Plagiarism & Academic Integrity

Dishonesty – Academic

The college considers academic honesty to be essential to all academic performance. Instances of academic dishonesty will be treated as serious offenses of the Student Code of Conduct. Students involved in activities such as cheating and/or plagiarism will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from a course, program, and/or the college.

• Definition of plagiarism: Plagiarism is the appropriation of language, thoughts or ideas of another author without appropriate citation.
• Definition of cheating: Cheating can be, but is not limited to, a student using or attempting to use unauthorized resources (i.e. electronic technology, notes, books, or other materials not permitted by the instructor); or sharing work with others when independent work is required. Students are responsible to protect their own work and not share with others.

When the instructor has evidence of cheating or plagiarism, the instructor may impose disciplinary actions such as assigning a failing grade to the student’s assignment, quiz, paper, test or the entire course.  Incidents of cheating that significantly impact a student’s grade will be reported to the Student Services department and reviewed by several staff within the Vice President of Student Services office. Incidents will be recorded and referenced in consideration of further college level discipline, up to and including dismissal from the college. Repeated offenses or particularly egregious incidents, as determined by the reporting faculty member, or the Student Services team, will be reviewed by the Academic Integrity Committee to determine the appropriate college level consequences. Please review the Academic Dishonesty policy for more details.

St. Clair County Community College Student Code of Conduct - Exhibit A., 2021; https://sc4.edu/policy/student-code-of-conduct-expectations-and-prohibitions-exhibit-a/

Academic Integrity

The student is responsible for their own learning. The nursing faculty is available to assist and support each student in mastering the competencies of the nursing program. The faculty believes academic integrity is essential to the development of professional conduct.  Students, who engage in acts of academic dishonesty such as cheating or plagiarism, compromise the culture of safety and integrity which defines the nursing profession. Students who choose to violate academic integrity erode the foundation of trust between the students, faculty, clients and the community that they serve. All students are required to sign and adhere to the Honor Code.

St. Clair County Community College considers academic honesty to be essential to all academic performance. The policy of the college states that instances of academic dishonesty will be treated as serious offenses of the Student Code of Conduct. Students involved in activities such as cheating and/or plagiarism will be subject to disciplinary action.  Definitions as outlined in the SC4 catalog are as follows:

Definition of plagiarism:  Plagiarism is the appropriation of language, thoughts, or ideas of another author without appropriate citation.

Definition of cheating:  Cheating can be, but is not limited to, a student using or attempting to use unauthorized resources (i.e. electronic technology, notes, books or other materials not permitted by the instructor); or sharing work with others when independent work is required. Students are responsible to protect their own work and not share with others.

Cheating is further defined in the Nursing Department as fraud, deceit, or dishonesty in any academic or clinical activity.  It may include but is not limited to:

• Copying or attempting to copy from others during testing or for an assignment.
• Communicating any testing information to, or receiving such information from, another person during or prior to an exam.
• Using, attempting to use, or assisting others in using materials that are prohibited or inappropriate in the context of the assignment or examination in question, such as: books, prepared answers, written notes, concealed information, or Web sites (this includes cutting and pasting from websites).
• Copying the work of another person (peer), including an author of a published book, pamphlet, or article, and turning it in as one’s own.  Quotations, statistics, and other factual data must be noted as such by documentation of the authoritative source.
• Allowing others to do one's assignment or a portion of one's assignment or using a commercial term paper service.
• Altering an assignment after it has been completed or altering recorded grades.
• Resubmitting a previously written assignment for a new course without the permission of the prior and current instructor.
• Misrepresenting performance or falsifying documentation related to the performance of any activity required to complete course/curriculum objectives.

Cheating will not be tolerated in class or clinical.  You must not share test questions, care plans, class/simulation activity answers, quiz information, assessment data, etc.   All work submitted must be original or sources must be referenced. Cheating on any classroom or clinical assignment, quiz or exam will result in a grade of "E" or an Unsatisfactory for the course and dismissal from the Nursing Program. In addition, the student will be ineligible for readmission to any SC4 nursing program.  

Handbook for the Practical Degree Nursing Program at St. Clair County  Community College., 2019-2020.