Academic Integrity: Getting Started

Duke Kunshan University expects students to hold themselves to the highest standards for honesty, integrity, fairness, and responsibility in their academic and co-curricular endeavors. Duke Kunshan University is a community comprised of individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds. We are dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and to the principles of honesty, fairness, respect, and accountability. Members of this community commit to reflecting upon and upholding these principles in all academic and non-academic endeavors, and to protecting and promoting a culture of integrity and trust. To uphold the Duke Kunshan Community Standard, each student is expected to pledge to hold him/herself to the highest standards for honesty, integrity, fairness, and responsibility in his/her academic and non-academic endeavors, to respect other cultures and embrace all forms of diversity, and to uphold the standards if they are compromised.

Duke Kunshan University Academic Integrity 

Lying
Lying is communicating untruths or misrepresentations in order to gain an unfair academic or employment advantage. [Wording adopted from the Duke Fuqua School of Business code.]

It includes, but is not limited to:

• falsifying information on a résumé;
• misrepresenting one’s own research;
• providing false or misleading information in order to be excused from classes or assignments; or
• intentionally underperforming on a placement exam.

Cheating
Cheating is the act of wrongfully using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, study aids, or the ideas or work of another in order to gain an unfair advantage. It includes, but is not limited to:

• plagiarism on any assignment;
• giving unauthorized aid to another student or receiving unauthorized aid from another person on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
• using or consulting unauthorized materials or using unauthorized equipment or devices on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
• altering or falsifying any information on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
• using any material portion of a paper or project to fulfill the requirements of more than one course unless the student has received prior faculty permission to do so;
• working on any examination, test, quiz or assignment outside of the time constraints imposed;
• the unauthorized use of prescription medication to enhance academic performance;
• submitting an altered examination or assignment to an instructor for re-grading; or
• failing to adhere to an instructor’s specific directions with respect to the terms of academic integrity or academic honesty.

“Plagiarism” occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas or phrasing of another as if they were his/her own and/or does not give appropriate credit to the original source. Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source. Students are responsible for learning proper scholarly procedures.

Plagiarism may include:

• copying from published sources without adequate documentation ([1] use of quotation marks around verbatim text, or a block quote if verbatim text exceeds 40-50 words; and [2] in-text references or footnotes, both for verbatim text and paraphrased words/ideas);
• citing an incorrect source for attributed work;
• paraphrasing words or ideas of another without giving credit;
• using the same logic/flow/sentence structure of another without giving credit;
• submitting as your own someone else's unpublished work, either with or without permission;
• paying someone else to write a paper for you; or,
• purchasing a pre-written paper.

The term “assignment” includes any work, required or volunteered, submitted for review, academic credit, and/or disciplinary sanction.

All academic work undertaken by a student must be completed independently unless the faculty member or other responsible authority expressly authorizes collaboration with another.

Stealing
Stealing is the act of intentionally taking or appropriating the property of another, including academic work, without consent or permission and with the intent to keep or use the property without the permission of the owner or the rightful possessor.

From Academic Dishonesty from Duke Student Conduct Policies