Academic Honesty & Professional Ethics
Academic integrity at MU rests upon the University’s Statement of Values.
Our duty is to acquire, create, transmit and preserve knowledge and to promote understanding. The University of Missouri, as the state’s major land-grant University, honors the public trust placed in it and accepts the associated accountability to the people of Missouri for its stewardship of that trust.
We the students, faculty, and staff of MU hold the following values to be the foundation of our identity as a community. We pledge ourselves to act, in the totality of our life together, in accord with these values: Respect Responsibility, Discovery, and Excellence.
In addition to the Statement of Values, students are expected to adhere to the University of Missouri’s honor pledge on all graded work whether or not they are explicitly asked in advance to do so: I strive to uphold the University values of respect, responsibility, discovery, and excellence. On my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.
Academic honesty is essential to the intellectual life of the University.
Attempting to use as the answers, words, ideas, or research findings of another person are forms of academic dishonesty.
In addition to cheating or plagiarism, any of the following acts are forms of academic dishonesty specifically forbidden by University rules:
- Unauthorized possession of examinations
- Hiding of source materials
- Tampering with grade records
Refer to the Academic Catalog for more information about policies related to academic honesty.
Plagiarism
Academic plagiarism occurs when a scholar presents another person’s ideas, writing, research or other work as their own without attributing the source.
Plagiarism is one of many forms of academic dishonesty. Mizzou offers guidelines and resources for avoiding and addressing plagiarism:
Reporting Dishonesty
According to the MU Faculty Handbook, faculty are required to report to their academic program chair and the provost’s office all acts of academic dishonesty committed by graduate and undergraduate students.
In all such cases, the faculty member should discuss the matter with the student and then make an academic judgment about the student’s grade on the work affected by the dishonesty and, where appropriate, the grade for the affected course.
The provost or their designee decides whether disciplinary proceedings are instituted. Because of the importance of honesty to academic and professional life, acts of dishonesty by graduate students may result in suspension or dismissal from the University.
Codes of Ethics in Your Field
Graduate students also should be aware that most professional associations have codes of ethics.
These codes vary considerably across fields, but tend to provide guidelines for a broad array of professional responsibilities, including teaching, research, and working with clients.
Violations of a code of ethics can lead to negative sanctions by one’s professional colleagues and the expulsion from the professional associations in one’s field. Graduate students are encouraged to obtain copies of codes of ethics for their chosen profession from their advisor or the director of graduate studies in their department or program.