Chapter 4

Exercise 1. Academic Misconduct

Materials Required: DMACC Handbook
Objective: To understand the policy regarding Academic Misconduct.
Read the policy regarding Academic Misconduct in the DMACC Handbook and
answer the questions at the bottom of the page.
John arrived at school in a bad mood. He had worked until 10pm the night
before, and then went home and studied until 2am for a Biology exam.
When he awoke, he felt as if he hadnt slept or studied at all. His Biology
exam was at 8am. While taking the exam, he had a difficult time
concentrating on the questions and staying awake. By the end of the exam,
he felt restless and agitated. He wasnt sure how well hed performed on the
exam and felt out of control. He needed an A on the exam to keep his
overall B average in the class.
After the Biology class, he went to his Comp I class. The instructor asked the
students to write a one-page, in-class essay on a favorite topic. He couldnt
believe he had such a difficult assignment. He began searching the Internet
and found some interesting articles on mountain biking, a favorite activity of
his. He daydreamed a bit and then found he had only twenty-five minutes
left to write the paper. He hurriedly copied some of the material from the
Internet and wrote a few of his own ideas. He turned in the paper, left the
class, and hurried to work.
The instructor read the paper and completed a Google search for the topic.
What will she find?
She will find that John copied and pasted information from the internet and
did not do the search himself or if he did he did not cite his sources.

Did the student exhibit academic misconduct? If so, what type of academic
misconduct? What sanctions are possible against this student?
Yes, the student did indeed exhibit academic misconduct, the student
committed the misconduct of A:1 - Engaging in any form of plagiarism, which
is defined as the appropriation of and use of another person's writing, and
passing it off as the product of one's own efforts or copying any work and
submitting it as original work. The sanctions could be he fails the class or the

assignment and his overall grade can be lowered. On a higher felony he may
have charges filed against him by the Judicial Officer. None of these
sanctions can take effect unless the student takes responsibility for the
misconduct or is found guilty of this academic misconduct.
What could John have done differently in his Comp I class?
John should have just taken his time and finished the paper and not copy the
information, if he had to copy the information he should have cited his
information. If this was a matter of life and death, just saying, he could have
asked his teacher for a little more time and explained that he had a test and
ran out of time to work on the assignment.