Academic Integrity

Acting with Integrity is one of the key values of our University, and as such, Academic Integrity is an important component of the Penn State Student Code of Conduct. Faculty are encouraged to review the procedures and sanctions related to the University's academic integrity policy - and work to maintain the highest level of integrity and expect the same from others.

Faculty are also required to state their expectations for academic honesty as part of the grading policy in every course. Therefore, consistent with University policy, all course syllabi will be required to contain a statement on this topic.

Syllabus Statement on Academic Integrity

Senate Policy 43-00 requires instructors to provide an Academic Integrity statement within a syllabus (among several other requirements, review this checklist). An example Academic Integrity syllabus statement is included below (ref: https://senate.psu.edu/faculty/syllabus-requirements/):

  • Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest, and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle.
  • According to Penn State policy G-9: Academic Integrity, an academic integrity violation is “an intentional, unintentional, or attempted violation of course or assessment policies to gain an academic advantage or to advantage or disadvantage another student academically.” Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, you must complete all course work entirely on your own, using only sources that have been permitted by your instructor, and you may not assist other students with papers, quizzes, exams, or other assessments. If your instructor allows you to use ideas, images, or word phrases created by another person (e.g., from Course Hero or Chegg) or by generative technology, such as ChatGPT, you must identify their source. You may not submit false or fabricated information, use the same academic work for credit in multiple courses, or share instructional content. Students with questions about academic integrity should ask their instructor before submitting work.
  • Students facing allegations of academic misconduct may not drop/withdraw from the affected course unless they are cleared of wrongdoing (see G-9: Academic Integrity). Attempted drops will be prevented or reversed, and students will be expected to complete course work and meet course deadlines. Students who are found responsible for academic integrity violations face academic outcomes, which can be severe, and put themselves at jeopardy for other outcomes which may include ineligibility for Dean’s List, pass/fail elections, and grade forgiveness. Students may also face consequences from their home/major program and/or The Schreyer Honors College.

Use of Generative AI

Faculty are also encouraged to list details on acceptable use or restrictions of using Generative AI (GenAI) in the course policies section of the syllabus, as there is no University-wide policy about GenAI use at Penn State. This Getting Started with AI website provides several resources for faculty regarding GenAI use in their courses.  There are also GenAI Icons which indicate what level of GenAI use is permitted on a particular assignment, ranging from “Allowed”, “Limited” to “Not Permitted” which can be used in Canvas.

Understanding Academic Integrity Violations

An academic integrity violation is an intentional, unintentional, or attempted violation of course or assessment policies to gain an academic advantage or to advantage or disadvantage another student academically. It is a violation when the failure to follow course or assessment policies taints the instructor’s abilities to assign a grade on the merit of the work. This can be use of a prohibited aid, misrepresentation of one’s work, submission of false information, misuse of instructional content or even reuse of one’s academic work. What qualifies as a violation, particularly as it relates to use of various tools such as GenAI, depends on an instructor's course and assessment policies defined in the syllabus, as discussed above.

If an instructor is unsure of what constitutes a violation of academic integrity, they can review the University’s Academic Integrity Orientation, which many students have completed at some point in their academic career (and can could also be required as an activity in any course).  There is also a brief online class on “Academic Integrity at Penn State: Instructor” available through LRN.  If there are still questions, you can reach out to academic-integrity@engr.psu.edu or 814-865-6674.

Instructors who suspect an academic integrity violation has occurred, should file a claim in the Academic Integrity Claims System. See the Academic Integrity Committee Review process page for more details on the resulting process.

Additional Penn State academic integrity resources including Frequently Asked Questions can be found at integrity.psu.edu/academic-integrity.