Academic Integrity Resources

We know many instructors are interested in ways in which academic integrity can be promoted and maintained.  For this reason, Academic Initiatives and Integrity, Teaching Innovation and Pedagogical Support, and countless UARK faculty have worked together over the years to provide the following content meant to support faculty in cultivating an environment that values academic integrity. Additionally, we appreciate the resources provided by the Academic Integrity Seminar, Penn State University,  University of Central Florida, and the University of South Carolina.

Discussing the short and long-term implications of academic integrity reaffirms its value to students. Here are some ways in which faculty across the country are engaging students remotely:

  1. Share a personal perspective about the goal of teaching the course and the importance of academic integrity.
  2. Create a discussion board that asks students to share on topics such as the short and long-term implications for academic misconduct within their professions.
  3. Create a discussion board topic that asks students if they view academic integrity to be the responsibility of faculty to deter cheating behaviors. The response is always interesting and oftentimes ... uplifting!
  4. Explain to students why you assign a particular activity or assignment. The why often helps them to understand the importance of the assignment which may prevent students from procrastinating or resorting to academically dishonest behavior.

The measures faculty take to deter academic misconduct can have a significant impact on behavior. Here are some tangible steps faculty have taken to combat some of the most common violations.

  • Don’t assume that your students know how to use APA or other citation styles correctly. Go over it with them.  Talk about the purpose of citations. 
  • Outline clear expectations regarding citing sources for students. This is especially important to consider in open book exams, discussion posts, etc. where outside sources are used (example included below).
  • Use SAFEASSIGN and check the box that allows the students to see the SAFEASSIGN results before turning in the assignment. SAFEASSIGN collects the papers into a database so that you can catch recycled work. 

  • Use honor pledges at the beginning or end of the exam. (Example included below)
  • Include a question that requires the student to acknowledge instructions such as use of unauthorized materials. (Example included below)
  • If you suspect collaboration in an online exam, you can submit a request to find suspected collaboration based on IP address and time of exam. Notify students of this fact in advance.
  • If you use a publisher test bank, chances are the questions are online. Try changing the questions and answers slightly to ensure that students are learning the material and not memorizing answers.
  • Respondus Lockdown Browser & Monitor
    • Use Respondus Lockdown Browser. This software locks the student’s computer and does not allow them to access the internet or any other applications on their computer.
    • Be sure that the students understand how to use Respondus Lockdown Browser by having them go through the Student Quick Start Guide. Students can call the Help Desk for assistance.
    • Use Respondus Monitor in addition to LockDown Browser. Monitor records their web cam and uses AI to flag suspicious behavior.
  • Blackboard
    • You can also view the access logs for exams taken in Blackboard.
    • Be sure to randomize questions within the Blackboard exam settings.
    • You might consider randomizing the answers as well. This helps with academic integrity violations.
      • Note: If you choose to do this, avoid “all of the above” as an answer choice and instead write “all of these answers” because D may be A or B on an exam if answers are randomized.
    • You can create “pools” of questions in Blackboard that pulls questions in randomly to an exam.
      • Example: You can have a pool of questions from each chapter and pull in 5 from each chapter.  OR you can create easy, medium, and difficult questions and pull in from those pools randomly.
    • If you create large pools of questions, for instance 200, and have a 50 question exam, each exam may be completely unique. Especially if questions and answers are randomized.
    • Asking students to help develop questions to add to your pool is one way to further engage them in the learning process.

  • Decide whether you want the students to collaborate or not and make this very clear.
  • Do a quick Google search by name, institution, and/or course number on common websites such as Chegg, Coursehero, or Quizlet to understand what might already be out there.
  • You can run a course report in Blackboard that shows user activity in a course.
  • Chat tools like GroupMe are often used by students to chat about class, share notes, and ask questions.  You can ask students to invite you to the GroupMe.  You can also create your own group chat using Microsoft Teams which uses student U of A email address and all students have for free.

