Maintaining Academic Integrity

The purpose of an MIT education is not to pile up stacks of psets, to ace your exams, or even to graduate with a 5.0 average. The purpose of an MIT education is to gain mastery of your major field (or two), broad exposure to the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and perhaps significant knowledge of a minor field. Serious academic work means transcending the nuts and bolts—what you learn in textbooks, laboratories, lectures, and the library—to evaluate, rethink, synthesize, and make your own the information, data, and concepts you find in your sources. Skimping as you go only cheats you and the rest of the world out of reaching your full potential.

However, in the full force of the firehose it can be difficult to hold up your head and remember this noble purpose. Here are some tips and advice to help you maintain your purpose with integrity. Look also at factors that may tempt you to cheat, and how to avoid them. Seek help from the many resources, at MIT and elsewhere, that can support your work.

Tips and Advice

• Begin at the beginning. As you start researching a topic or carrying out an experiment, make every effort to distinguish your own thoughts and ideas from those you take from other sources. To avoid losing track of which notes reflect your own thinking and which you took from outside sources, use separate note pads, different sections of a multi-subject notebook, or separate documents on your computer. 
• When paraphrasing or summarizing, first write your paraphrase and summary without looking at the original text, so you rely only on your memory. Second, check your version against the original for content, accuracy, and mistakenly borrowed phrases. 
• When in doubt, cite! If you are not comfortable with your ability to gauge if something should be cited or not, err on the side of caution. Your instructor can tell you later if you are citing too much.
• When you are working with a team, be sure that each member understands the instructor's standards for collaboration and keeps a separate record of his/her work. 
• Perform a cost/benefit analysis. If you feel like you have no choice but to plagiarize or cheat, STOP! Take a break to gain perspective and ask yourself:
  • Is the short-term goal—a higher grade—worth the long-term consequences of cheating? Assume that you will be caught. You could be suspended or even expelled from MIT. If stress and time constraints are prompting you to cheat, think of the added stress, time, and embarrassment involved in a disciplinary process. 
  • If I don't cheat, what are the alternatives? Ask your instructor or teaching assistant for help.They can clarify standards for citation and collaboration, offer suggestions on finishing your project on time, refer you to a tutor, or grant you an extension of the deadline. Getting an extension of time from the instructor may require losing points from the grade, but isn't an honest B- or C+ better than losing the whole term and possibly your MIT degree? 
  • Even if I am not caught this time, what happens in the next subject when I don't have the knowledge needed to learn new and advanced concepts? As you progress further into your major, you will encounter increasingly advanced material that builds upon the work of earlier subjects. If you haven't actually mastered the concepts presented early on, how do you expect to tackle more advanced material?
  • Hard data compiled by an MIT professor shows that copying doesn't pay, at least in 8.01. Check out a summary in The Tech and the full scholarly article in Physics Review Special Topics--Physics Education Research.

Contributing Factors

There are various situations that may tempt you to plagiarize or cheat. Whether or not the breach of academic integrity is intentional, most violations stem from:

• Ignorance
• Pressure and Stress
• Time Management Issues

Ignorance

You might not be aware of what constitutes plagiarism and what does not. See the definitions elsewhere in this section.

Keep in mind that:

• What may have been acceptable research practice in high school might not be acceptable for college-level assignments. 
• Students from many different cultures come to study at MIT. Variations in cultural perspectives on academic integrity can create problems for students new to higher education in the United States. 
• A particularly troublesome area for many is collaborative work, whether on problem sets, in labs, or on other homework assignments. Ask yourself, the syllabus, and the instructor, if necessary: "What constitutes acceptable collaboration? What does not?" 

It is important to realize that:

• “I didn't know,” “I didn't understand,” and “Nobody told me” will not be accepted as excuses for violations of academic integrity. 
• Instructors are required to address unacceptable collaboration and/or plagiarism in their class syllabi. The Student Committee on Education Policy (SCEP) provides a helpful checklist of the complete MIT Faculty Term Regulations . 

If you “don't know” or “don't understand,” here is what you can do:

• If you don't fully understand the instructor's policy, ask directly as soon as you can. Do not guess or assume. Being proactive in this regard will demonstrate to your instructors your commitment to excellence, honesty, and integrity in your work. 
• Study the examples of plagiarism in the Academic Integrity Handbook compiled by the Dean for Undergraduate Education. Note especially the section on Writing Code. You can download the Handbook as a PDF for easy reference in your computer or Athena locker; you can also print out a copy. 

Pressure and Stress

You may pressure yourself to earn top grades at MIT. Your family and others may have high expectations of you. You may feel the pressure from competition for internships, graduate school admission, or a permanent position at that software engineering company. To meet these expectations, you may begin to think of ways to cut corners or gain advantages. 

