Academic Honesty Policy

Students at Queensbury High School are expected to maintain the highest degree of academic integrity, which means putting the utmost effort into all classwork and assignments and avoiding the pitfalls of plagiarism and cheating. Dishonesty interferes with the assessment and feedback process that is necessary to promote academic growth and build moral character.

The following policies will be followed consistently by all teachers and students. The Academic Honesty Policy applies to any and all work submitted for any course at the high school. 

Definitions

Academic dishonesty is a kind of malpractice and a threat to the academic and moral growth of students. The following would all be considered violations of the Academic Honesty Policy: 

Plagiarism

The representation of the ideas or work of another person as the student’s own.

Collusion

Supporting malpractice by another student, as in allowing one’s work to be copied and submitted for assessment or class credit.

Duplication of work

The presentation of the same work submitted for multiple assignments, as in turning in a paper for one’s 10th grade English class that had already been submitted in 9th grade.

Any other behavior that gains an unfair advantage for the student or that affects the work of another student (for example, bringing unauthorized material into an exam, misconduct during an exam, copying answers from a neighboring student.) (Modified from IB: “Academic Honesty”) 

Examples of Plagiarism 

• You have plagiarized if:
  • You took someone else’s assignment or portion of an assignment and submitted it as your own
  • You submitted material written by someone else or rephrased the ideas of someone else without citing the source
  • You presented the work of a tutor, parent, sibling, or friend as your own
  • You submitted purchased papers as your own
  • You submitted papers from the internet written by someone else as your own
  • You supported plagiarism by providing your work to others, whether you believed it would be copied or not

Note: the same rules apply for any oral assignments. All sources should be noted in any presentation, and a Works Cited page should be included in slideshows. 

Examples of Cheating 

• Cheating includes but is not limited to:
  • Copying, faxing, emailing, texting, or in any way duplicating assignments that are turned in, wholly or in part, as original work;
  • Exchanging assignments with other students, either handwritten or computer generated, whether you believe they will be copied or not
  • Using anything including but not limited to a person, tool, electronic device, teacher edition book, website, paper, etc. that gives a student an unfair advantage over those without such means, constitutes a violation of academic honesty;
  • Using applications that translate written text from one language to another without express permission from the teacher;
  • Using any form of memory aid during assessments without the expressed permission of the instructor;
  • Using a computer or other means to translate an assignment from one language into another and submitting it as original work;
  • Giving or receiving answers during assessments.  It is the student’s responsibility to secure his/her papers, so other students will not have the opportunity to copy
  • Taking credit for group work when a student has not contributed an equal or appropriate share toward the final result;
  • Accessing an assessment for the purpose of determining the questions in advance of its administration;
  • Using summaries/commentaries (Cliff’s Notes, Spark Notes, Bookrags, etc.) in lieu of reading the assigned materials

(Queensbury Academic Ethics Document)

Alternatives to Plagiarism and Cheating

No student needs to cheat or plagiarize.  Queensbury High School provides numerous support services for students to help them achieve success honorably. The following behaviors promote true student achievement:

• Be prepared.  Try to keep a realistic schedule balancing academic obligations and your social and personal life.
• Make certain that you understand your assignments and the grading assessment that will be used.  If you have questions about an assignment or assessment, talk to your instructor.  Do not rely solely upon a classmate for clarification.
• If you study for an assessment with a classmate, make sure that you do not sit near each other during the assessment since your responses (and errors) may be similar.
• Do not read or scan someone else’s paper before writing your own.  Some of the ideas in the other person’s paper may be ideas that you would have used,but will now need to credit the person whose paper you read for those ideas.
• Use all avenues of support available to you.  For help needed beyond the classroom, see your instructor, other instructors in the department, a peer tutor, or a parent or other adult who is well versed in the subject.
• Assume all assignments are to be completed individually unless the instructor states otherwise.
• Be organized.  Having class notes in an orderly, easily accessible format will save time and anxiety when studying for an assessment or writing a paper.
• Keep current with assignments.  If you need to read an entire novel the evening before an assessment or before paper is due on that novel, your performance on either will suffer.
• If, for whatever reason you choose to use another’s ideas or solutions, cite that source on your paper or project.
• Know what constitutes cheating, including all the variations of plagiarism.

(Queensbury Academic Ethics Document)

Conventions for Citing and Original Authorship

Any research assignment submitted at Queensbury High School must have proper documentation and citation of sources.  Students will work in their 9th grade English classes to learn how to cite their sources properly and to understand the nuances of plagiarism. All written work will use MLA format, as referenced on our school website under the Library tab: https://sites.google.com/a/queensburyschool.org/queensbury-high-school-library/home/documentation

Collaboration vs. Collusion

While many academic assessments are completed individually, Queensbury also recognize the importance of students working together to produce an intellectual product (collaboration).  As a result, it is important for students to understand the difference between collaboration and collusion.  Collusion is supporting malpractice by another student, as in allowing one’s works to be copied or submitted for assessment by another (“Academic Honesty”).  Collusion can also be described as giving a copy of one student’s work to another member of the group.  In addition, all group members are expected to contribute to the collaborative product in a way that is determined to be a balanced distribution of the work required for completion.

Consequences

Any student who is caught cheating or plagiarizing will be referred to administration for further action, and the incident will be documented in School Tool.  All parents and students involved will be notified.  The incident will be treated as a learning experience, followed by consequences, which will be determined on a case by case basis.  Consequences may include but are not limited to the following:

• A grade of zero for the academic work involved
• A required resubmission of work that is completely new to the assignment
• A reduced grade for work that is resubmitted
• Administrative action – please refer to the student code of conduct
• Detention
• Disqualification for admission to Honor Society
• Removal from Honor Society
• Parent conference

A note to parents and guardians: 

The moral development of a child is an essential component of his or her education. Your child’s time at Queensbury High School should provide academic challenges and enrichment but also a clear pathway to developing strong moral character. We encourage you to make academic integrity a part of your conversations at home so that we can foster a partnership in helping our students make informed choices and good decisions regarding their work at school. Thank you!