Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Libraries

Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota by University of Minnesota Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. It was created by the University Libraries in collaboration with staff from the Office of Community Standards, the Student Academic Integrity Committee, and the Center for Education Innovation.

This book was produced with Pressbooks.

Contents

- Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota

- Introduction to Academic Integrity

- Defining Academic Integrity

- What do you already know about academic integrity?

- What is a scholar?

- The University of Minnesota Student Conduct Code

- Good scholarly practices compared with scholastically dishonest practices

- Understanding how to avoid plagiarism

- Skills for success

- University Resources

- Test your knowledge of Academic Integrity

- Key takeaways on academic integrity

- Using sources in your university work

- Identifying Scholarly Conversations

- The Rules of the Scholarly Conversation

- Learn about citations

- In-text citations

- Attribution and citation in in-text citations

- Showing the conversation through Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing

- Identifying quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing

- Practice

- Key takeaways on using sources

- Instructions for Certificate of Completion

- Credits

1

Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota

Academic integrity is a core value of American academic institutions.

Academic integrity means having a commitment to and demonstration of honest and ethical behavior in an academic setting.

Academic integrity includes contributing to the scholarly conversation while attributing and citing the ideas of others, creating original work in your course assignments, and adhering to a conduct code while at the University of Minnesota.

At the end of this short course, you will be able to:

- define and recognize examples of academic integrity and scholastic dishonesty

- make connections between your conduct as a scholar and academic integrity values

There are two modules to this short course:

1. What is academic integrity?

2. Using sources in your university work

You can navigate through the modules by following the link at the bottom of each page, using the “Contents” area near the top of your screen, or through the “Previous” and “Next” feature at the bottom of your screen in the black bar.

Throughout this short course, you will find resources to help you with some of the skills that you will need at the University. Some of these resources are system-wide resources, while others are specific to your campus (Crookston, Duluth, Morris, Rochester, or Twin Cities)

After exploring the material on this site, you can access a quiz in Canvas to receive a Certificate of Completion.

Continue to: Defining academic integrity →

Defining Academic Integrity

What is Academic Integrity?

You might be wondering why you are being asked to complete a module about academic integrity.

We’re just going to talk about how you shouldn’t cheat, right?

Or how plagiarism is bad?

Not exactly.

Academic integrity is a core value that all scholars should have, whether you are a first-year student or a tenured professor.

Having academic integrity means being an honest, trustworthy, and ethical scholar.

And yes, you are a scholar.

Learning about academic integrity is more than just understanding that you should not cheat on a test or plagiarize a paper.

Knowing about and valuing academic integrity helps set you up for success at the University.

Being a good group member, creating original work in your course assignments, and knowing what you can and can not use as study aids for your courses are all examples of having academic integrity.

It takes time and effort to become a good scholar, so let’s start the process by

- defining what it means to be a scholar at the University of Minnesota

- exploring the University of Minnesota Student Conduct Code and the expectations the University has for you and,

- identifying some core academic integrity skills you will need to be a successful scholar.

Next: What you already know about academic integrity →

What do you already know about academic integrity?

This multiple choice quiz will test your current knowledge and values around academic integrity and scholastic dishonesty.

These questions are intended to get you thinking about how you feel regarding academic integrity and scholastic dishonesty issues and values.

Don’t worry too much if you don’t get the right answer. You are still learning.

After completing the quiz, you can select “show solution” to get an explanation of the best answer(s) to the question and see how your answers compared.

What do you know about academic integrity?

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=25#h5p-3

Next, learn about what makes someone a scholar →

What is a scholar?

What does it mean to be a good scholar?

When we talk about academic integrity, we often talk about what it means to be a good scholar.

Being a good scholar means

- crediting and respecting the work of others, whether you are citing your sources, or working on a group project.

- creating your own original work (not purchasing it or reusing someone else’s work).

- knowing when to ask for help, or for clarification on an assignment.

This video explains “What is a scholar?”

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=41

Continue on to learn about the University of MN student conduct code →

The University of Minnesota Student Conduct Code

It is your responsibility to know and understand what is expected of you at the University.

The University’s Board of Regents has an approved Student Conduct Code which defines plagiarism and disciplinary offenses related to scholastic dishonesty.

Take some time and explore the student conduct code related to plagiarism and scholastic dishonesty in the following excerpt.

