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Academic Honesty Statement | College Policy on Writing | Portfolios

Academic Honesty Statement

(Approved by UAAC 2/12/02, by Faculty Council 2/21/02)

Students on a Christian college campus are expected to do all academic work with integrity. This means that they should practice academic honesty without exception. The College takes this so seriously we ask all incoming students to sign a statement guaranteeing that they understand the notion of academic integrity and will conform to the policies described below.

All forms of academic dishonesty, which include cheating and plagiarism, are inappropriate on our campus. Cheating and plagiarism are variations on a theme: both involve offering the work of another as one's own. Students cheat and/or plagiarize when they:

Give or receive aid from another student or other person during a test, quiz, or homework assignment when they were told to work alone.
Copy all or part of another student's work-an exam, worksheet, homework assignment, essay, speech, musical composition, web production, etc.-and submit it as their own work.
Copy all or part of any published or copyrighted source such as a book, periodical article, or musical composition and submit it as their own work.
"Cut and paste" information from a digital source such as a CD-ROM or web page and submit it as their own work.
Steal ideas or conceptual frameworks from another source and submit them as their own without giving proper credit to the source.
Submit other people's work as their own (e.g. a roommate's term paper or one purchased over the Internet).
Ask someone else to complete a writing project for them and revise and edit the work in such a way that they are not really the one responsible for the final document. (Please note: GC's faculty often encourage students to share their work in progress with others, in fact the College even pays writing tutors to help students think through revising an assignment. This is simply a good habit for any scholar that we fully endorse. What we don't want students to do is let another person take over and complete an academic task that is their own responsibility.)

This list is not exhaustive, but should give a clear idea of what constitutes academic dishonesty. In general terms, academic dishonesty occurs when people knowingly or unknowingly take credit for words or ideas that are not their own in work that is produced for a class, presentation, publication, or other public domain. All forms of cheating and plagiarism involve intellectual theft, and thou shalt not steal!

Students are responsible to use appropriate quotation marks whenever they use words from another source. They must cite sources for ideas that originated with others. They are responsible to learn the specific documentation methods required in their chosen academic disciplines. Whenever they are in doubt about how to cite sources or use others' writings in their own, they should ask a professor.

At GC academic dishonesty has severe consequences. If instructors discover any instance of cheating or plagiarism, they are well within their rights to assign a failing grade for that assignment or for the course. Furthermore, they must report the student to the department head and the Office of Academic Affairs. This office will forward the information to the appropriate deans. If a second instance of academic dishonesty occurs, the student will receive a failing grade for the course, and the case will be forwarded to the Vice President of Academic Affairs for review and possible further disciplinary action. A student may be expelled from the institution for repeated or extreme violations of academic integrity. Appeals can be handled through the normal judicial process.

College Policy on Writing

"Greenville College is committed to helping students improve writing. The college expects all courses to contain a writing component as part of the evaluation of student progress. We expect students to produce written work that is focused, well developed, organized, and relatively free of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. Papers that fall short of this standard will not be accepted; the work will be returned to the student for revision within a reasonable time."

Portfolios at Greenville College

Academic departments within the College are required to assess the impact of their programs upon the lives of students who graduate in each major. One of the ways this is done is through a student-owned portfolio containing a collection of "best works" which the student considers to be evidence of personal growth toward what the GC mission describes as "transformed lives of character and service." The portfolio contains the StrengthFinder, papers, projects, videotapes of performances or presentations, audio tapes of radio/music class works, and a summary of a student's co-curricular experiences in music, athletics, ministry, newspaper or yearbook articles/photos, and volunteer service to the community. Assignments that are evidence of student excellence are drawn from courses contributing to general education, the major, the minor, leadership experiences, and service.

Students are encouraged to talk with their professors and advisor regarding the collection of best works to be included in the portfolio. Assignments and projects from any course may be included in the portfolio. Students may select the way in which their portfolio is compiled: 1) as a collection of papers within a three-ring binder or other professional folio/folder; 2) as a collection of files on a floppy disc; 3) as a collection of works on a CD; or 4) as a periodically updated personal web page. Norm Hall, Dean of Student Development is coordinating a pilot project for students interested in developing web-based portfolios. If you are interested in this method, contact him at extension 7117.

Before the close of the semester, talk with your advisor and the professor teaching this course regarding those assignments, tests, or papers you consider to be "best works" and worthy of inclusion in your portfolio.

Last updated: August 23, 2002