3.09 Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism

A process has been established that will ensure the continued integrity and confidentiality of the course survey process while providing an outlet to address the rare abuses that occur within the system.

In order to achieve this goal, a joint ad hoc committee comprised of three students and two program directors will be established to review any comment on a course survey deemed to be unprofessional by a course director, instructor, or other relevant official. To ensure that students on this committee represent the will of the student body, student members of this committee will be either elected student representatives or students recommended from a program other than that of the student under review. If a majority of the ad hoc committee agrees that the comment does indeed constitute unprofessional conduct, the Dean for Graduate Education will authorize any relevant parties to override any confidentiality protections and identify the responsible student. This information will be provided exclusively to the student’s program director, who will determine the appropriate response, which could include reporting the unprofessional comment to the APRB for consideration of disciplinary sanctions. The comment will also be redacted from the course survey record.

All work submitted for credit is expected to be the student’s own work. In the preparation of all papers and other written work, students should always take great care to distinguish their own ideas and knowledge from information derived from other sources. The term “sources” includes not only published primary and secondary material, but also information and opinions gained directly from other people (See Harvard Guide to Using Sources in Section 3.08: Harvard University Resources for Students). The responsibility for learning the proper forms of citation lies with the individual student. Quotations must be properly placed within quotation marks and must be fully cited. In addition, all paraphrased material must be completely acknowledged. Whenever ideas or facts are derived from a student’s reading and research, the sources must be indicated.

The amount of collaboration with others that is permitted in the completion of assignments can vary, depending upon the policy set by the Course Director or the research mentor. Students must assume that collaboration in the completion of assignments is prohibited unless explicitly permitted by the instructor. Students must acknowledge any collaboration and its extent in all submitted work.

Students who are in any doubt about the preparation of academic work should consult with their course instructor and/or Program Director before it is prepared or submitted.

Students are expected to record honestly and accurately the results of all their research. HMS prohibits research misconduct, defined as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Fabrication means making up data or results and recording or reporting them. Falsification means manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit. Research misconduct is considered a serious violation of academic honesty.

Concerns about plagiarism can be brought to the attention of a Course Director, Program Director, program administrator, Office for Graduate Education administrator, or another member of the HMS faculty or staff. HMS may use plagiarism detection tools and software to evaluate assignments at any time and independent reviewers may be asked to review an assignment to help evaluate plagiarism concerns. Plagiarism, fabrication and/or falsification of research results ordinarily will result in a student’s