Student Conduct Code excerpt

Section 3 Subd. 3. Plagiarism

Plagiarism shall mean representing the words, creative work, or ideas of another person as one’s own without providing proper documentation of source…..It is the responsibility of all students to understand the standards and methods of proper attribution and to clarify with each instructor the standards, expectations, and reference techniques appropriate to the subject area and class requirements, including group work and internet use.

Students are encouraged to seek out information about these methods from instructors and other resources and to apply this information in all submissions of academic work.

Section 4 . Subd. 1. Scholastic Dishonesty.

Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarism; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using course materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering, forging, misrepresenting, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis.

The University’s Office of Community Standards has information available on consequences and sanctions for violating the Student Conduct Code and provides links to additional resources to help you develop habits of academic integrity.

If your instructor suspects scholastic dishonesty, they are required by University policy to report it.

Next, compare good scholarly and scholastically dishonest practices →

Good scholarly practices compared with scholastically dishonest practices

What constitutes scholastic dishonesty, especially plagiarism, is not always clear.

While the Student Conduct Code provides definitions of plagiarism and scholastic dishonesty, it is sometimes hard to understand what that means without examples. These examples are by no means the only examples of good scholarly practices or scholastically dishonest ones.

Good scholarly practices

Scholastic dishonesty

Using a citation style manual to correctly cite and attribute all sources

Making up a citation style, misattributing a source, or neglecting to cite a source

Following group work practices set out by your instructor

Collaborating with another person on an assignment that your professor has asked you to work on individually

Asking your professor to outline what resources you can use (such as old tests or commercial study aids) to help you in your course

Using old tests and others’ class notes as study aids without instructor permission

Creating your own original work in assignments, tests, presentations, and other University work

Purchasing assignments, services, papers, tests, or other work that you claim as your own original scholarly work

Seeking help from student success services to learn about citation practices

Incorrectly quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing a source with or without proper citation

Using your own knowledge and understanding of a course’s content when taking a test or quiz.

Checking your test answers before turning in the test using a service like Chegg or Course Hero.

Next, understand how to avoid plagiarism →

Understanding how to avoid plagiarism

Most plagiarism is unintentional.

Plagiarism, as defined by the Student Conduct Code, means representing the work of someone else as your own without providing proper documentation of a source. Here are the examples taken from the Student Conduct Code along with resources on the Twin Cities Campus available to help you.

Type of Plagiarism

Resource

Copying information word for word from a source without using quotation marks and giving proper acknowledgement by way of footnote, endnote, or in-text citation

Understand how to properly quote, paraphrase or summarize sources with Student Writing Support

Representing the words, ideas, or data of another person as one’s own without providing proper attribution to the author through quotation, reference, in-text citation, or footnote;

Learn about citations and style guides from the University Libraries

Producing, without proper attribution, any form of work originated by another person such as a musical phrase, a proof, a speech, an image, experimental data, laboratory report, graphic design, or computer code;

Discover what attribution means in your discipline. Start by asking your instructor or professor.  You can also ask a subject librarian.

Paraphrasing, without sufficient acknowledgment, ideas taken from another person that the reader might reasonably mistake as the author’s

Learn how to properly quote, paraphrase or summarize sources with Student Writing Support

Borrowing various words, ideas, phrases, or data from original sources and blending them with one’s own without acknowledging the sources. This is called patchwriting.

Make an appointment with a tutor from one of the University’s Student Academic Success Centers.

Continue on to learn some skills for success →

Skills for success

Being a good scholar is a lot of responsibility and it takes a lot of practice.

Here are five things you can do to be successful:

Read the Syllabus

Your syllabus should include a statement about academic integrity. This includes expectations around group work, test taking, problem sets and course materials.

Ask your instructor

If you are unsure what your instructor means in the syllabus, or in an assignment — ask them to clarify it. Your instructor wants you to be the best scholar you can be.

Manage your time

Learn how to manage your time to help complete assignments. Running out of time to complete an assignment is one of the most common ways that leads folks to plagiarize. They think it won’t matter if they copy and paste some text or problem sets. It matters. It is unethical, and it is easy to catch.

If you need more time for an assignment, ask your professor. They expect you to communicate your needs. When you let your professor know what you need, you can help them improve the course.

Have a process

Have a process to keep track of the sources you use. Stay organized and save time by using a citation manager or even a Google Doc.  Do what works for you, but it helps to have a process to keep yourself organize.

