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Academic Integrity for Students

What is Cheating?

Cheating is the use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to: 

  • any use of books, texts, notes, calculators, applications, electronics, websites, programming code, computers, communication, and conversation with others that is restricted or forbidden during academic exercises
  • Copying on tests or final examinations
  • Acquiring a portion of assigned academic work from another person or source, or acquiring a copy of or information about a test or exam

Test Cheating Examples

Test Cheating Prevention

  • Discuss academic integrity with your instructor
  • Do not share your work with other students unless approved by your instructor
  • Do not provide access to, upload, distribute, sell, trade, or copy any of your course materials
  • Do not share tests, exams, or assignments with others
  • Do not bring or access unauthorized materials during tests
  • Use assessment integrity checklist
  • Keep careful research notes
  • Ask instructor for examples of what students can and can’t share (Sutton & Taylor, 2011)
  • Collaborate only with classmates specified by your instructor, and only in the manner which your instructor specifies
  • Complete assessments which are assigned individually on your own
  • Ask for help from Assiniboine support staff, including your Student Success Advisor, the Learning Curve, and the Library

 

References

Akimov, A., & Malin, M. (2020). When old becomes new: a case study of oral examination as an online assessment tool, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(8), p. 1205-1221.

Assiniboine College. (2023). Policy A25. https://assiniboine.net/sites/default/files/documents/2019-08/a25.pdf

Australian Government: TEQSA (2017). Good practice note: addressing contract cheating to safeguard academic integrity. https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/publications/good-practice-note-addressing-contract-cheating-safeguard-academic

Awdry R., & Newton, P. M. (2019). Staff views on commercial contract cheating in higher education: A survey study in Australia and the UK. Higher Education, 78(4), 593-610. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00360-0 

Bertram Gallant, T. (2008). Academic integrity in the 21st century: a teaching and learning imperative. Jossey-Bass.

Bertram Gallant, T. (2017). Academic integrity as a teaching & learning issue: from theory to practice. Theory Into Practice, 56(2), 88-94.

Bertram Gallant, T. (2018). Course design, assessment & integrity: strange bedfellows? https://academicintegrity.org/blog/course-design-assessment-integrity-strange-bedfellows/ 

Bretag, T., Harper, R., Burton, M., Ellis, C., Newton, P., van Haeringen, K., Saddiqui, S., & Rozenberg, P. (2019). Contract cheating and assessment design: exploring the relationship. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(5), 676-691.

Clarke, R., & Lancaster, T. (2007). Establishing a systematic six-stage process for detecting contract cheating, in 2nd International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Applications, 2007, (New York, NY: ICPCA 2007), 342–347.

Deale, C.S., Lee, S.H., Bae, J, & White, B. (2020). An exploratory study of educators' and students' perceptions of collaboration versus cheating in hospitality and tourism education, Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 20(2), 89-104.

Eaton, S.E. (2018). 15 strategies to detect contract cheating. http://connections.ucalgaryblogs.ca/2018/10/01/15-strategies-to-detect-contract-cheating/

Eaton, S. E., Chibry, N., Toye, M. A., & Rossi, S. (2019). Interinstitutional perspectives on contract cheating: a qualitative narrative exploration from Canada. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 15(9). 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-019-0046-0

Ellis, C., Zucker, I., & Randall, D. (2018). The infernal business of contract cheating: Understanding the business processes and models of academic custom writing sites. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-017-0024-3

Hersey, C. (2019). The struggle is real! #Ineedapaperfast. Presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, AB.
Lancaster, T., & Clarke, R. (2016). Contract cheating: the outsourcing of assessed student work. In: Bretag, T. (ed.) Handbook of academic integrity. Springer.

Morris, E. J. (2018). Academic integrity matters: five considerations for addressing contract cheating. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(15), https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-018-0038-5

Newton, P. (2018). How common is commercial contract cheating in higher education and is it increasing? A systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 3(67), https:/doi.org//10.3389/feduc.2018.00067 

Newton, P. M., & Lang, C. (2016). Custom essay writers, freelancers, and other paid third parties. In: Bretag, T. (ed.) Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer.

Rogerson, A.M. (2017). Detecting contract cheating in essay and report submissions: process, patterns, clues and conversations. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 13(10). https:/doi.org//10.1007/s40979-017-0021-6

Sutton, A., & Taylor, D. (2011). Confusion about collusion: working together and academic integrity. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(7), 831-841.

Toye, M., Rossi, S., Chibry, N., & Eaton, S.E. (2019). Contract cheating: a view from three Calgary post-secondary institutions. Presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, AB.

Whitley, B.E., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2012). Academic dishonesty: an educator's guide. Psychology Press.

Yorke, J., Sefcik, L., & Veeran-Colton, T. (2020). Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business? Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1730313