Does any of this sound familiar to you? It may be easier said than done, but try to ease up on yourself. If pressure and stress become overwhelming, keep in mind that: 

• College courses, especially MIT courses, tend to require more work and higher quality work than anything you may have experienced in high school. Many students who sailed through their high school academics are often in for a shock when they get to MIT. The depth of the material—and the rate at which it is presented—can be overwhelming. 
• A grade of B at MIT is a tremendous achievement! You may not believe this at first, but in time you will see that a B in an MIT subject is perfectly acceptable and requires a good deal of hard work. 
• For many students, MIT is the first extended time away from home, family, and long-time friends. This major life change can create major stress, but savoring new experiences and investing in new friendships will eventually ease the homesickness.

Be proactive and seek out the resources you need to succeed academically at MIT. There are many people here on campus who can help. See the Resources section below. Don't go it alone.

Time Management Issues

MIT is a busy place. Sometimes it can feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done. Therefore, budgeting your time is key. You might encounter a situation where you have three psets and a HASS paper due in the same week, plus a team practice every afternoon, your laundry has piled up, and you made social plans with your roommate. How can you possibly do it all? Figure out a way to turn in the psets without doing the work? NO. Buy a paper from the Web? NO!

If you are overwhelmed and have fallen behind in your work, you can: 

• Speak to your instructor, teaching assistant, or recitation leader. There is no shame in asking for an extension of time on an assignment. Instructors are well aware of the workload at MIT.
• See your academic advisor. Your advisor is your link to the many sources of help and support at MIT. 
• Seek the advice of your Graduate Resident Tutor. The GRTs are invaluable resources for helping undergraduates resolve many kinds of questions and problems. They also coordinate educational and social events to provide a respite from the rigors of academic life at MIT.
• Make (and keep!) an appointment with a dean in Student Support Services. The deans provide personal, non-threatening consultation, special support, and advocacy for students on a broad spectrum of issues including those that may affect academic performance. They can offer advice on time management and study skills, contact an instructor on your behalf, and refer you to more specialized providers.
• Look elsewhere on this site for advice on study skills, time management and organization, test-taking strategies, and other ways to complete your work in a reasonable amount of time and with full integrity. Budget your time wisely and you'll find that fitting it all in is a lot more manageable than you think. 

Resources

There is no shortage of information on academic integrity on the Web, in the libraries, and in offices around campus. Keep aware of these issues throughout your studies at MIT and seek answers when questions arise.

Style Manuals and Research Guides

Style manuals are extremely important resources on scholarly writing. They include guidance on research, writing, and documentation of sources. While many different manuals and formats exist, they all stress clear and concise citations which assist the reader in identifying and locating any referenced sources. Decide which manual or handbook to follow based on the conventions in your field, the recommendations of your instructors, and the manual that you find most useful.

• The Mayfield Handbook is an MIT resource (certificate required) providing a wealth of information, including:
  • Citing Sources and Listing References (Section 10)
  • Basic Structure and Formats of Citation Styles (Section 10.3)
  • Citing Online Sources (Section 10.3.1)
  • American Psychological Association (APA) Style (Section 10.4)
  • Modern Language Association (MLA) Style (Section 10.5)
• For other manuals held by MIT, consult the MIT Libraries' collection of Style/Usage Manuals
• Research and Documentation Online (Bedford/St. Martin's Press)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Writing Assistance at MIT

If you find yourself “stuck,” there are several resources available to help you through the research and writing process: 

• The MIT Online Writing and Communication Center offers free services to all members of the MIT community during the academic year. Every year hundreds of MIT undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty members, spouses and alumni/ae come to the Center for individual consultations about any writing difficulty, from questions about grammar to matters of style. Native speakers and nonnative speakers of English visit the Center regularly. Some professors ask their best writers to come to the Center to fine-tune their style or organizational skills.
• Use the MIT Libraries Information Navigator for a step-by-step tutorial on academic writing, from the initial brainstorming process through to the final product. Note especially the sections on citation.

Stress Relief and Support

• MIT Medical offers a number of stress relief and wellness classes as well as support groups. Physical Education also offers many classes that can relieve stress as well as improve your physical health. You may be surprised to discover how many fellow students also struggle with stress.
• If a class or workshop isn't your cup of tea, check out the online resources of Community Wellness at MIT Medical.
• Staff in Student Support Services and the MIT Mental Health and Counseling Service are available to help you with any issues that you may be experiencing. Check out detailed information on the Mental Health site, to alleviate any fears or concerns you might have about consulting them.
• See also Staying Healthy Under Stress, elsewhere in this site.