Academic Integrity Policy

"The work you submit must be your own."

You are responsible for understanding the entirety of 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, we will pursue the maximum penalty allowed by the University.
Collaboration: You are encouraged to work with others to solve the written homework assignments for this course. We all learn better when we trade ideas with others, including course staff and fellow students. However, you must (1) list your collaborators and (2) write up your own solution.

If you do work with others, we strongly recommend that you follow these rules: (1) do not take away any record of the solution you found together and (2) wait at least 30 minutes before you write up your solution. That will ensure that you can produce the solution on your own and will also reduce the odds that your solution is mistaken for a copy of your collaborator's.

Unless specifically told otherwise, you are to complete the coding homework assignments individually. You may discuss assignments in general terms with other students including a discussion of how to approach a problem, but the code 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 work you submit 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 Allen School Academic Misconduct Policy page.