In an academic institution, every member of the community must demonstrate the highest standards of academic honesty; one must produce work that is wholly one's own, whether it is in the form of taking a test, writing an essay or report, conducting an experiment, or completing an assignment.
Taking another's work and presenting it as one's own, falsifying data or other information, helping others to cheat, depriving others of the resources they need to complete their work, or presenting work from a previous course to fulfill the requirements of another course, violate MCC's Academic Honesty Policy.
Individual faculty members may have different guidelines for their course, and it is the student's responsibility to clarify each instructor's expectations for the course. For example, some instructors may allow students to collaborate or to present previously submitted work to fulfill a course requirement. Students must read, understand, and follow the syllabi, test directions, and any other instructor policies pertaining to academic honesty.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, (1) use of any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests or examinations; (2) dependence upon the aid of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems or carrying out other assignments; or (3) the acquisition, without permission, of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the college faculty or staff.
Fabrication is the falsification or invention of any information, data, research materials, or citation in an academic exercise without authorization from the instructor.
Students who intentionally, willingly, or negligently allow their work to be used, copied, or submitted for credit by other students or who assist or attempt to assist another person in any act of academic dishonesty are in violation of this policy.
Plagiarism is the representation of the words, ideas, or works of another person as one's own in an academic assignment. A college is like a factory for the production of words and ideas. Students earn grades and credits for the valuable words and ideas that they produce. Therefore, it is essential that the words and ideas of all members of the College are protected as their "intellectual property," and it is essential that no one pretends that other people's intellectual property is one's own.
Sometimes, people plagiarize intentionally, committing fraud by turning in someone else's work and passing it off as their own. Sometimes, people plagiarize unintentionally because they are confused about how to fairly and honestly represent someone else's words or ideas in their writing. It is the individual student's responsibility to seek instruction in this skill.
Students should ask their instructors for explanations of the appropriate use of source materials for assignments and for models of proper citation and documentation within each academic discipline. If one is unsure of what type of help is allowed for an assignment, ask the instructor.
Academic honesty holds that each student has the same opportunity to use class resources and /or materials. Any acts of sabotage are in violation of the college's Academic Honesty Policy.
Students who use cell phones, PDAs, iPods, computers, calculators, or any other electronic devices as classroom aides are in violation of the Academic Honesty Policy unless given specific permission by the instructor. Individual divisions and instructors may have exceptions to this policy, based on the specific learning needs of the class. See the instructor for any clarification.
Students who intentionally, willingly, or negligently take part in file sharing of licensed software, music or video files are in violation of the Academic Honesty Policy. Students will not circumvent anti-pirating software to copy electronic files. Copyright laws prohibit the copying of information from the Internet or other electronic source (DVDs or CDs) without proper permission, citation or paraphrasing.
Students taking part in file sharing or illegal copying of electronic media are not only violating the Academic Honesty Policy but are also violating federal copyright law and may face lawsuits, federal charges, and/or fines. For more information on acceptable file sharing for academic purposes visit the RIAA website
Submitting work that was completed for another course or section without the instructor's permission violates the Academic Honesty Policy.
Students who misrepresent their academic records are in violation of the Academic Honesty Policy.