This document gives the policy of this course regarding plagiarism, and to make it clear what plagiarism is in this context.
We have no objection to students discussing assignments with each other, helping each other find mistakes in their work, and so on. In fact, we encourage it, because this helps you learn. But what you turn in for all assignments, including programming assignments, must be your own work.
In particular, it is not acceptable to:
- Copy all or any part of another person's assignment and submit it as your own work.
- Get someone else to do all or any part of the work for you.
- Submit the work of a group as your own work.
These acts are plagiarism, and are unethical. They will not be tolerated in this course.
"He gave me permission to use part of his assignment" is not acceptable.
"We worked on it together and turned in the same assignment" is not acceptable.
"We worked on it together, and that's why our assignments look very similar" is not acceptable.
"Each of us did half the work, so can't we just split the credit?" No.
"They aren't the same program. Look, these variable names are different." Please don't try to fool us by taking someone else's work and changing parts of it to try to make it look original. We can spot this sort of thing more easily than you may think.
The minimum penalty for plagiarism of any kind will be a grade of zero for that assignment. There will be no exceptions.
Repeated or substantial violations will result in charges being filed through the Tech discipline procedure. The consequences can be very serious. Please see pages 6-9 of the Student Handbook for details.
If you are having trouble doing any of the assignments, please see an instructor for help. We will be happy to help you -- that's our job. But, if you still can't complete some assignment successfully, you will be better off not turning in anything than turning in a plagiarized assignment.
If you need any clarification of this policy, or if you have any questions about what is acceptable behavior, please see an instructor.
Please also see the TCC USAGE POLICY.