t something that just happens in essays, it also occurs in math and computer science courses.
In some cases, students unintentionally commit this offence when submitting written work because they are concerned that they will not properly capture the meaning if they change the author’s words. In other cases, students copy information word-for-word from their sources with the intention of rewording later, but this can lead to mistakes. It’s important to be able to paraphrase, quote, and cite properly (and effectively) in written work.
Plagiarism is also copying a classmate’s work or googling or sourcing answers to assignment questions without explicit permission from the instructor.
There is an important distinction to be made between seeing and copying someone’s mathematical argument word-for-word, or line-by-line, and understanding an idea and then writing it up on your own. Not only is copying someone else's work an offence, but you’re not learning the content in a way that will help your understanding of future concepts.
Tips
- Plagiarism does not have to be intentional to be an offence.
- You should only discuss assignment issues with other students in a very broad and high-level fashion. Do not take notes during such discussions, and avoid looking at anyone else's code, calculation or proof.
- If you’re not sure if you can use the internet to complete your work, ask your instructor! In all cases, students are required to cite any external source used in their work, even for math and computer science courses.
- Utilise the resources of Waterloo's Writing and Communication Centre, such as their information about paraphrasing and their workshops.
Cheating
Cheating can occur when a student obtains answers from unauthorized aids (such as note-sharing or answer-sharing platforms).
When students view a website or join a student-created group chat where answers to assignments or tests are being circulated then a student may unintentionally ‘check’ their answers against what’s posted or get inspired from what others are saying. The answers they submit for grades no longer reflect their own work and the Math academic integrity office will view it as committing an academic integrity offence.
Tips
- At the start of term, carefully review the course outline for information and expectations around what aids you may use for the course. If the information is not clear or you have questions, ask your instructor.
- Asking someone else to do the work for you is never acceptable.
Unauthorized Collaboration
Unauthorized collaboration is when students collaborate in the completion of an academic assignment, in whole or in part, beyond what the instructor has indicated is acceptable.
For example, students working together to complete an independent, take-home final exam would be unauthorized collaboration. For assignments where group work is not permitted, students should prepare their final answers alone; they can discuss course concepts, but not read or use each other’s answers.
Getting too much help from tutors or editors is also an example of unauthorized collaboration. In general, tutors and editors should not be changing or completing your work for you – they can make suggestions on how to improve your writing or better understand and engage with course concepts, but all of your work you submit must be your own.
Tips
- If you're not sure what group work is permitted in a course then ask your instructor before you begin working with others.
- Some courses may explicitly forbid any discussion of specific questions in assessments. Read the course outline or assignment for direction and ask your instructor if you are uncertain.
- Participate in tutorials led by instructors and teaching assistants.
Intellectual Property Violations
Assignment and exam questions remain the property of the instructor. Your solutions to those questions are considered shared property and you may not share them without the instructors' permission. Intellectual property violations occur when students share course materials without their instructors’ permission. For example, posting course materials online in a note-sharing platform (without your instructor's permission) is an offence. If you are considering sharing your instructor’s materials beyond the classroom, including course slides, videos, assignments, or tests, you must ask the instructor for explicit permission first to avoid violating their intellectual property rights.
Tips
- Read the course outline carefully. AccessAbility Services has a video to help you understand your course outline.
- Review the instructions for assessments for directions about academic integrity. This will often be on a cover page.
- It’s always a good idea to check with your professors if you are ever in doubt about anything. For example, maybe googling help is ok, maybe it isn’t, it could depend on the instructor. Never assume anything is okay upfront if you are not certain. Avoiding working with others outside of what your professor has deemed to be appropriate
- When doing quizzes, be sure to avoid sharing answers with classmates through online chat groups.
- Avoid using answer-sharing or note-sharing websites for assistance with homework, tests, exams, etc.
- On assignments, avoid unauthorized collaboration by choosing not to copy someone else’s work, or by letting someone else copy your work. Someone who is asking you to allow them to copy is putting you in danger of committing an academic integrity offence. It may be tempting to google the answers if you are struggling, but you may be committing an academic integrity offence.
Discipline
It is recommended that students read Policy 71 - Student Discipline, including the appendices and frameworks. All academic offences involving Math students are reported to the Assistant Dean of Students and are recorded in the student's file. A second academic offence will lead to a more severe penalty, which will normally include a suspension.