Other Serious Violations

From one perspective, any integrity violation is a serious violation. To account for that, when students accept responsibility for an academic integrity violation or an Academic Integrity Committee determines that the student violated academic integrity policies, there are some automatic consequences:

Loss of opportunity to drop/withdraw from the course
Loss of opportunity to qualify for the Dean’s list for the semester
Loss of opportunity to apply the grade forgiveness policy to the course
Loss of opportunity to convert the course grading to a pass/fail format

From another perspective, some violations are more serious than others. For example, a student who violates for the first time may have made an honest mistake, but a student who violates multiple times may be trying to cheat their way to a degree. An Academic Integrity Committee will consider this information when the student contests the allegations and/or the outcome proposed by the educator. To determine an appropriate academic outcome, the Academic Integrity Committee will consider the following:

The student's familiarity with academic integrity expectations and the amount of instruction the student has had on the alleged misbehavior
How much of the work was affected by the alleged violation (e.g., a paragraph or an entire paper)
The value of the affected assignment/assessment on the course grade
The impact of the violation on others

The Office of Student Accountability and Conflict Response also responds to academic integrity violations. To do that, they consider different things, including the student’s violation history. Their responses include:

An educational intervention
Formal warning
Conduct probation
Suspension
Expulsion

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Unauthorized Use of Study Aids

Unauthorized Use of Study Aids in an Exam

Different instructors have different views about what is "authorized" and what is "unauthorized". You can avoid this type of academic integrity violation by assuming all work must be completed without help from anyone or from any tool unless your instructor tells you otherwise. If there is any doubt, ask!

Usually, the following are prohibited for an exam or quiz:

Help from other people
Help from an artificial intelligence (AI) tool or app
Communication devices (phones)
Notes, formulas, and other sources of information
Tools that help you derive an answer (calculator)

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Unauthorized Test Possession

Unauthorized Test Possession, Purchase or Supplying

You should not download, share, or preview test or quiz questions. Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, this includes previously used exams and quizzes. In some online courses, answer keys are available after you have submitted an exam, but copying or sharing that information, or allowing someone else to do so, would be a breach of academic integrity.

Before accessing or accepting any test materials prior to an exam, make sure your instructor provided them for your use.

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Submitting Previous Work

Submitting Work Previously Used

At Penn State, students may not typically use the same work, or part of the same work, for credit in multiple classes. Do not submit work completed for another class or assignment without getting permission from your current instructor first. That means that, without permission from your current instructor, you may not:

Change the title of an essay submitted in a previous class and submit it for a current class.
Take a paper from one class, add new material, and turn it in for another class.
Copy from a previous assignment and paste into a new assignment.

In some classes, later work builds on earlier work. If an instructor tells you to submit work that originated in another course or from earlier in the semester, then it is not a violation.

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Academic Dishonesty

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty

At Penn State, students may not help someone else violate academic integrity policies.

This could involve:

Permitting another student to get ideas from you or copy your answers or assignment
Letting another student use your completed course work to get ideas or answers
Doing coursework for another student

And don't get your friend or classmate in trouble:

Don't ask anyone to put your name on group work you didn't do
Don't ask anyone to mark your attendance in class when you aren't there
The severity of the consequences for an academic integrity violation may increase if the violation affects or includes other students.

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Altering Exams or Assignments

Altering Exams or Assignments

This violation may take many forms, including the following:

Changing incorrect answers and requesting a favorable grade adjustment after the instructor returns graded assignments or exams.
Changing the letter or numerical grade on an exam or assignment after the instructor returns the work or has assigned the course grade.
Obtaining the exam of a classmate who received a higher grade than you, changing the name to your own, and then asking that your grade be changed to the more favorable grade.

This violation is a form of fabrication. Fabrication can be a serious violation. Penn State is in Pennsylvania, so Pennsylvania laws apply, and some forms of fabrication are illegal in Pennsylvania. The following are examples of fabrication that could result in a criminal record and legal fines or lead to jail time:

Fabricating information on a transcript
Fabricating information on a college diploma
Fabricating information on a medical note
Fabricating another's signature

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Academic Integrity Violations