Academic Integrity Policy
St. Jude the Apostle School values and strives to instill personal and academic integrity in our students.
Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship (your work). Academic assignments exist to help students learn; grades exist to show fully how this goal is attained. Therefore, all work and all grades should result from the student's own understanding and effort.
Academic misconduct is any act which improperly affects the evaluation of a student's academic performance or achievement. Misconduct occurs when the student either knows or reasonably should know that the act constitutes misconduct. "I didn't mean to" is never an excuse for academic misconduct.
Plagiarism: There is basically no assignment that can be satisfactorily completed by copying. St. Jude's basic assumption about writing is that all written assignments show the student's own understanding in the student's own words.
- It is plagiarism to copy words and present them as your own writing.
- It is plagiarism to copy words, even if you are given a source, unless you also indicate that the copied words are a direct quotation.
- It is plagiarism to copy words and then change them a little, even if you give the source.
- Even if you express them in your own words, it is plagiarism to present someone else's ideas as your own.
Consequences:
In the event that academic dishonesty/plagiarism occurs, the following consequences may be implemented all together or in part, at the discretion of the teacher(s) and administration:
- Receipt and logging of a disciplinary point(s) based on severity.
- A meeting with the teacher, Vice Principal and parents (as needed).
- Behavior/work habit grades lowered one letter grade for the trimester.
