CSE Academic Integrity Policy

The following statement further describes the specific application of these general principles to a common context in the CSE Department environment, the production of source code for project and homework assignments. It should be thoroughly understood before undertaking any cooperative activities or using any other sources in such contexts.

All academic work must be your own. Plagiarism, defined as copying or receiving materials from a source or sources and submitting this material as one's own without acknowledging the particular debts to the source (quotations, paraphrases, basic ideas), or otherwise representing the work of another as one's own, is never allowed. Collaboration, usually evidenced by unjustifiable similarity, is never permitted in individual assignments. Any submitted academic work may be subject to screening by software programs designed to detect evidence of plagiarism or collaboration.

It is your responsibility to maintain the security of your computer accounts and your written work. Do not share passwords with anyone, nor write your password down where it may be seen by others. Do not change permissions to allow others to read your course directories and files. Do not walk away from a workstation without logging out. These are your responsibilities. In groups that collaborate inappropriately, it may be impossible to determine who has offered work to others in the group, who has received work, and who may have inadvertently made their work available to the others by failure to maintain adequate personal security. In such cases, all will be held equally liable.

These policies and interpretations may be augmented by individual instructors for their courses. Always check the handouts and web pages of your course and section for additional guidelines.

The CSE Department has a zero-tolerance policy regarding academic integrity (AI) violations.

When there is a potential violation of academic integrity in a course, the course director shall first notify the concerned students. This notification begins the UB Academic Integrity Policy review and appeals process, to be administered by the UB Office of Academic Integrity.

Upon conclusion of the review and appeals process, if the Office of Academic Integrity has determined that the student has committed a violation, the following sanctions will be imposed upon the student:

§ 1. Documentation. The department, school, and university will record the student's name in departmental, decanal, and university-level academic integrity violations databases.

§ 2. Penalty Assessment. The standing policy of the department is that all students involved in an academic integrity violation will receive an F grade for the course and may lose financial aid and/or lose financial support from the department. The course director may recommend a lesser penalty for the first instance of academic integrity violation.  The Office of Academic Integrity may recommend a lesser or greater penalty.