SPARK

In the context of academic writing and research, integrity guidelines are meant to ensure that student credits are earned, awarded, and administered fairly, and that student work is in compliance with the ethical standards of related fields of practice.

The sections below review general principles of academic integrity.

Obstruction is the deliberate interference with the scholarly pursuits of others in order to gain an unfair academic advantage.

Examples of academic obstruction include:

• tampering with experimental data
• interfering or tampering with another student’s experiment, project, or presentation
• overloading online software to prevent completion or submission of assignments or exams
• hiding, destroying or withholding materials required for a course or project (library or course materials)
• any attempt to alter and falsify any academic records
• destruction or theft of the work of other students
• interference with the evaluation of another student’s work
• theft of other student’s work

It is academic misconduct to encourage or help others to commit a breach of academic honesty. Providing academic work to another person if there is any expectation that the receiver will misuse it may be considered aiding and abetting.

Examples of aiding and abetting include sharing with another student with the following:

• lab report
• formula
• assignment
• old exam
• computer program

Both the owner and the person who copied it may be charged with a breach of academic honesty.

Disclose to the instructor any:

• collaboration with peers that was not previously assigned
• use of editing or translation services
• any reuse of coursework for multiple courses

It is a breach of academic honesty to have someone impersonate you in class or in a test or examination. Both the impersonator and the individual impersonated may be charged with a breach of academic honesty.

It is vital, in the academic community, to properly acknowledge the work of others. Representing someone else’s ideas, writing, creative works, or other intellectual property without proper acknowledgement constitutes plagiarism, and is a form of academic dishonesty. Any use of the work of others, whether published, unpublished or posted electronically (e.g., on web sites), attributed or anonymous, must include proper acknowledgement. Common types of plagiarism include: 

• buying research papers and submitting them as your own
• copying and pasting text or images from other sources without proper acknowledgement
• copying and submitting someone else’s work as your own 

When working with research sources, use approved documentation styles to cite sourced information and represent it in a fair and accurate manner.

Read more about how to properly acknowledge the work of others in the Creating Bibliographies module.

Written work should convey accurately the number of sources consulted, the extent to which sources was used, and the methods used for gathered and analyzed data.

This principle directly relates to falsification and fabrication.

It is a breach of academic honesty to fabricate (make-up) research or results. This includes,

• statistics,
• experimental results
• research methodology
• facts
• quotations
• references or bibliographic material
• research and the ideas of others.

It is also a violation of academic honesty to falsify information. This includes:

• dishonest reporting of research, lab results or data
• misrepresenting the research and ideas of others
• falsely reporting completed research (ex. pretending to have completed a lab exercise)
• submitting modified work for re- grading as if they were the originals

All studies involving human individuals and/or groups requires strict compliance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, 2^nd Edition (TCPS 2). When using other people for study and research, it is important to consider some guidelines,

• Respect – recognising the person’s intrinsic value and autonomy
• Welfare – concern for how the research may affect all aspects of the person’s life, including physical, mental, spiritual, privacy, confidentiality, etc.
• Justice – ensure that equity and fairness is afforded all people involved in the research. This takes into consideration any variances in power, vulnerability, risks, and benefits of the research

The care and use of animals on or off campus must be reviewed by the President’s Committee on Animal Care (PCAC). The standards used by the PCAC are in accordance with the standards established by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CACC). PCAC approval must be obtained before bringing any animal on campus (with the exception of service or support animals used for a person with a disability).

Please refer to the University of Regina Policy page for more information. The Instructor or Supervisor of the research or study will also have the necessary information and access to the necessary application forms to ensure that all ethics protocols are observed before proceeding.