Academic Integrity

By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UW-Madison’s community of scholars in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest academic integrity standards. Academic misconduct compromises the integrity of the university. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, and helping others commit these acts are examples of academic misconduct, which can result in disciplinary action. This includes but is not limited to failure on the assignment/course, disciplinary probation, or suspension. Substantial or repeated cases of misconduct will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards for additional review. For more information, refer to conduct.students.wisc.edu/academic-integrity/.

In CS 200 we recognize interactions with others can assist with the mastery of the material. However, there is a difference between learning from others and submitting their work as yours. On some coursework, you may and are expected to collaborate, while other coursework must be your own.

• In lecture and team lab, follow the directions of the instructor and TAs, but generally working together is allowed and expected.
• Exam preparation can be collaborative, but during and after exams you many not collaborate at all until the instructors discuss the exam in lecture.
• Programming assignments submitted are only your work with cited collaboration allowed in some circumstances:
  Essentially, others may help you with your code. You may not share your code with others. If you have any doubt about whether an act is reasonable, solicit and receive written approval from an instructor prior to the act.
  • Prior to asking anyone for help for a programming assignment, submit the assignment to zyBooks. After the discussion, which may involve the helper viewing your assignment on your device, re-submit your assignment, citing the help.
  • Prior to helping someone with their programming assignment, such as identifying a bug, during office hours, online or elsewhere, you must submit that programming assignment yourself. After you help, add a citation to your own work with the help you provided and resubmit.

Reasonable:

• You may use the web or other sources for learning materials and incorporate a few lines of code you find, provided those lines are not solutions to the programming assignments and you cite the origin of the lines.
• You may discuss course content with anyone and don’t need to cite if it isn’t related to a programming assignment. However, we encourage you to make your own notes.
• You may discuss algorithms and pseudocode with others without citation. However, keeping notes may be helpful.
• You may work with a tutor, even paying, to help you with the course, as long as you do your own work, not submitting the tutor’s work as your own, and you cite the help you receive.
• You don’t need to cite help received by CS 200 Instructors and TAs.

Unreasonable:

• You may not email, post on Piazza, or otherwise make it available for others.
• You may not ask or access a solution to a programming assignment prior to submitting or resubmitting your own.
• You may not show your programming assignment to another when it is they and not you, who is struggling to complete it.
• Failing to cite code or techniques from outside the course materials that have been integrated into your work.
• You may not pay or offer to pay for work you may submit as your own.
• You may not make available your assignments to others who might take the course in the future.
• You may not solicit solutions to programming assignments.
• You may not view another’s solution and base your own solution on it.

Regrets, Breaking point:

• If you do something unreasonable, but bring it to the attention of the course instructors within 72 hours, the course may impose an unsatisfactory or failing grade, but won’t refer the matter for further action, unless unreasonable acts are repeated.
• If you reaching a breaking point, perhaps late at night, and briefly consider unreasonable conduct, remember the various course policies that allow flexibility, e.g., 24 out of 30, while still earning full credit for the course. Resolve to get an earlier start and complete future assignments, but keep your conduct reasonable by not turning in work that is not your own.