UARK faculty have discretion over whether generative artificial intelligence tools (e.g., ChatGPT) can be used by students in their courses. Faculty are encouraged to communicate clear expectations regarding how these resources can be used in their courses, if at all. The syllabus statements below provide verbiage faculty are encouraged to consider including in their syllabus. The statements below were approved by the Faculty Senate’s Academic Integrity & Student Conduct Code Committee, Academic Integrity Monitors, All University Academic Integrity Board members, and the Provost’s Office. 

The use of generative artificial intelligence tools in any capacity while completing academic work that is submitted for credit, independently or collaboratively, will be considered academic dishonesty in this course and reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity.

Specific permissions will be provided to students regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence tools on certain graded activities in this course. In these instances, I will communicate explicit permission as well as expectations and any pertinent limitations for use and attribution. Without this permission, the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in any capacity while completing academic work submitted for credit, independently or collaboratively, will be considered academic dishonesty and reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity.

Students have permission to use generative artificial intelligence tools in any capacity to complete academic work in this course. Please be aware of the limitations of such tools and verify the accuracy of the content generated before submitting any work for credit. Additionally, you are expected to properly attribute any content generated by artificial intelligence tools using [INSERT STYLE] format. Please refer to the examples/guidance provided by this University of Arkansas Library Research Guide on AI and Academic Integrity for more information. The use of content generated by artificial intelligence, without proper citation, will be considered academic dishonesty and reported to the Office of Academic Initiatives and Integrity.

Faculty and student perceptions of what constitutes academic misconduct are often different. Below we have compiled excerpts from previous UARK faculty syllabi, assignment/exam instructions, and other sources that have attempted to provide clarity for students in critical areas. Our hope is that faculty can modify/use this language to assist in clarifying expectations for their students in the future. Using aspects of these sample statements does not guarantee a report of suspected academic misconduct will result in a responsibility finding, but we do hope this information assists faculty in crafting course content.

Students are not permitted to collaborate on any quiz or examination without specific permission from the instructor in advance. This includes collaboration through GroupMe, WhatsApp, or any other form of technology to exchange information associated with a quiz or examination.

The following is not all inclusive of what is considered academic misconduct for quizzes or examinations. These examples show how the use of technology can be considered academic misconduct and could result in the same penalties as cheating in a face-to-face class:

  • Taking a screen shot of an online quiz or exam question, posting it to GroupMe or WhatsApp, and asking for assistance is considered academic misconduct.
  • Answering an online quiz or exam question posted to GroupMe or WhatsApp is considered academic misconduct.
  • Giving advice, assistance, or suggestions on how to complete a question associated with a quiz or examination is considered academic misconduct.
  • The use of online websites (Quizlet, Chegg) or search engines (Google) when exam instructions indicate these are not allowed is considered academic misconduct.
  • Gathering to take an online quiz or exam with others and sharing answers in the process is considered academic misconduct.

Please note: If a student or group of students are found to be exchanging material associated with a quiz or examination through any form of technology (GroupMe, WhatsApp, etc.), or using any unauthorized resources (Googling answers, use of websites such as Quizlet, Course Hero, Chegg, etc.), I am required to report this matter per the University of Arkansas Academic Integrity Policy.

There are many websites claiming to offer study aids to students, but in using such websites, students could find themselves in violation of our University’s Academic Integrity and Code of Student Life policies. These websites include (but are not limited to) Quizlet, Bartleby, Course Hero, Chegg, and Clutch Prep. The U of A does not endorse the use of these products in an unethical manner. These websites may encourage students to upload course materials, such as test questions, individual assignments, and examples of graded material. Such materials are the intellectual property of instructors, the university, or publishers and may not be distributed without prior authorization. Furthermore, paying for academic work to be completed on your behalf and submitting it for academic credit is considered ‘contract cheating’ per the Academic Integrity Policy. Students found responsible for this type of violation face a grading penalty of ‘XF’ and a minimum one-semester academic suspension per the University of Arkansas Sanction Rubric. Please let me know if you are uncertain about the use of a website.

