Academic Integrity

Academic Dishonesty

University of Lethbridge Honour Statement

This form may be used by course instructors as an educational tool to help their students maintain high standards of academic integrity in their work.

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Encouraging academic integrity in your courses

**Adapted from the University of Waterloo’s website: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/planning-courses/course-design/encouraging-academic-integrity-your-courses

What can you do as an instructor to encourage your students to do honest work? There are many reasons cited by students when they are asked why they cheated, plagiarized or collaborated dishonestly. Some of the most common reasons can be instructive regarding what faculty members and teaching assistants can do to discourage dishonest behaviour and encourage academic integrity in their courses.

  1. Educate your students: students must be educated on what is and is not acceptable, and that there can be substantial penalties for not following the University of Lethbridge policy. Do not assume that your students know how to correctly acknowledge sources, or that they will come to you with questions. You may also want to include an Honor Statement or other information about academic integrity, including the U of L library. If your students are having issues with writing direct them to the Writing Centre.
    1. Explain why the principles of academic integrity are important in your field/profession.
    2. Consider inviting your liaison librarian to your class to discuss proper citation and paraphrasing practices.
    3. Let your students know that all ideas and information that they incorporate into their work should be referenced, even something that someone told them about (referenced as a “personal communication” from that person).
  2. Provide clear instructions on the course syllabus and in introductory lectures on what is expected and required of your students. For assignments, clearly indicate if group collaboration is acceptable (and the level of collaboration permitted) or if students must do all work independently.
  3. On the course syllabus, refer to Part IV – Academic Regulations, Policies and Program Requirements (Student discipline). Indicate both verbally and in writing that there can be significant penalties for failing to meet the University of Lethbridge academic integrity standards. You may also choose to have your students complete an Honour Statement with each assignment/exam, on which students "sign off" on having done the work themselves, and/or listing classmates with whom they may have consulted.
  4. Provide information on how to credit academic sources, and/or refer to a source for that information. The library has excellent information on Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) formatting, etc. You may also find it helpful to require an annotated bibliography, where students are required to provide a brief abstract for every source document. This ensures that students have documented their research and used source material appropriately.
  5. Ensure all of your teaching materials properly acknowledge all sources (including course notes, charts, data, tables, figures, maps, PowerPoint presentations, etc.) so that you lead by example. Remember, your behaviour will set the standard for your students.
    1. Be reasonable in your expectations of students. They are (usually) taking other courses and have responsibilities beyond their school work. Students should spend 8-10 hours per week on each course, and this includes in-class time.
  6. Report all cases of suspected misconduct promptly to the Associate Dean of your Faculty. It is critical that all cases of misconduct (even minor ones) are reported promptly to improve our efforts in educating students and to identify those who re-offend.
    1. Have more than one ordering of questions on tests, and do not colour-code different test versions, as this allows students to know which tests are the same as theirs.
    2. Proctor tests conscientiously. Avoid merely reading passively or allowing your teaching assistants (TAs) to do this –monitor students’ behaviour carefully.
    3. Consider changing your assessments to take home or open book exams.
  7. Take the time to talk to your students about the importance of academic integrity and the need for them to learn and reflect on the information in your course. Developing relationships with your students helps to build an atmosphere of trust and respect. Help them understand the importance of academic integrity and integrity in general.
    1. Establish an environment that is conducive to their virtually coming to see you (rather than resorting to cheating or plagiarizing) if they have a problem with getting a paper or an assignment done on time.
    2. Tell them a little about yourself, and how you came to be a professor or graduate student.
    3. Make a serious effort to learn the names of at least some of your students.
    4. Be available to students and/or have teaching assistants be available for help, particularly at crucial ‘crunch’ times before assignment due dates and test dates.
    5. Let them know that you are all on the same side as far as the ultimate goal – learning – is concerned, rather than establishing a “me against them” mentality.

Small ways to help

Highlight the relevance and importance of your assignments to improve student engagement and deter "shortcuts".

  • Clearly explain your expectations with regard to group work.
  • Don't assume your students already know how to correctly cite source documents.
  • Encourage discussion on Academic Integrity issues and the challenges facing your students.
  • Make the weighting of assignments and tests reflective of the effort involved.
  • Change assignments and exams regularly. Provide students with copies of old exams and assignments for practice or post them on the web.
  • Make assignments relevant and interesting, and design them so that it is difficult for students to plagiarize or cheat on them. For example, you can ask for outlines and drafts, annotated bibliographies, and copies of the first page of each of the references. You can also assign very specific topics that would not be available from a commercial paper mill.

Resources

  • Christensen Hughes, J. (2003). Academic integrity: A renewed Canadian focus. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 35, 7-9.
  • McCabe, D. and Pavela, G. (2004). Ten updated principles of academic integrity. Change, May/June, 10-15.
  • Petrie, O. (2003.) Core, January 2003, Volume 12, No. 2 (York’s Newsletter on University Teaching, edited by Olivia Petrie).
  • Stevenson, S. (2003). Academic integrity: What do students want from faculty? In Touch, November, 3.
  • Van Gyn, G. (2004). General strategies to encourage academic integrity. Currents (Newsletter of the Learning & Teaching Centre, University of Victoria), Vol. II, No. 1.


This Creative Commons license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon our work non-commercially, as long as they credit us and indicate if changes were made. Use this citation format: Encouraging academic integrity in your courses. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo.

It is now estimated that most students will engage in some form of academically dishonest practice in their post-secondary career, with percentages ranging from as low as 50% to as high as 92% of students (Vandehey et al., 2007; Peled et al., 2019)

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