CSE 132 Policy on Collaboration

All students enrolled in any course in The School of Engineering and Applied Science must abide by the SEAS Academic Integrity Policy. In addition, when you enroll in CSE132, you agree to adhere to the following policy. Note that for the purposes of CSE132 coursework, the CSE132 policy takes precedence over the SEAS policy. Please ask if you have any questions.

All quizzes and exams are to be completed on your own, with help only from the instructor or a TA.

You are encouraged to work with other students on your lab assignments, and to help other students find and fix problems in their programs, provided that you comply with the following conditions.

• Honest representation: The material you turn in for course credit must be a fair representation of your work. Claiming the work of others as your own is not only a violation of academic integrity, but also a criminal offense.

• Work according to your contract: In each lab assignment, your contract will specify your responsibilities for the project. It's alright to get some help from others on your team, but primarily this is your work and you should not be asking others to do it for you.

• Giving credit: If you work with or receive help from other students, you must list their names on your cover sheet when you turn in your assignment. (In the rare case that you end up needing to use part of someone else's program in order to get the rest of yours to work, then your cover sheet must explain exactly what portions you used of their code and those portions should be clearly marked within the code itself, so that the portion of the assignment that you actually did can be graded fairly.)

• Active involvment: You must ensure that you are an active and equal partner in all collaborations, and are not merely following along while another student does the work. Copying another's work without giving them credit (see above) is strictly prohibited.

• Give help appropriately: When helping someone, it is important not to simply give them a solution, because then they may not understand it fully and will not be able to solve a similar problem next time. It's always important to take the time to help someone think through the problem and develop the solution. Often, this can be accomplished by asking them a series of leading questions. Remember the old saying:
  Give someone a fish and they'll eat for a day.
  Teach someone to fish and they'll eat for a lifetime.

• If in doubt, ask your instructor: Be sure to ask in advance if you have any doubts about whether a certain type of collaboriation is acceptable. Academic integrity violations carry severe penalties and may result in a failing course grade and/or dismissal from the course or the university.

Penalties:

• First Offense:
  1. a negative score in the amount of the assignment. (For example, if a lab is worth up to 20 points, a violation on that lab would result in a score of -20.),
  2. the creation of an internal record of the offense (not on your transcript), and
  3. the possibility of a disciplinary hearing with further consequences.

• Subsequent Offense (even if the first offense was in another course):
  1. a failing grade in the course, and
  2. a disciplinary hearing possibly resulting in suspension or expulsion from the university and a permanent notation on your transcript.

Courses can be difficult and time consuming, but that's not an excuse to cheat! To avoid getting into a stressful situation, be sure to start assignments when they are handed out, so you have enough time to get help from the instructor and TAs. Also, remember that if you do run out of time, it's not the end of the world! It's much better to turn in a partially done solution (with a note explaining what's missing) than to sacrifice your academic integrity by copying from someone else.

Example violations of the collaboration policy (not a complete list):

• Copying part or all of another student's solution without the student's knowledge, or without giving clear credit on your solution.
• Copying old solutions from previous semesters, however obtained.
• Providing a solution to another student (electronically, on paper, or orally) for his/her use in preparing their solution. (Helping with a specific part of an assignment is ok, provided that the other student gives you credit on their assignment. If you don't trust the other student, don't give them anything, because you could end up in a messy situation.) When in doubt, see the instructor first.
• Misrepresenting your solution.  Examples of this form of cheating include turning in  "output" for a program that does not run, or editing a program's output for a program that gives incorrect results to make it appear as if the results are correct.  Basically, any action that is intended to mislead the grader into thinking your solution works when in fact it does not, is considered cheating.
• Posting your solution on the network (through shared files, on the web, etc.).