Academic integrity violations are an u nfortunate reality of a learning environment, and faculty play a key role in mainitaining standards. Below are brief sections that explain the violation reporting process and provide resources.
Why Report Violations
|
Individual faculty cannot be aware of every student's academic history. A violation that occurs in your class may be a student's first or second or third violation. The university's response to a second violation is different than to a first; therefore, every violation should be submitted to Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards.
|
Types of Violations
|
|
General principles of academic integrity include and incorporate the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Faculty members may include additional classroom and assignment policies, as articulated on their syllabus.
For further information on types of violations, click here.
|
Possible Sanctions
|
| The most common misperception of reporting academic integrity violations is that every report must be accompanied by a failing grade for the student. While SCampus does include "F for the Course" as the recommended sanction for most violations, faculty have the option to suggest less punitive sanctions. The circumstances surrounding the violation should be considered fully. |
All violations should be reported to SJACS regardless of the sanction's severity in order to have a complete student integrity history.
Possible sanctions include:
- F for the course
- F (or zero points) for the assignment in question
- Reduced points in class
- Downward adjustment of class grade
- Other
For further information on possible sanctions, click here.
Violation Reporting Process Overview
The Viterbi School faculty are the first at USC to use an online "hybrid" reporting system. While hard copies of reports are still required, reports are also recorded online and faculty can now track the process of individual cases.
When a violation occurs, faculty should:
- Meet with the student or students to determine whether a violation has occurred
- In the cases where violations have occurred (regardless of sanction), complete the report form by logging into the system below
- Determine an appropriate sanction
- Complete and print the form fields. The report will also be submitted electronically
Faculty will be informed by email to login to the system and can track the status of all reports.
Resources
Below are links to various services (some free, some pay-based) to help you check on the originality of student work.
