Definition of Academic Misconduct

According to Policy 60: Academic Integrity, academic misconduct is:

"Any behaviour that undermines the University’s ability to evaluate fairly students’ academic achievements, or any behaviour that a student knew, or reasonably ought to have known, could gain them or others unearned academic advantage or benefit” (Section 3.1).

Below are examples of academic misconduct (taken from Policy 60, Appendix A), but note that the list is not exhaustive. These are some examples of ways that students might gain or attempt to gain unearned academic advantage.

Examples of academic misconduct

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Type of academic misconduct	Examples
Cheating	includes but is not limited to: 3.1. having ready access to and/or using aids or devices (including wireless communication devices) not expressly allowed by the instructor during an examination, test, quiz, or other evaluation 3.2. copying another person’s answer(s) on a test, exam, quiz, lab report, or other work to be evaluated 3.3. copying another person’s answers, with or without their permission, to individually assigned projects 3.4. consulting with another person or with unauthorized materials outside of an examination room during the examination period (e.g. discussing an exam or consulting materials during an emergency evacuation or when permitted to use a washroom) 3.5. improperly submitting an answer to a test or examination question completed, in whole or part, outside the examination room unless expressly permitted by the instructor 3.6. resubmitting altered test or examination work after it has already been evaluated 3.7. presenting falsified or fabricated material, including research results 3.8. improperly obtaining, through deceit, theft, bribery, collusion, or otherwise, access to examination paper(s) or set of questions, or other confidential information 3.9. collaborating on work to be evaluated where such collaboration has been expressly forbidden by the instructor
Contract Cheating	occurs when a third party completes work, with or without payment, for a student, who then submits the work as their own, where such input is not permitted.
Contributing to Academic Misconduct	includes but is not limited to: 7.1. offering, giving, sharing, or selling essays, questions, and/or answers to tests or exams, quizzes, or other assignments unless authorized to do so 7.2. allowing work to be copied during an examination, test, or for any other assignment
Damaging, Tampering or Interfering with the Scholarly Environment	includes but is not limited to: 8.1. obstructing and/or disturbing the academic activities of others 8.2. altering the academic work of others in order to gain academic advantage 8.3. tampering with experiments or laboratory assignments 8.4. altering or destroying artistic or creative works such as drawings or films 8.5. removing, altering, misusing or destroying University property to obstruct the work of others 8.6. unauthorized access to, stealing, or tampering with any course-related material 8.7. unauthorized access to, or tampering with, library materials, including hiding them in a place where they will not readily be found by other members of the TMU community
Misconduct in Re-graded/Re-submitted Work	All of the provisions of this policy will apply to work that is re-assessed (See Policy 162: Grade Reassessment and Grade Recalculation).
Misrepresentation of Personal Identity or Performance	includes but is not limited to: 5.1. submitting stolen or purchased assignments, research or creative work 5.2. impersonating someone or having someone impersonate you in person, in writing, or electronically (both the impersonator and the individual impersonated, if aware of the impersonation, may be subject to a penalty) 5.3. falsely identifying oneself or misrepresenting one’s personal performance outside of a particular course, in a course in which one is not officially enrolled, or in the admissions process (e.g. submission of portfolios, essays, transcripts, or documents) 5.4. withholding or altering academic information, portfolios, essays, transcripts, or documents, including during the admissions process 5.5. submitting work created in whole or in part by artificial intelligence tools unless expressly permitted by the Faculty/Contract Lecturer 5.6. submitting work that does not reasonably demonstrate your own knowledge, understanding and performance
Plagiarism	includes but is not limited to: 1.1. claiming, submitting, or presenting the words, ideas, artistry, drawings, images, or data of another person, including information found on the Internet and unpublished materials, as if they are one’s own, without appropriate referencing 1.2. claiming, submitting, or presenting someone else’s work, ideas, opinions, or theories as if they are one’s own, without proper referencing 1.3. claiming, submitting, or presenting another person’s substantial compositional contributions, assistance, edits, or changes to an assignment as one’s own 1.4. claiming, submitting, or presenting collaborative work as if it were created solely by oneself or one’s group 1.5. minimally paraphrasing someone else’s work by changing only a few words, and/or not citing the original source
Self-plagiarism	refers to the practice of submitting the same work, in whole or in part, for credit in two or more courses, or in the same course more than once, without the prior written permission of the instructor. Self-plagiarism can also include presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new.
Submission of False Information	includes but is not limited to: 6.1. submitting altered, forged, or falsified medical or other certificates, or documents for academic consideration, or making false claims for such consideration, including in or as part of an academic appeal, or the academic misconduct process 6.2. submitting false academic credentials to the University 6.3. altering, in any way, official documents issued by the University 6.4. submitting falsified letters of reference
Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property	Use of the intellectual property of others for distribution, sale or profit without the authorization of the owner of that material. This includes slides and presentation materials used in a class wherever the owner of those materials has not authorized further use.
Violations of Specific Departmental or Course Requirements	Instructors may, in order to encourage Academic Integrity, include additional specific requirements as long as these are consistent with this policy. Any additional requirements must be published in the course outline (see also Policy 60, Section 7.1.4).

Applicability to Research-Related Activities

For purposes of this policy, “supervised research” is treated as a separate category
to accord with the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research, and
includes academic milestones such as Comprehensive Examinations, Major
Research Papers, Research or Thesis Proposals, Theses and Dissertations, as well
as the research and associated writing carried out towards any of these at either the
undergraduate or graduate level. (See Procedures 1.5 regarding the process to be
followed in addressing suspicions of misconduct in these areas.) Suspicions of
research misconduct that may have occurred under the auspices of Toronto Metropolitan
University, but are in no way directed towards academic advantage or benefit, are to
be addressed under Policy 118: Scholarly, Research and Creative Activity (SRC)
Integrity rather than Policy 60: Academic Integrity.