Academic Integrity and Student Responsibilities
Commitment to the principles of academic honesty and integrity is essential to the mission of WQU. All work submitted in a course must be the student’s own work.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's ideas, research, or writing as your own. You commit plagiarism when you:
copy a statement or paragraph created by another person without using quotation marks and a reference to the original author’s source material;
present the ideas of another person in your own words without giving credit;
use information that is not considered common knowledge without giving credit to the source;
purchase a paper from the internet or a vendor and submit it as a personal paper.
To plagiarize or to copy the work of another person or from any AI source and to present it as your own is a violation of academic integrity. The penalty for the first violation is course failure; a second violation may result in being terminated from the program. Refer to the University Catalog for a detailed list of consequences for academic integrity violation.
To gain a deeper understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it, watch this video tutorial, read these Help Articles, and use this Anti-Plagiarism Guide to learn how to include in-text citations and references.
Below, you can find some tips on what you should and should not do to avoid plagiarism:
Use of Turnitin
At the time of submission, all group work assignments are run through Turnitin, which is a plagiarism detection software. Turnitin creates a similarity report that matches the submitted paper against its database (peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, internet resources, etc.) as well as papers created by other students at WQU or in other institutions. Before the submission deadline, you can download and make use of the Turnitin similarity report to revise your final paper for grading. The similarity report shows a similarity score equal to the percentage of matching found with the resources described above.
You are responsible to:
Understand what constitutes plagiarism. In addition to the tips provided in this syllabus, extensive information and tutorials are provided in the Student Resource Center, in the Orientation Course, and in the Course Overview section of the course;
Review the Turnitin similarity report for each assignment before the submission deadline;
Edit your work prior to the final submission to ensure that any statements from other authors are properly quoted, cited, and mindfully used to support your original work rather than forming the basis of the argument itself.
Based on the Turnitin similarity report, the Instructional Team will evaluate whether you have committed plagiarism and may decide to give you a failing grade for the assignment or for the entire course (see WQU Academic Integrity Policy in the University Catalog). Note that your instructors have access to the Turnitin AI writing indicator showing the portion of your submission that might be developed by AI with 98% probability.
Keep in mind that when you commit plagiarism, your Academic Integrity status is changed to “Probation,” and a note is added in your records describing the violation. This note may prevent you from receiving recommendation letters or alumni opportunities.
Student Code of Conduct
The Student Code of Conduct sets forth the standards of conduct expected of students at WQU. This code is not exhaustive. Students may be subject to disciplinary actions for other behavior and/or activities deemed unacceptable or disruptive to the goals and mission of WQU and to the expectation of professionalism in the online learning environment.
Actions Constituting Violation of the Student Code of Conduct Policy
The following actions constitute violations of the WQU Student Code of Conduct:
Sharing personal account information to access the online platform with anyone.
Use of any religious, inflammatory, offensive, or flagrant language in the online learning environment, including discussion forums, or in private communications with the Instructional Team, the Academic Dean, or WQU Staff.
Use of any religious, inflammatory, offensive, or flagrant language in private communication channels created on external platforms (i.e., WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, etc.) to collaborate on group work projects.
Use of any religious, inflammatory, offensive, or flagrant language related to WQU or WQU representatives on social media or on WQU social media accounts.
Violating WQU email policy (see Student Email Policy, Page 50).
Misrepresenting oneself as an official WQU spokesperson online or on social media.
Engaging in a consensual romantic or sexual relationship with a WQU faculty or staff member while enrolled at WQU.
Endangering, threatening, or causing harm to any member of the WQU community, causing reasonable apprehension of such harm or engaging in conduct or communications that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of intent to harm.
Impersonating another, using another person’s identity, or furnishing materially false information, including manufacturing or possession of false identification.
Forgery, fabrication, falsification, unauthorized alteration, or misuse of University documents, records, or identification.
Unauthorized use of University property and/or resources.
Unauthorized access to, disclosure of, or use of any University document, record, or identification including, but not limited to, electronic software, data, and records.
Interfering with or disrupting University or University-sponsored activities.
Misuse, theft, misappropriation, destruction, damage, or unauthorized use, access, or reproduction of property, data, records, equipment, or services belonging to the University or belonging to another person or entity.
Engaging in retaliation, harassment, or repeated contact that a reasonable person would understand to be unwanted, including stalking and/or sexual harassment.
Engaging in any discriminatory activities as prohibited by applicable law or University policy.
Interfering with any University disciplinary process.
Engaging in any illegal sexual offense, including, but not limited to, sexual assault, public sexual indecency, or indecent exposure.
Violation of any other University policy.
Conduct that is illegal under state or local law.
*Refer to the University Catalog for a complete list of actions constituting violation of the Academic Integrity and Student Code of Conduct.