Policy on Academic Integrity

Conducting research with academic integrity is expected of all West Van students. See the bold bullet point below on plagiarism under educational dishonesty in the WVSS Policy. Unintentional plagiarism as a result of poor research habits is still considered plagiarism.

Some suggestions:
Use your Noodle Tools account to keep track of your sources as you go.
Develope a note-taking system that keeps track of what information you got from each source and whether it is a direct quote or paraphrased in your own words.
See your librarian if you have any questions about setting up a Noodle Tools account, using it to cite your sources, or using it to help with formatting your in-text citations.

West Vancouver Secondary School Policy on Academic Integrity Why do we value educational integrity?

It promotes personal integrity.
It creates respect for others and the integrity of others’ work.
It promotes equal opportunity for all students to demonstrate their authentic learning.

What is educational dishonesty?

Any behaviour that gains an unfair advantage for a student over the other students.
Tutors should not assist students with assignments for assessment.
Giving out information from an assessment to other students, either directly or digitally.
Removing test material from the classroom either physically or digitally.
Failing to show up on the agreed upon time for a test.
Bringing unauthorized material into an exam room, or consulting such material during an exam.
Communicating with another student during an exam.
Plagiarism: taking work, words, ideas, pictures, information or anything that has been produced by someone else and submitting it for assessment as your own. Paraphrasing ideas or research without a citation also constitutes plagiarism. Students should seek the advice of their teachers if they have any questions about what is expected or whether something is common knowledge or needs to be cited.
Copying: taking work from another student, with or without his or her knowledge and submitting it as your own.
Collusion: helping another student to be educationally dishonest. This includes making your exam paper visible to another student so he/she can copy you; you are also cheating.
Collusion versus collaboration: Ideas that are produced collaboratively must be presented in your own written work. Submitting the written work of another student as your own also represents collusion.

The staff at West Vancouver Secondary will support students at West Vancouver Secondary School by explaining this policy and teaching the academic skill of citation.

What will happen if you violate the principles of educational integrity?

Parents may be notified by teachers.
A record of the incident will be maintained by administration; counsellors may be notified.
A mark of 0 may be given.
The student may not be eligible to receive letters of reference or recommendation, school-based award or scholarships and may be taken off the Honour Roll.

Repeat offenses will result in more severe consequences, including suspension.

September 2015