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Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity means that you are the person doing the submitted work and can easily show the knowledge you are learning in the course.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means...
- to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as your own
- to use (another's production) without crediting the source
- to commit literary theft
- to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

Plagiarism is an act of fraud, which involves stealing and lying.

According to FLVS (this information is located in Course Information under Academic Integrity), some examples of plagiarism are:
- Buying a paper from a research service or term paper mill
- Turning in another student's work with or without that student's knowledge
- Turning in a paper or assignment that someone else has written for you
- Copying a paper or assignment that someone else has written for you
- Copying information from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks
- Paraphrasing information from a source text without appropriate documentation

BE AWARE! It is very easy for teachers to check for plagiarism. Every assignment that an online student submits goes through a program called Turnitin, which identifies any plagiarism.

We want to make sure that you are doing your own work and that you are able to successfully display what you are learning in your online courses.

If plagiarism happens (and let's be honest...sometimes it does), make sure you are aware of the consequences of plagiarism:

1st offense:
- Temporary grade of a '0' with feedback notifying student and parent of offense
- Student/Parent/Teacher phone conference to discuss offense and review Academic Integrity policy
- Student can resubmit the assignment for a grade of 100%

2nd offense:
- Grade of a '0' with feedback notifying student and parent of offense
- Student/Parent/Teacher phone conference to discuss offense and review Academic Integrity policy
- Student can resubmit the assignment for a grade of no more than 80%

3rd offense:
- Grade of a '0' with feedback notifying the student and parent of offense
- Student/Parent/ Teacher conference with Administration
- Administration's decision for further action, which may include withdrawal from the course
- Student cannot resubmit the assignment for a higher grade

The most common offenses of plagiarism in an online learning environment are copying word for word or paraphrasing information from an internet source (the easiest offense to catch and prove). The other most common is having a parent, sibling, or friend complete an assignment. Please remember that your education and future knowledge depends on your understanding and explanation of what you are learning. If you plagiarize, you are not learning to your full potential and in the end, you are only hurting yourself. So do your best to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it!

The video below explains what academic integrity is and how to avoid plagiarism when completing work in your online courses.


Video transcript