Most UW students conduct themselves with integrity and are disturbed when they observe others cheating. The information on these three pages should help you avoid unintentional misconduct and clarify the consequences of cheating. Cheating harms the University community in many ways. Honest students are frustrated by the unfairness of cheating that goes undetected and therefore unpunished. Students who cheat skew the grading curve in a class, resulting in lower grades for students who worked hard and did their own work.
Cheaters also cheat themselves of a real education.
They rob themselves not only of general knowledge, but also of the experience of learning how to learn, the very experience that makes a bachelor's degree so valuable to employers. The reputation of the University and the worth of a UW degree suffer if employers find graduates lacking the abilities their degrees should guarantee. Finally, most professions have codes of ethics, standards to which you will be expected to adhere when you are working. At the University you practice the integrity you must demonstrate later. You are guilty of cheating whenever you present as your own work something that you did not do.