Communicating Integrity in the Syllabus
Instructors need to communicate about integrity to ensure students understand (and buy into) shared standards. You can do this in your syllabus, in a separate document, in a presentation, or on a website. We do recommend, however, that you communicate in both written and oral form - this not only helps your non-native speakers but it helps all students who may need to hear the information multiple times.
The Academic Integrity Policy requires that professors inform students in writing "if there are any course-specific rules required by the Instructor for maintaining academic integrity." These course specific rules are those that are unique to your class or simply not the normal rules for every class on campus (e.g., you may not sit next to someone you know during an exam; your cell phone must be off your person and out of reach during an exam). See below for help on this statement.
However, we recommend that you do more than inform students of course-specific rules. We recommend you talk to students about academic integrity - what it is, what it means to you, why it's important, and why it should be important to them. Consider at least doing one or more of the following in your syllabus, in a separate document, in a presentation, or on a website:
Articulate your Academic Integrity Policy
You can write your own policy, use this template to create your own (Word file), or at the very least, use/ adapt the following generic statement about "academic integrity at UC San Diego":
"Academic Integrity is expected of everyone at UC San Diego. This means that you must be honest, fair, responsible, respectful, and trustworthy in all of your actions. Lying, cheating, or any other forms of dishonesty will not be tolerated because they undermine learning and the University’s ability to certify students’ knowledge and abilities. Thus, any attempt to get, or help another get, a grade by cheating, lying or dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office and will result in sanctions. Sanctions can include an F in this class and suspension or dismissal from the University. So, think carefully before you act by asking yourself: a) is what I’m about to do or submit for credit an honest, fair, respectful, responsible & trustworthy representation of my knowledge and abilities at this time and, b) would my instructor approve of my action? You are ultimately the only person responsible for your behavior. So, if you are unsure, don’t ask a friend—ask your instructor, instructional assistant, or the Academic Integrity Office. You can learn more about academic integrity at academicintegrity.ucsd.edu” (Source: Academic Integrity Office, 2018)
If you use this statement, do include the citation so you are role modeling writing with integrity.
In this GenAI era, however, you should also make sure you are very clear about whether the use of GenAI tools (like ChatGPT) are allowed and if they are, which tools and for what purposes. See additional guidance on Crafting your GenAI & AI Policy.
List of your commitments to uphold integrity
Upholding the values of academic integrity are just as much your responsibility.
We suggest you talk about what things you will do to uphold honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, trustworthiness and courage. For example, will you cite all of your sources in lecture (honesty)? Will you return their graded assignments in a timely manner (responsibility)? Will you grade fairly according to the rubric that you give them ahead of time (fairness)? Will you address cheating when it occurs (courage)?
If you're interested in doing this, you can use this table (Word file) as a template.
Explore our other webpages for more help on these things that you might want to talk about in the syllabus:
How you will respond to academic integrity violations
You should tell students how you will respond to suspected academic integrity violations because:
- Awareness of costs prevents some students from cheating.
- Perceived fairness improves class morale, especially for honest students.
- You'll set classroom norms for behavior.
For example, you could say something like the following (although adapting it for your particular class rules/ examples):
I am professionally and ethically responsible to report all possible integrity violations to the Academic Integrity Office. Integrity violations are not just blatant cheating (e.g., copying off another student during an exam), but what you might have thought of as "minor cheating" in high school, for example: copying other students' papers or homework; copying or using old papers/report; working with others on individual assignments; forgetting to cite material you took from an outside resource; turning in work completed in total or part by another. The Academic Integrity Policy (academicintegrity.ucsd.edu) and this syllabus list some of the standards by which you are expected to complete your academic work, but your good ethical judgment (or asking me for advice) is also expected as we cannot list every behavior that is unethical or not in the spirit of academic integrity.
Those students found to have violated academic integrity will face administrative sanctions imposed by the University and academic sanctions imposed by me (see University Sanctioning guidelines at http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu/process/consequences/sanctioning-guidelines.html). NOTE: these sanctions are not at my discretion. Your grade, the academic sanction, however, is at my discretion. And I have decided to give an F (a 0) on any assessment in which an academic integrity violation occurred - regardless of the extent of the violation. You copy one answer on a quiz, 0. You copying one sentence from the internet in a paper, 0. NOTE: Students who facilitate academic integrity violations (e.g., giving their paper to another student), are also violating academic integrity standards.
Students who become aware of their peers either facilitating academic misconduct or committing it should report their suspicions to me for investigation or tell the Academic Integrity Office.
Create an academic integrity pledge that students sign
You could also establish an academic integrity pledge that students read and sign.
We offer you this Integrity Pledge if you'd like to use it.
Or you could make up your own. For example:
As a student enrolled in this class, I affirm the principle of academic integrity and commit to upholding integrity by completing all academic assignments in the manner expected, informing the instructor of suspected instances of academic misconduct by my peers, and fully engaging in the class and its related assignments for the purpose of learning.
If you choose to include a pledge like this, make sure it has meaning for students by discussing it with the class before you ask them to sign it.
Also, repeat that pledge on every assignment and exam - that is students have to write the pledge (preferably) and sign it on every work they send in for academic credit.