The Brookwood tradition of excellence requires an academic environment that rejects cheating or any other form of dishonesty. In addition, the academic integrity of all students is paramount in the pillars of citizenship and respect that describe a Brookwood UPSTANDER. An essential part of education is developing a sense of honor, responsibility, and ethical principles that extend to all facets of life. Our students earn respect for themselves and their academic work through academic integrity and ethical conduct.

CHEATING

Cheating includes any attempt to defraud, deceive, or mislead a teacher in arriving at an honest evaluation of student achievement. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Looking at another student’s answers or work or sharing answers on an independent assignment or assessment unless expressly permitted by the teacher.
2. Attempting to communicate information in any way during an independent assignment or assessment unless expressly permitted by the teacher.
3. Having cheat sheets or information written on the body or other personal objects.
4. Using programmed calculators or other electronic devices unless expressly permitted by the teacher.
5. Looking at quiz, test, or exam materials prior to their administration.
6. Sharing or receiving information regarding an assignment or assessment.
7. Failing to give credit when the ideas, words, or works of others are used. (See the information on pages 13 and 14 regarding Plagiarism.)
8. Submitting work that is not created by the student. This includes, but is not limited to, file sharing (submitting the same work with different header, copying files to and from electronic devices and web tools, and/or receiving or purchasing solutions or works from others).
9. Taking or transmitting photographs of secure assignment or assessments.
10. ANY electronic device (including, but not limited to, cell phones and smart watches) visible during ANY assessment can be considered cheating. At no time during an assessment should an unauthorized electronic device be visible or accessible.

Cheating is inexcusable conduct and will be dealt with strictly. A zero will be given for the assignment. The teacher

will contact the parent(s), and a record of the incident will be placed in the student’s disciplinary file. On the second and future offenses, students will receive consequences in addition to a zero. Students may lose other privileges, positions, or opportunities as determined by the administration.

PLAGIARISM 

The following definitions and explanations clarify and explain the Brookwood High School Honor Code regarding plagiarism in essays, research papers and other writing across all subject areas. The goal here is to clearly show the difference between original scholarship, sloppy scholarship and plagiarism.

Original Scholarship:

Original scholarship is work where all ideas are the writer’s own or considered common knowledge (i.e., general knowledge that the average educated reader would know without having to look it up). When using information from other sources (through direct quotes, paraphrasing, or summarizing), give credit to those sources by using a recognized citation method and include enough information in the citation so that the reader can locate the original work on their own.

Sloppy Scholarship:

Sloppy scholarship is work that contains original scholarship, but has carelessly cited information from other sources.

   Examples of sloppy scholarship include, but are not limited to:

• Using one citation at the end of a paragraph when part of the information may not have come from that one source or it may have come from another source
• Omitting or using incorrect punctuation marks in citations
• Inconsistent or incorrect use of recognized citation method
• Putting quotation marks around a piece of information without giving an in-text citation
• Including a works cited page without properly acknowledging citations within the paper
• Including proper citations within the paper without a corresponding entry in the works cited page
• Accidentally distorting or misinterpreting an author’s original meaning

Consequences for sloppy scholarship:

• Point deduction according to the rubric or scoring method
• In some cases, students may be required to correct the errors in sloppy scholarship.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the act of stealing, using, and/or representing another person’s ideas or words as your own writing or ideas.

     Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:

• Copying phrases, sentences or paragraphs without quotations marks and giving proper source information
• Paraphrasing or summarizing ideas without giving proper source information
• Selling or giving work to another student to submit it as his or her own (contract cheating)
• Asking someone or paying someone to create a work you intend to call your own (contract cheating)
• Downloading or copying information from the internet and submitting it entirely or partially as your own
• Submitting another student’s work as your own

    Consequences for plagiarism (according to the Brookwood Honor Code):

• Zero for the assignment
• Teacher will contact the parent(s).
• - A record of the incident will be placed in the student’s disciplinary file.
• - Multiple offenses will result in consequences in addition to a zero.

For more information about plagiarism and how to avoid it, please visit www.plagiarism.org.