For a comprehensive list of academic offences applicable to student and faculty members of University of Toronto, please see Section B of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters.
B.i.
1. It is an offence for a student to knowingly commit the following acts:
(a) FORGERY of DOCUMENTS
This is applicable to any document required by the University, such as a doctor’s note or certificate, a letter of reference, an email, a course syllabus, etc.
Examples could include, but are not limited to:
• using a forged, altered or falsified document such as a medical note or certificate in order to defer writing a test or exam or in order to attain an extension on a due date;
• submitting a falsified course syllabus to obtain a transfer credit; or
• modifying the answers on a marked test or exam and resubmitting it for grading.
It is an offence whether a document is fabricated in its entirety or in part - i.e., a signature is forged, dates are altered, or the contents of the document are false.
Note, that this offence is closely related to the offence in section B.i.3.(a) of the Code of knowingly forging, altering or falsifying an academic record and/or making use of such records, which typically involves transcripts, admissions documents, personal and biographical information, among other things.
(b) UNAUTHORIZED AID
Use or possess an unauthorized aid, or aids, or obtain unauthorized assistance in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work.
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Bringing a calculator to an exam where a calculator is prohibited, even if it is not used;
• Bringing notes into a closed book exam where it is not permissible, even if it is not used;
• Bringing a cellular phone into an exam where it is not permissible, even if it is not used;
• Hiding notes in a washroom stall that can be refered to during a washroom break; or
• Making use of verbal or non-verbal signals/communication to provide or obtain unauthorized help during a test or exam.
(c) PERSONATION
Personate another person or to have another person personate you at any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work.
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Having someone else write your test or exam for you – even if the other person is not enrolled in the same course or is not a member of the University of Toronto;
• Writing someone else’s test or exam – even if you are not enrolled in the same course or academic institution (if you’re not currently a University of Toronto student but have been in the past, you may be charged under the Code. If you are from another academic institution, you may be in breach of its policies); or
• Claiming to be someone else in order to pick up or submit academic work.
(d) PLAGIARISM
Represent as one’s own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work; i.e., to commit plagiarism (for a more detailed account of plagiarism, see Appendix "A" of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters ).
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Copying word for word, or paraphrasing, someone else's work without clearly indicating that the work is not your own through the use of quotation marks and/or seperate indentation together with appropriate citation;
• Asking an unauthorized person to review your academic work and either make or offer advice on significant changes to the work;
• Paying someone to complete your academic work; or
• Purchasing academic work and submitting it as your own.
(e) RESUBMISSION
Submit, without the knowledge and approval of the instructor to whom it is submitted, any academic work for which credit has previously been obtained or is being sought in another course or program of study in the University or elsewhere.
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Renaming a previously graded academic work, altering some of the wording and examples, or adding and removing a few details and submitting it for grading in a different course, without the instructor knowing the origins of the academic work and approving the resubmission.
(f) CONCOCTION
Submit any academic work containing a purported statement of fact or reference to a source which has been concocted (also known as fabrication).
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Creating “facts” that are untrue or unsupported and purporting them to be facts;
• Making up references that do not exist; or
• Altering research results, lab results, statistics.
3. It is an offence for a faculty member and student alike to knowingly commit the following acts:
(a) FORGERY of ACADEMIC RECORDS
Forge or in any other way alter or falsify any academic record, or utter, circulate or make use of any such forged, altered or falsified record, whether the record be in print or electronic form.
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Providing evidence that falsely documents your grades in a course and/or your enrollment in an educational or professional institute in order to gain entrance into a course, program, academic or professional institution or in order to gain employment
b) CHEATING, DISHONESTY, MISCONDUCT, FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION
Engage in any form of cheating, academic dishonesty or misconduct, fraud or misrepresentation not herein otherwise described, in order to obtain academic credit or other academic advantage of any kind.
Examples
Could include, but are not limited to:
• Failing to report an instance or instances of cheating for academic advantage;
• Collaborating with another student when the instructor has not authorized it;
• Providing test questions to individuals who have yet to write the test (e.g., peers in a different course section);
• Erasing someone’s name from a test or exam and submitting the test as one’s own;
• Modifying the answers on a marked test or exam and resubmitting it for grading, without the instructor’s knowledge or authorization to make such modifications;
• Removing a test or exam from the exam room, without authorization; or,
• Making use of verbal or any non-verbal (signals) communication to help or obtain unauthorized help during a test or exam.
4. A graduate of the University may be charged with any of the above offences committed knowingly while he or she was an active student, when, in the opinion of the Provost, the offence, if detected, would have resulted in a sanction sufficiently severe that the degree would not have been granted at the time that it was.