Contact Information

Our department uses only student directory information provided by students through UT Direct.  With UT Direct, students can update all contact information, campus-wide, in just one place.  UT Direct is a personal, secure web interface to The University of Texas at Austin that will assist you with most of the information you will need about your records. 

Your UTDirect emergency contact information must be updated annually, or the Registrar may place a bar on your registration.  Be sure to verify that your local phone number is one where voice mail messages may be left or where you can be reached during the day, and that the email address you provide is one you check often.  The University considers email communication to be an official form of notification, and it is the one most commonly used.  Students should become familiar with the University’s Electronic Mail Student Notification Policy.

Scholastic Honesty

According to the General Information Bulletin of the University of Texas at Austin, "academic dishonesty” or “scholastic dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying academic records, misrepresenting facts, and any act designed to give unfair academic advantage to the student or another individual (such as, but not limited to, submission of essentially the same written assignment for two classes or courses without the prior permission of the instructor), or the attempt to commit such an act.

Cheating

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, any actions or attempts to do the following:

1. copying from another student’s test, paper, project, or other assignment;
2. failing to comply with instructions given by the person administering a test, project, or other assignment, or given in conjunction with the completion of course requirements;
3. using or possessing materials that are not authorized by the person giving the test, project, or other assignment, including but not limited to class notes, calculators, electronic devices, and specifically designed “crib notes”; the presence of textbooks constitutes a violation only if they have been specifically prohibited by the person administering the test;
4. providing aid or assistance to or receiving aid or assistance from another student, individual, or source, without authority, in conjunction with a test, project, or other assignment;
5. discussing or providing information about the contents of a test with another student who will take the test;
6. capturing or divulging the contents of a test or other assignment when the instructor has not given permission for students to keep or distribute such information;
7. substituting for another person or permitting another person to substitute for oneself to take a class, a test, or any class-related assignment;
8. using, buying, stealing, transporting, soliciting, or coercing another person to obtain answers to or information about an administered test, project, or other assignment;
9. falsifying research data, laboratory reports, other academic work offered for credit, or work done in conjunction with the completion of course or degree requirements; taking, keeping, misplacing, or damaging the property of the University, or of another, if the student knows or reasonably should know that an unfair academic advantage would be gained by such conduct; or altering a test paper, project, or other assignment to gain an academic advantage.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation of, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means material that is attributable in whole or in part to another source without any indication of the original source, including words, ideas, illustrations, structure, computer code, and other expression or media, and presenting that material as one’s own academic work being offered for credit or in conjunction with a program course or degree requirements.

Collusion

Collusion includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments offered for credit, and collaboration with another person to commit a violation of any section of the rules on academic dishonesty.

Misrepresenting Facts for Academic Advantage

Misrepresenting facts for academic advantage to the University or an agent of the University or The University of Texas System includes, but is not limited to, providing false grades or résumés; providing false or misleading information in an effort to receive a postponement or an extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment for the purpose of obtaining an academic or financial benefit for oneself or another individual; and providing false or misleading information in an effort to injure another student academically or financially.

Penalties

The penalties for plagiarism can be severe. In all demonstrable cases of plagiarism, it is recommended that the student be failed for the entire course, not just for the paper; however, the penalty in any given case is at the discretion of the individual instructor. Any charge of scholastic dishonesty must be discussed directly with you and you must be informed of your right to a hearing before a designated University official and of your right to appeal to the Office of the Dean of Students. In most instances, however, plagiarism cases are handled within the department of Curriculum & Instruction.