The University and the Department of Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) expects all faculty and students to adhere to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Code of Conduct. The Student Code of Conduct is available online at https://studentconduct.unl.edu/. The BSE department has guidelines for handling incidents of Academic Dishonesty in AGEN, BSEN, ENSC, and AGST courses taught by departmental faculty. These guidelines can be obtained from your adviser or instructor. The department has compiled the following list of activities that are examples of academic dishonesty. This list is not exhaustive. When in doubt, contact your instructor.
Homework
- Collaborating on homework assignments when explicitly instructed to work independently.
- Copying homework solutions from a classmate. It is acceptable to seek assistance from a fellow student, but submitted work must represent individual effort.
- Allowing a fellow student to turn in your work as his or her own work.
- Obtaining homework solutions from the instructors’ files or computer directories.
- Using graphs or figures prepared by other students after minor or cosmetic changes with the intent to disguise the original author.
- Verbally describing to a classmate the exact sequence of steps required to solve a particular problem.
- Listening to a classmate’s verbal description of the exact sequence of steps required to solve a particular problem.
- Dividing homework problems among a team of students to minimize the work each must complete.
Exams
- Obtaining examination solutions or answer keys from the instructors’ files or computer directories.
- Looking at a classmate’s answer sheet during an exam.
- Using unauthorized materials during an open-book or closed-book examination.
- Communicating (verbally or non-verbally) with another student during an examination.
- Using calculators and computational tools with memory storage capability to access additional information on an exam.
- Using smart phones and other devices during exams to search the web for information.
- Collaborating on online tests and assignments intended for individuals.
Computer assignments
- Submitting a classmate’s computer code or spreadsheet after minor or cosmetic changes (such as changing variable names) with the intent to disguise the original author.
Team-based activities
- Including the names of non-contributing team members on an assignment, or taking credit for a team’s accomplishments when you did not contribute.
- Using graphs or figures prepared by other students after minor or cosmetic changes with the intent to disguise the original author.
Online courses
- Collaborating on online tests and assignments intended for individuals.
Project/lab reports and presentations
- Falsifying or modifying experimental data.
- Failing to give credit to information sources by neglecting to provide proper citations or inappropriately paraphrasing or quoting material.
- Reusing a report or presentation from a previous class.
- Paraphrasing or copying a classmate’s written report or figures.
- Purchasing a term paper from former or current students, or from websites (paper mills).
- Using images from websites without permission of the author or webmaster.
Other
- Forging signatures of advisers and/or instructors on departmental forms.
- Neglecting to report information regarding academic dishonesty to the instructor.
- Misrepresenting a situation to avoid academic work which includes “fabricating an otherwise justifiable excuse such as illness, injury, accident, etc., in order to avoid or delay timely submission of academic work or to avoid or delay the taking of a test or examination”.