Academic Honesty Policy
Admissions > Policies and Procedures > Academic Honesty

Mater Ecclesiae College Students, Faculty, and Staff hold themselves and each other to the highest ethical standards of professional integrity and scholarship. Responsibility for meeting these standards falls to every member of the academic community.

Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student ’s name on any written work including assignments, reports, papers, or examinations, shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the student’s own thought and a result of her own study. Work should be done in the student’s own words and done without unauthorized assistance. Sources must always be properly acknowledged. When students work together, this must be indicated on what is submitted.

Students are responsible for correctly quoting, paraphrasing and citing the work of others. Mater Ecclesiae College expects students to use the MLA documentation style, and it is the student’s responsibility to become familiar with MLA and utilize it. Faculty members are responsible for holding students to these professional and ethical standards, and assessing the academic honesty of student work.

Academic dishonesty includes cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism. Cheating includes: unauthorized possession of exams, communication during exam periods, altering grades, submitting the same academic work for more than one course without prior approval from both professors, and the use of notes to gain unauthorized advantage during exams. Fabrication is a the invention of non-existent sources or citations. Plagiarism is presenting another person’s work as one’s own without duly acknowledging the source (except for ideas or concepts that are common knowledge).

Students and professors who have evidence or concerns about possible academic dishonesty should consult the dean of academic affairs, the vice-president, or the president. When a case of academic dishonesty is verified, the penalties include partial or total loss of credit for course work, depending on the gravity of the violation.