Grading Systems / Policies

Grading Systems / Policies
Student Appeals Regarding Grades
Academic Standing
Academic Integrity
Reporting Violations
Adjudication Process

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Academic Integrity

Every member of the Ramapo community is expected to be honest and forthright in their academic endeavors. Since violations of academic integrity erode community confidence and undermine the pursuit of truth and knowledge at the College; academic dishonesty must be avoided. There are four broad forms of academic dishonesty:

Cheating is an act of deception by which a student misrepresents his or her mastery of material on a test or other academic exercise. Examples of cheating are:

• Copying from another student’s work
• Allowing another student to copy your work
• Using unauthorized materials such as a textbook or notebook during an examination
• Using specifically prepared materials such as notes written on clothing or other unauthorized notes, formula lists, etc., during an examination
• Collaborating with another person during an examination by giving or receiving information without authority.

Plagiarism occurs when a person represents someone else’s words, ideas, phrases, sentences, or data as one’s own work. When a student submits work that includes such material, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete, accurate, and specific footnote references; verbatim statements must be acknowledged through quotation marks.

To avoid a charge of plagiarism, a student should be sure to include an acknowledgment of indebtedness:

• Whenever he or she quotes another person’s words directly
• Whenever he or she uses another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories, even if they have been completely paraphrased in one’s own words
• Whenever he or she uses facts, statistics, or other illustrative material taken from a source, unless the information is common knowledge.

Academic Misconduct includes the alteration of grades, involvement in the acquisition or distribution of unadministered tests, and the unauthorized submission of student work in more than one class. Examples of academic misconduct are:

• Changing, altering, falsifying, or being the accessory to the changing, altering, or falsifying of a grade report or form, or entering any College office or building for that purpose
• Stealing, buying, selling, giving way, or otherwise obtaining all or part of any unadministered test or entering any College office or building for the purpose of obtaining an unadministered test
• Submitting written work to fulfill the requirements of more than one course without the explicit permission of both instructors.

Fabrication refers to the deliberate use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive. Examples of fabrication are:

• Citation of information not taken from the source indicated
• Listing of sources in a bibliography or other report not used in that project
• Fabricating data or source information in experiments, research projects, or other academic exercises
• Submission as one’s own of any academic work prepared in whole or in part by others
• Taking a test for another person or asking or allowing another to take a test for you
• Falsifying information or signatures on registration, withdrawal, or other forms.

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