You are responsible for understanding every word in this
document.
- Motivation: A course in which students do not
accurately present what they know and the work they have done is
worse than having no course at all. Your instructor and your
fellow students expect and deserve a basic respect for the
integrity of this course and an environment where we can all focus
on learning. Therefore, this document establishes a clear
understanding of what we all will do with the expectation that it
will never be an issue.
- Bottom Line: If you are ever unclear about how
to represent what work you have done, (a) ask and (b) describe
clearly what you have done. If you do, the worst that will happen
is you will lose some credit on an assignment. This is much better
than the alternative.
If you are at all in doubt about whether your collaboration was
appropriate, include a description of your collaboration with your
homework submission.
If the course staff receives homework submissions that are too
similar to have been created independently, or are derived from
other sources including solutions to similar assignments from
previous quarters, we will pursue the maximum penalty allowed by
the University.
- Collaboration: You are encouraged to discuss
the material in this course, including homework problems. We all
learn better when we trade ideas with others, including course
staff and fellow students. But you must produce your own homework
solutions and you must not look at other students' solutions or
other information that takes away the intellectual challenge of
the homework.
Unless specifically told otherwise, you are to complete
assignments individually. You may discuss assignments in general
terms with other students including a discussion of how to
approach a problem, but the solution and other work you submit must be
your own. The intent is to allow you to get some help when you
are stuck, but this help should be limited and should never
involve details of how to write a solution. You may not have
another person (current student, former student, tutor, friend,
anyone) "walk you through" how to solve an
assignment.
Copying someone else's homework or receiving unfair help completing
your assignment is cheating (see below), as is copying the homework
from another source (the web, other classes, previous course
offerings, etc.).
-
Cheating: Cheating is a very serious offense. If you
are caught cheating, you can expect a failing grade and initiation of
a cheating case in the University system. Cheating is an insult to
your colleagues, to the instructors, to the department and major
program, and most importantly, to you. If you feel that you are having
a problem with the material, or do not have time to finish an
assignment, or have any number of other reasons to cheat, then talk
with the instructor. Copying others' work is not the solution.
To avoid creating situations where copying can arise, never
e-mail or post your solution files. When using the class discussion
board, do not post code that is an attempt to solve a homework
problem. If in doubt about what might constitute cheating, send the
instructor email describing the situation.
- Fine Print: It's not effective for us to try to
define a list of all impermissible activities. That approach can
tempt people to look for loopholes. Consider: "the solution you
write must be your own." This includes things like not using
any substantive material or solutions from similar assignments this
term or previous terms at UW or elsewhere, including anywhere on the
Internet, transcribing solutions from any other source, etc. Our
policy is intended to convey the spirit of the law, fully
understanding that the letter of the law may not cover everything
that someone may think of.
- For additional information and a more detailed discussion,
please refer to
the CSE Academic Misconduct Policy page.