Learn how to use sources

Understand how to use sources in your academic work. Learn how to quote, paraphrase and summarize sources. Learn the mechanics of citing sources. There are a lot of different citation styles, and each discipline is different. There are citation manuals to help you. You can get help from your instructors, the Peer Research Consultants, The Writing Center and more!

Remember, becoming a good, honest, and ethical scholar takes time and effort. Having academic integrity doesn’t happen overnight. There are many resources on campus available to help you.

Next, find some resources available to you →

University Resources

It is okay to ask for help.

Part of becoming a good scholar and having the values of academic integrity is knowing when to ask for help. Here are some resources available to support you:

System-Wide

Effective U

Short online tutorials on essential skills like time management, stress management and building good study habits.

Research Tutorials

If you are learning how to do college research for the first time, you may find these tutorials from the University Libraries – Twin Cities helpful.

The Libraries also can help you learn more about citations and help you choose a citation manager.

Crookston

Student Success Center

Crookston’s student Success Center offers a number of different student success resources

Duluth

Academic Writing & Learning Center

The Academic Writing and Learning Center provides academic courses and services designed to help all members of the Duluth campus community reach their academic and professional goals.

Bulldog Resource Center

The Bulldog Resource Center is a connection point to student success services.

Morris

Writing Center

The Writing Center offers students the opportunity to meet with one of their consultants (either a fellow student or an English instructor) about their writing. They can work with students on specific papers/assignments and on writing in general.

Office of Academic Success

The Office of Academic Success offers Morris students services in academic advising, disability resources, academic assistance, tutoring and peer assisted learning, and success coaching assist students to achieve their goals.

Rochester

The University of Minnesota – Rochester has services like JustASK and Student Success Coachees to help students succeed.

Twin Cities

Academic Support Centers

The University’s Academic Support Centers provide numerous FREE academic success services and resources for undergraduate students.  These include tutoring, writing, media, and research.

Peer Research Consultants

Peer Research Consultants (PRCs) are students with strong academic records and writing skills, trained to help you with your research papers or assignments. PRCs can also help you get started with faculty-sponsored research.

Now, test your knowledge of what you’ve learned so far →

Test your knowledge of Academic Integrity

It is time to practice what you have learned.

Answer the questions to the following common situations.

There are five questions some with multiple correct answers.

**make sure to select all of the answers that you think would apply**

After completing the quiz, you can select “show solution” to see how your answers compared along with explanations.

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=153#h5p-5

Last, review the key takeaways →

Key takeaways on academic integrity

What did you learn in this module?

Key Takeaways

Knowing about and valuing academic integrity helps set you up for success at the University.

Being a good scholar means crediting and respecting the work of others – whether you are working in a group or citing sources in a class assignment.

Being a good scholar means creating your own original work for your courses, not purchasing or reusing someone else’s work – with or without their permission.

The Student Conduct Code establishes the University’s policy around plagiarism and scholastic dishonesty. Your professor should also include a syllabus statement with their expectations.

There are resources available to help you learn student success skills to support you. It is okay to ask for help.

Now that you’ve finished the first part of this module, you can move on to learn more about using sources in your University work.

Well-sourced arguments with proper attribution are the core of scholarly conversation – where scholars build on the work of others.

Attribution and citation are essential and distinct aspects of the scholarly conversation.

In this module you will learn how to

- identify scholarly conversations and the rules scholars use in these conversations

- produce citation and attribution for a variety sources and styles

- understand the differences between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing

- apply the values and practices of citation and attribution to your own work

Start by learning how to identify scholarly conversations →

Identifying Scholarly Conversations

What does the scholarly conversation look like?

What was the last conversation you were in? A handwritten letter? In-person? iMessage text chain with your closest friends? TikTok? SnapChat?

Conversations happen in many ways. They usually involve two or more people conversing about something, or someone. They can happen fast or slow.

Sometimes conversations are easy to identify – like the ones in our everyday lives.

The conversations between scholars look a little different. This makes them harder to identify.

In this module we will go over:

- what scholarly conversations look like,

- the rules we use in scholarly conversations and

- why these rules are important.

View this video to learn more about the scholarly conversation.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=105

Next, learn the rules of the scholarly conversation →

The Rules of the Scholarly Conversation

There are rules to the scholarly conversation: you attribute the work of others and you cite the work of others.

