Southwestern Adventist University was founded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in order to educate its students academically and spiritually for Christian service. The ethical training of students is as important as their academic competence. Academic integrity rests on honesty, the first principle of the Christian life. Students must be honest in their dealings inside and outside the classroom.
Students must maintain a high ethical standard in their academic work. When a student turns in work for credit in the classroom, that work must be the student's own. Students have access to some forms of authorized assistance. Authorized assistance may come in the form of tutoring by official university tutors, help from the professor, or the legitimate use of outside sources which are cited according to standard form. Other forms of outside assistance are unauthorized, for example, having another person complete all or part of an assignment, taking material from the Internet or other sources without citing it, or bringing unauthorized materials into an examination. Unauthorized help, in these and other forms, constitutes academic dishonesty.
General Responsibilities of Students
- Students must produce their work independently, except when the professor has assigned the work as a group project.
- Students must not represent work as their own which is not their own.
- Students must not aid others in academic dishonesty.
Examples of Violations
What follows are examples of academic dishonesty which will jeopardize a student's standing in the classroom and at the University. This is a representative list only, not an exhaustive one.
- Misusing Sources of Information (Plagiarism). When using outside sources in a paper, students must cite the source plainly in the text of the paper and on a references page, using the style which their professor requests. Failure to cite sources properly may result in failure on the paper or in the class. Students must cite the source when quoting, when paraphrasing, or even when using an idea which is unique to that source. If a student fails to do so, he or she may be subject to failure in the class. Fabricating a quotation, a paraphrase, or any part of a bibliographic reference also constitutes academic dishonesty. Students may not turn in written work as their own which was produced wholly or partly by others. If a student will receive credit for the work, the student must have, in fact, done the work. Students may not turn in material taken from the Internet as their own work, whether the material was taken from a free website or a pay service. Repeated acts of plagiarism may result in expulsion from the University.
- Multiple Submissions. Students may not submit papers or assignments for credit that have already been submitted or are in the process of being submitted for another course.
- Misrepresenting One's Work. Work that is assigned to the student must be done by the student. Homework assignments in any subject area must be the work of the student getting the credit and must not reflect unauthorized help from others.
- Using Unauthorized Materials During an Examination. Unless the professor indicates otherwise, students should assume that the use of notes, textbooks, the Internet, databases, calculators, or any other outside sources of help during an examination, will constitute academic dishonesty.
- Exchanging Information During an Examination. Students may not share information with each other in any form or by any means during an examination. Talking or signaling in any manner during an examination may result in failure on the examination. Obtaining information from another student's paper by any means during an examination is a violation of academic integrity.
- Tampering with Computers. Students may not access faculty computers by any means in order to obtain advance copies of tests or quizzes, alter grades on an online grade book, or for any other purpose.
- Forging a Signature. Students may not sign anyone's name but their own on any advisement form, registration form, exceptions form, or any other document for any purpose whatsoever.
- Aiding Others in Academic Dishonesty. Students who enable others to misrepresent their work are also guilty of academic dishonesty and may be penalized as if they had misrepresented their own work. No student may do the class work for which another student will get credit, except in those cases when the professor has assigned work to be done in a group.