MEWA Plagiarism and Cheating Policy

MEWA students are expected to do their own work and cite the work of others as appropriate. We ask that any content produced with the help of AI be properly cited. Plagiarism is the willful presentation of someone else’s previously written, published, or copyrighted material as one’s own or have used an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool such as Chat GPT to generate a response that was not written by the student. Such material may include work that appears in print, online, or in audio or video formats. Copying work from another student may also be regarded as plagiarism if done without consent and if a citation is not given to the original writer. If an AI tool such as Chat GPT was used to generate a response, the student will receive a zero temporarily and be asked to redo the assignment in their own words except when a teacher specifically is asking students to use ChatGPT or other AI tool as a methodology for learning. Penalties for plagiarism are listed below. MEWA teachers will employ plagiarism-detecting software regularly including AI detection software.  Cheating is considered as bad as plagiarism and carries the same penalties.      

Cheating is the act of unfairly gaining an advantage through dishonest or deceptive means, often in an academic or testing setting. It encompasses various forms of academic misconduct, such as copying from someone else's work, collaborating with others without permission, and using technology to gain an unfair advantage. (Chat GPT, April 19, 2023)

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work or ideas as one's own without giving proper credit to the original source. It includes various forms of intellectual dishonesty, such as copying and pasting text without citation, paraphrasing text without proper attribution, and submitting work that has been written by someone else as one's own. (Chat GPT, April 19, 2023)                                          

PENALTIES and CONSEQUENCES for PLAGIARISM and CHEATING:  

• 1st Offense – Student and parent will be sent a plagiarism letter and will be required to view the slideshow to make sure they understand what it is:

• 2nd Offense – Same as the first offense and a conference with the teacher.

• 3rd Offense – Meeting with an administrator

• 4th or 5th offense- second meeting with an administrator or loss of credit for course and will need to take a replacement course.

• Additionally, a student is subject to consequences for violation of ANY policy or law through the use of the computer.