Individual Work Policy
As a computer science student at IDC, you often have to deal with challenging and time-consuming homework assignments. In many cases, you find yourself in a situation in which you want to discuss these assignments with other people. At that point, you will find yourself walking a very thin line between cooperation (which we encourage) and cheating (which we prosecute).
Cooperation versus cheating: You can discuss the homework problem with other students. You can read together code from the lecture notes, from the course site, or from the textbook, and think together how to attack the problem. However, at some point the consultation must end, and from this point onward you are on your own. Each one of you should write the code or solve the problem separately, without further consultation.
The moment you are beginning to write code on paper together, you are cheating. The moment you are working on the computer together, you are cheating. The moment you are emailing each other pieces of code or solution steps, obviously you are cheating.
What to do when you get stuck: Some students cheat because they struggle with difficult problems under time pressure. When the problem that you are working on goes nowhere, it is tempting to cut corners and seek help from friends. This invariably leads to cheating. So what is the alternative?
There are at least two alternatives. First, you can seek help from the course's staff, either via the course's discussion group or via personal consultation. Second, you can always submit any program or partial solution for grading, even if the program is not working or the solution is not perfect. It's not the end of the world, and you will always get partial credit for your work. Also, let's keep things in perspective. This program that drives you nuts is only one part of the homework. And this homework is only one part of many exercises in this course. And all these exercises, taken together, are only one part of the course grade. And this course grade amounts to about 1/30 of your overall GPA (grade point average). So in most cheating cases, students risk their entire careers in order to improve something like 0.01 of their GPA. This is not rational behavior.
Copying versus quoting: When we ask you to solve a problem or answer a question, we expect you to submit original work. If you copy or "adopt" your answer from any other source (e.g. previous work in this course, solutions found on the Internet, published papers, etc.), you are committing a felony called plagiarism. It is OK to use the work of other people, as long as you cite their work and give full-credit to the person who wrote it. In other words, when basing your work on the work of other people, you should always be completely open and clear about it. Such behavior will cause other people in the profession (any profession) to treat you respectfully, since they will realize that you are an honest and generous person.
How we detect cheating: It's quite simple. Students who cheat submit programs or text that are either identical to, or contain some minor deviations from, the original source. It is very simple for the graders to detect these pseudo-identical programs and documents. We really don't care who wrote the original and who copied it. They are both treated equally, as cheaters.
What we do with suspected cheaters: We report them to the Disciplinary Committee, and step out of the case. This committee, which is made up of faculty members from several IDC schools, has far reaching authorities. In particular, they have the authority to expel cheaters from IDC.
Anything that you do at this point of your life and onward could have far reaching implications on your career. For example, many graduate programs inquire about the disciplinary record of the applicants. In a similar fashion, your instructors will not be thrilled to help past cheaters with recommendation letters and other "door opening" acts.
The bottom line: Stick to your own work. It's part of your education, and your career.
Cooperation versus cheating: You can discuss the homework problem with other students. You can read together code from the lecture notes, from the course site, or from the textbook, and think together how to attack the problem. However, at some point the consultation must end, and from this point onward you are on your own. Each one of you should write the code or solve the problem separately, without further consultation.
The moment you are beginning to write code on paper together, you are cheating. The moment you are working on the computer together, you are cheating. The moment you are emailing each other pieces of code or solution steps, obviously you are cheating.
What to do when you get stuck: Some students cheat because they struggle with difficult problems under time pressure. When the problem that you are working on goes nowhere, it is tempting to cut corners and seek help from friends. This invariably leads to cheating. So what is the alternative?
There are at least two alternatives. First, you can seek help from the course's staff, either via the course's discussion group or via personal consultation. Second, you can always submit any program or partial solution for grading, even if the program is not working or the solution is not perfect. It's not the end of the world, and you will always get partial credit for your work. Also, let's keep things in perspective. This program that drives you nuts is only one part of the homework. And this homework is only one part of many exercises in this course. And all these exercises, taken together, are only one part of the course grade. And this course grade amounts to about 1/30 of your overall GPA (grade point average). So in most cheating cases, students risk their entire careers in order to improve something like 0.01 of their GPA. This is not rational behavior.
Copying versus quoting: When we ask you to solve a problem or answer a question, we expect you to submit original work. If you copy or "adopt" your answer from any other source (e.g. previous work in this course, solutions found on the Internet, published papers, etc.), you are committing a felony called plagiarism. It is OK to use the work of other people, as long as you cite their work and give full-credit to the person who wrote it. In other words, when basing your work on the work of other people, you should always be completely open and clear about it. Such behavior will cause other people in the profession (any profession) to treat you respectfully, since they will realize that you are an honest and generous person.
How we detect cheating: It's quite simple. Students who cheat submit programs or text that are either identical to, or contain some minor deviations from, the original source. It is very simple for the graders to detect these pseudo-identical programs and documents. We really don't care who wrote the original and who copied it. They are both treated equally, as cheaters.
What we do with suspected cheaters: We report them to the Disciplinary Committee, and step out of the case. This committee, which is made up of faculty members from several IDC schools, has far reaching authorities. In particular, they have the authority to expel cheaters from IDC.
Anything that you do at this point of your life and onward could have far reaching implications on your career. For example, many graduate programs inquire about the disciplinary record of the applicants. In a similar fashion, your instructors will not be thrilled to help past cheaters with recommendation letters and other "door opening" acts.
The bottom line: Stick to your own work. It's part of your education, and your career.