Following these rules ensures that you are properly crediting others’ work and not trying to pass of someone else’s ideas as your own.

View this video to learn more about the rules to the scholarly conversation.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=107

You know the rules, now let’s learn about citations →

Learn about citations

Citation is one of the tools that scholars use in their scholarly conversations.

Proper citation and attribution practices, no matter the style, makes the conversation easier, and more clear for scholars.

Before you start learning about why attribution and citation practices are important, you may want to spend more time learning about citations.

Citations:

- indicate which ideas are taken from others

- from whom those ideas were taken

- give credit where credit is due

- allow researchers to find, read, and comment on each others’ sources

Select the image or link below to view a tutorial on citations. Come back to this page when you are done.

What are citations tutorial from the University Libraries

There are a number of different citations styles and guides that you will encounter at the University.  The University Libraries has created a guide to help you find citation resources. These resources can help you keep your sources organized when you are doing research.

Now that you know more about citations, let’s look closer at in-text citations →

In-text citations

Scholars credit the work of other scholars through in-text citations.

Scholarly articles use in-text citations like footnotes, end notes, or parentheses.  These vary by citation style.

For example, some sentences are followed with a name and a year. This is where the author of this article is providing attribution and citation to another’s work to provide evidence to their claim at the beginning of the paragraph.

Investigate the front page of this scholarly article below. Can you find all of the in-text citations?

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=201#h5p-6

Now that you identified the in-text citation, let’s look at how in-text citations work →

Article citation:

Myrick, Jessica Gall. “Emotion Regulation, Procrastination, and Watching Cat Videos Online: Who Watches Internet Cats, Why, and to What Effect?” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 52, no. C, 2015, pp. 168–176.

Attribution and citation in in-text citations

In-text citations point you to the work (article, book or media) that the author used.

Read through this paragraph from the introduction of the Myrick^1article

Internet users spend so much time with cat-related media they have turned household tabbies into celebrities. “Perma-kitten” Lil BUB has nearly 1.5 million Facebook fans and the constantly-frowning Grumpy Cat makes more money than many prominent human celebrities (Millward, 2014). Beyond famous cats, Internet users frequently post images of their own felines on social media platforms (Marshall, 2014), further increasing the amount of online cat-related visual content available to Internet users. In fact, industry research indicates that Internet users are more than twice as likely to post pictures or videos of cats than they are to post a “selfie” (i.e., a picture taken of oneself) online (Williams, 2014).

If you are interested in finding out more information about one of the sources that the author cited in their literature review,  you can look at reference list at the end of the article.

For example, Myrick cites (Millward, 2014) to support the claim that cat-related media has turned cats into celebrities. We can then go through the reference list (in alphabetical order) to find the full citation to Millward’s article.

Millward, D. (2014). Grumpy cat makes owner £64 million. The Telegraph. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11278333/Grumpy-cat-makes-owner-64-million.html>

Additionally, Myrick uses different attribution with each distinct source she uses. For Millward’s and Marshall’s work she uses the parenthetical in-text citation at the end or the middle of her sentences,  but for Williams’ work, she adds in a signal phrase “Industry research indicates” at the beginning of her sentence.

Now, learn more about how authors show the conversation through quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing →

1. Myrick, Jessica Gall. “Emotion Regulation, Procrastination, and Watching Cat Videos Online: Who Watches Internet Cats, Why, and to What Effect?” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 52, no. C, 2015, pp. 168–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.001

Showing the conversation through Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing are other ways to show the conversation

In addition to in-text citations, writers summarize, paraphrase or quote sources. Writers use clues to indicate to their reader that something is not their (the author’s) own idea – the presence or absence of quotation marks and in-text citations.

When the reader sees:

Citation AND Quotation Marks

This means that this is someone else’s information in that person’s exact words.

For example, this sentence from Myrick’s article states

Research on general motivations for media use also points to procrastination as a reason why individuals watch entertainment media. To procrastinate is to “voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay” (p. 66, Steel, 2007).

Myrick is using Steel’s exact words to define a term. If you went to Steel’s article, you should find that “quote” on page 66.

Citation AND NO Quotation Marks

The next way involves a citation, but no quotation marks. This means that the author has paraphrased or summarized someone else’s work.

