Academic Honesty

Information taken from the Adler University Student Handbook; refer to the handbook for the most current policy.

Adler University seeks to establish a climate of honesty and integrity. Any work submitted by a student must represent original work produced by that student. Any source used by a student must be documented through required scholarly references and citations, and the extent to which any sources have been used must be apparent to the reader. The School further considers resubmission of work done partially or entirely by another, as well as resubmission of work done by a student in a previous course for a different course, to be academic dishonesty. It is the student's responsibility to seek clarification from the course instructor about how much help may be received in completing an assignment, examination or project and what sources may be used. Students found guilty of academic dishonesty or plagiarism shall be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal from the school.

In addition, students suspected of plagiarism or academic dishonesty are subject to a failing grade for the assignment and course, and the potential for immediate dismissal from their program, and Adler University.

For the purposes of this policy, academic misconduct refers to any action that involves illicit, unauthorized, fraudulent or inappropriate behaviors designed to aid in whole or part with the completion of required work at Adler University of Professional Psychology. Plagiarism is the submission, in whole or part, of unoriginal material, represented as original and as the work product of the individual student.

Four types of plagiarism are defined in this policy:

• Resubmission of work done for one course, assignment or task for another. Defined as auto-plagiarism, this form of plagiarism does not typically involve the submission of the work of others, but, instead, consists of representing as original, work that had been previously submitted.
• Minimally rephrasing, paraphrasing or revising the work of others without proper citation or credit. Referred to here as indirect plagiarism.
• Substantial utilization of the published or unpublished work of others without permission, citation or credit. Known as "cut and paste" or "patchwriting", this form of plagiarism is referred to as direct plagiarism.
• Purchasing or otherwise acquiring a work in its entirety and submitting it as one's own is considered the most extreme and egregious form of plagiarism. Referred to in this policy as fraudulent plagiarism.

Research misconduct involves the misrepresentation of data or material in research, and is defined as follows:

• Data fabrication involves the intentional production of study or research data and representing such data as genuine.
• Data falsification involves the intentional alteration of study or research data and representing such data as genuine.
• Data manipulation involves the suppression or changing of study data to facilitate a desired outcome.
• Withholding data or materials involves the refusal to make available for inspection, raw data and sources for student research.
• Misrepresentation of how much effort was expended, or the extent of original contribution made to a research project in which multiple contributors took part.

Levels of Academic Misconduct

For the purpose of this policy, acts of academic misconduct are grouped into four (4) categories, enumerated in descending order of perceived severity and perceived seriousness per event.

I. Severe Academic Misconduct: Consists of fraudulent plagiarism, extensive "cut and paste" plagiarism, data fabrication and data falsification.
II. Significant Academic Misconduct: Consisting of direct plagiarism, significant or repeated indirect plagiarism, data manipulation.
III. Moderate Academic Misconduct: Consisting of indirect plagiarism, inadvertent direct plagiarism or withholding data or resources in research.
IV. Simple Academic Misconduct: Consisting of auto-plagiarism, inadvertent indirect plagiarism and misrepresentation of contribution to research.

Violations of these policies will result in referral to the SCEC. Consequences, weighing the severity of academic misconduct, the level of training and circumstances associated with the misconduct will range from failure on specific assignments and required supplemental education to dismissal from the student's program and Adler University.

A self-guided training tutorial on plagiarism and academic misconduct is available on the CITI (Consortium of Institutional Training Initiatives) website (http://www.citiprogram.org). The Adler University institutional page can be selected on this website, and the plagiarism/academic dishonesty tutorial is available on that page. Annual completion of this tutorial and self-guided evaluation is required for all students in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.