In a classroom setting, academic misconduct typically refers to cheating on examinations or plagiarism in written assignments such as final papers. Cheating and plagiarism are not only dishonest, but they are very unfair to students who do their best to succeed honestly. Consequently, I take such problems very seriously, and I will seek to punish willful acts of cheating or plagiarism. The Code of Conduct provides for punishment ranging from failing the course to expulsion, depending upon the nature of the misconduct. Everyone understands what it means to cheat on an examination.
Plagiarism can be less obvious.
I will make it very clear, both in this document and in class discussions, what plagiarism is. No one should be able to defend acts of plagiarism by claiming that they do not understand its definition. Plagiarism means representing somebody else's writing or other creative work as your own. An obvious example is putting your name on someone else's paper and pretending it is your own work. It's still plagiarism even if the creator of the original work is willing to let you pass it off as your own.