This scholarly article demonstrates how:

However, the strongest predictors of enjoyment were Internet cat viewing frequency and experiencing positive emotions post-viewing. The link between frequency of viewing, positive emotions, and enjoyment could be explained as a mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1980). That is, the more one watches, the more one enjoys Internet cats. Likewise, operant conditioning could be happening, as suggested by MMT (Zillmann, 1988), such that Internet users become quickly conditioned to expect positive emotional outcomes from viewing Internet cats.

The parenthetical citation at the end of each of the emphasized sentences shows that the author is using the work of someone else. The author summarized a point from Zajonc’s 1980 work and also Zillmann’s 1988 study. You would need to dig through (read) both of these works to find more about these points.

NO Citation +NO Quotation Marks

When someone sees no in-text citation and no quotation marks, they assume that the words are those of the author, not the work of anyone else.

For example, in many conclusions or discussions in a scholarly article, you won’t see citations, because the author is reporting on their own part of the scholarly conversation.

This study found that cat-related content is a popular form of online media with the potential to improve users’ moods or to delay more important tasks. The results of this survey provide valuable insights as to why Internet users so frequently view online cat-related content, which users are more likely to enjoy such content, what emotional benefits and drawbacks are associated with this viewing, and the relationship between procrastination, guilt, and happiness in impacting enjoyment of entertainment media.

There are no quotation marks or in-text citation in this paragraph. This shows that the words used here are the author’s alone.

Next, learn more about quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing →

Citation

Myrick, Jessica Gall. “Emotion Regulation, Procrastination, and Watching Cat Videos Online: Who Watches Internet Cats, Why, and to What Effect?” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 52, no. C, 2015, pp. 168–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.001

Identifying quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing

One common question that most new scholars ask is “How do I know when to quote, paraphrase or summarize?”

There is no easy answer, it just takes practice. You will work with a number of instructors who will have different ideas on what you should do.  To start, here are a few general guidelines.

Quoting

Use the exact words of an author, copied directly from the source, word for word. You must use quotation marks and an in-text citation.

Use quotes when you want to

- add the power of the author’s words to support your argument or claims

- disagree with something specific an author said

- highlight a specific passage

- compare or contrast points of view

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is stating an idea, point or passage in your own words. You must significantly change the wording, phrasing, and sentence structure of the source (not just a few words here and there; don’t just use a thesaurus and change out terms!).

Every paraphrase must also have in-text citations at the end of the paraphrased section and the original source identified on reference or works cited page.

Paraphrase when you want to

- clarify a short passage from a text

- avoid overusing quotations

- explain a point when exact wording isn’t critical

- articulate the main ideas of a passage or part

- report numerical data or statistics

Summarizing

Summaries are a broad overview of the original material as a whole (not just a part, like a paraphrase). You may summarize an entire article, and then also paraphrase a small portion of the author’s findings. Like quotes and paraphrases, a summary must be cited with in-text citations and on your reference or works cited page.

Summarize when you want to:

- give an overview of a topic

- describe information (from several sources) about a topic

Learning these skills takes practice. It is okay if you are feeling overwhelmed.

Time to practice identifying the scholarly conversation →

Practice

Learning how to identify the scholarly conversation takes practice. The following questions will test your knowledge of in-text citations as well as quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://pressbooks.umn.edu/academicintegrity/?p=230#h5p-7

Explore key takeaways from this module →

Key takeaways on using sources

Citation, attribution, paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting are all valuable skills you need as a scholar.

In this module, you learned how to

- identify scholarly conversations and the rules scholars use in these conversations (look for in-text citations)

- produce citation and attribution for a variety sources and styles

- understand the differences between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing

By completing this module, you should know now that your work at the University revolves around the idea of the scholarly conversation. You show this by having well-sourced arguments and use citation and attribution when you use sources in your work.

Next: Take a quiz for a Certificate of Completion

Instructions for Certificate of Completion

For University of Minnesota Students

1. Go to https://canvas.umn.edu/courses/178077/  and select “Join this course”

2. You will be prompted to log in with your UMN credentials.

1

Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota is a partnership between a number of collaborators in the University of Minnesota System.

Editor and Project Manager

Lindsay Matts-Benson, University Libraries, Twin Cities

Contributors

Mariya Gyendina, University Libraries, Twin Cities

Ilene Alexander, Center for Educational Innovation, Twin Cities

Sharon Dzik, Office of Community Standards, Twin Cities