All students must read, understand, and follow the course policy
on academic honesty and grading standards. Each student will be required
to sign a statement indicating that they have read and understood the policy.
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities
of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community, in which everyone's
academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty.
Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts
are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic
misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is
not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the full Student
Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty
Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory. [Statement
adopted by UMBC's Undergraduate Council and Provost's Office.]
Academic dishonesty, including copying another student's work, sharing your work with someone else, buying or selling solutions, and plagiarism of any source, is not acceptable.
Statement of sources. At the beginning of each assignment, you must include a comment indicating the sources you used while working on it (excluding course staff and text), and the type of help you received from them. If you received no help, say so. Failure to include such a statement will result in the assignment being returned ungraded. You may resubmit such a returned assignment once over the course of the semester.
Written answers for homeworks must be your own work. You may discuss the concepts and assignments with anyone; in fact, students are encouraged to study and work together. However, the homework you turn in must be your own work. This means that you should be alone when you actually sit down to write the solutions, and you may not show your solutions to anyone else. Any help you receive must be documented. Plagiarism (copying) of any source, including another student's work, is not acceptable. If you wish to quote a source, you must do so explicitly, using quotation marks and proper citation at the point of the quote. http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/bib_journals.htm gives an excellent overview of how to correctly cite a source. http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html gives guidelines on acceptable paraphrasing.
The implementation of the programming assignments must be your own work. Before using code from any source, you should check with the instructor to be sure the use is acceptable. If you do use code from another source, you must explicitly cite the source and indicate how you used it. If you are stumped on a particular error, you may consult with someone else; however, if you consult with someone other than the instructor, the TA, or the consulting desk, you must place a comment in your code near the point of the error, stating the source and scope of the help you received. Reasonable help will not affect your grade; failure to cite your sources is academically dishonest.
Examinations must be your own work. You may bring only the materials specified by the instructor. Any use of unauthorized materials, copying of another student's assignment, or other illegitimate use of sources is grounds for failure on the exam or in the course. (See Penalties, below.)
Team projects: For team projects and assignments, naturally all team members can and should contribute to the work. Claiming equal credit for a project if you did not contribute an equal share of the work is dishonest and subject to the same penalties as other forms of cheating.
Fabrication: Fabricating results, sources, or any other information, is academically dishonest and subject to the penalties outlined below.
Aiding and abetting: Providing another student with answers, or helping them to cheat, is an equally serious violation of the principles of academic honesty. A student who commits such an offense is subject to the same penalties as the student who cheated.
Penalties: The consequence for any infraction of this policy is, at a minimum, a zero grade for the entire assignment. In addition, in order to pass the course, the student may be required to recomplete the assignment honestly. A zero grade on an assignment that results from academic dishonesty will be counted in the final grade, even if it is the lowest score. Consequences for more serious infractions of this policy, or for second offenses, may include, but are not limited to, a grade penalty in the course, a failing grade in the course, or being suspended or expelled from the university.
The approximate distribution of credit for solutions on both written and programming assignments will be as follows:
Although this is not a writing class, success in any scientific discipline requires the ability to effectively communicate one's thoughts. If you have difficulty writing, whether it's because English is not your first language, or because you haven't taken many writing classes in your undergraduate program, I highly suggest that you take advantage of UMBC's writing center, in the main library. (Phone 455-3126, hours 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday - Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Friday.) This is a free tutoring service that will help you prepare essays and papers for any course.
For more information on electronic submission of programming assignments,
see http://www.gl.umbc.edu/submit/
. The class name is cs471. I have set up a test assignment called "hw0"
that you can use to test whether submit works for you. Just create a text
file (you can use the opportunity to send me a message about the class
or tell me something interesting about yourself!) and submit it using the
instructions. I'll send you an e-mail to let you know if/when I receive
it. (Note that you will only be able to use the submit facility if you
are registered for the class.)
I have read and understood the Fall 2002 CMSC 471 course policies on academic honesty and grading. I agree to follow these policies, and I understand the consequences for violating them.
Name (printed) ___________________________________
Signature _______________________________________
Date ___________________________________________