Note:  It is cheating on a discussion post if you do the following:

  • Use anyone else's work (past semester or present) as your own.
  • Use your own work from a past semester for the current assignment.
  • Plagiarize by copy/paste off the web or typing directly out of the textbook or any other source.
  • Plagiarize by using ideas from any source without citing the source when writing this post.
  • Change or edit a post that has already been graded. 
  • Work with others to complete the discussion.
  • Having someone else write your discussion post.
  • Any other activity that is covered in the University Academic Integrity Policy.  

SafeAssign is available to students who want to check their own work for plagiarism before submitting the work for grading. To access SafeAssign to self-check work, please visit https://honesty.uark.edu/students/safeassign-for-students.php

  • Plagiarism is often misunderstood. It can be defined as submitting someone else’s work as your own. It is not permissible to “cut and paste” and then just cite another’s work. In writing for homework or projects, you should read and learn, process through your mind, relate ideas, and then express what you learned in your own words. Cite the references where you found your information. If you do use someone else’s words, you must use quotation marks and cite. You should not overuse quotes – save them for a rare occurrence.
  • One form of academic misconduct occurs when someone takes credit for work produced by another. This is called Plagiarism.  Plagiarism is cheating.  Plagiarism includes but is not limited to:
    • Representing any work of another person, including materials from the professional literature, as one’s own product and achievement. This may be words; this may be ideas.
    • Quoting from another work without indicating the fact by quotation marks and/or indentation and acknowledging the source with proper citation.
    • Paraphrasing without proper acknowledgement of the source through proper citation.
  • Plagiarism and the appearance of plagiarism are avoided if proper bibliographic citations are included in the text and in the References list whenever the work of another is used. You are expected to use (insert citation style) in this course.

  • Note that proper bibliographic citations include four elements (Rudolph & Backstone, 1990).
    • Name of author or authors, correctly spelled and in the form that appears on the work.
    • Edition number for books; volume number and issue number, if there is one, for
    • Complete publication date: month, day (if given), and year for periodicals; year for
    • Inclusive page number of articles; specific page numbers for cited parts of articles

  • Unless otherwise stated, students are encouraged to seek assistance on assignments from teaching assistants, faculty, tutors, and their peers. However, students are not permitted to copy another student’s work. Faculty expect that the submitted work accurately reflects the student’s individual understanding of the assignment. Sometimes an assignment requires the creation of one or more computer files. The sharing of created computer files among students is considered an act of academic dishonesty. Students found to be sharing files created as part of an assignment will be reported to the All-University Academic Integrity Board (AUAIB), charged with improper collaboration, and sanctioned as appropriate.

  • All assignments and exams are to be completed independently unless otherwise instructed. You should not collaborate or share answers when working on an independent assignment. All student contributions to class discussions should be considered confidential and should not be revealed outside the confines of the classroom.

“I certify that all work on this assessment is entirely my own and does not violation the University of Arkansas Academic Integrity policy”

  • You will not be allowed to access the Internet during this examination (this includes any web application that may include your personal notes or study materials).
  • TURN OFF and put away all electronic devices including (but not limited to): phones, iPods, laptops, radios, PDAs, internet enabled watches, and digital cameras. Any electronic device that is out, other than your calculator, will be considered a form of cheating.
  • Use of a calculator and/or any electronic device (including cellphones) will not be allowed during the quiz/exam.

There are other forms of cheating, and these include:

  • Using the work of another student
  • Giving or receiving unauthorized aid in any assignment or
  • Submitting a written assignment prepared for one class as original work for any other class without prior and specific knowledge and permission of the
  • Representing interactions of clients in written case materials that did not, in fact happen or presenting untrue statements in such
  • Fabricating data that are claimed to be
  • Collaborating on an assignment UNLESS you are told to do so
  • Using unauthorized materials on an exam
  • Signing in (attendance or activities) for another student
  • In any way sharing questions and/or answers for any exam or quiz that you take in this course or any assignment answers
  • Sharing information on the internet for free or for payment (Do not participate in Study Soup, Study Blue or any other websites where students share notes, assignments, papers, exams)
  • Any other activity prohibited by the Academic Integrity policy