Academic Integrity Information for Graduate Students
All UBC students have a responsibility to familiarize themselves with and follow UBC’s academic integrity standards and regulations. Do not submit work (including drafts) if you are not clear on and able to follow the relevant standard of academic integrity. If you have questions about academic or scholarly integrity expectations for your role as a graduate student, you should contact your instructor, research supervisor, or graduate advisor directly.
As a graduate student, you are generally expected to have greater awareness of academic integrity. You are more advanced in your studies and have had more academic training. Academic integrity is important both for your own work and classes, and also if you are working as a teaching assistant to help train undergraduate students.
Much of what you will do as a graduate student will revolve around your own research and classes. In the case of research, you are expected to follow the standards of scholarly integrity.
Additionally, the principles of academic integrity also apply to any work that applies to your degree requirements, such as:
- Your classes
- Theses and dissertation materials
- Fellowship applications
- Research proposals
- Comprehensive exams
Consequences for academic misconduct can impact your academic and later professional career. Academic misconduct may also undermine your relationship with your graduate supervisor, which can jeopardize your future graduate work. Breaches of scholarly integrity in research also compromise the value and dependability of the research enterprise and can undermine public confidence in university research. UBC has many resources available to support graduate students. At UBC Vancouver, some of these resources include the Centre for Writing and Scholarly Communication, Research Commons, GSS Peer Support, and AMS Advocacy. At UBC Okanagan, resources include the Centre for Scholarly Communication, the Graduate Commons, the Graduate Students Association, and the Students’ Union UBC Okanagan (SUO).There are also many events and programs designed to support graduate student success and wellbeing.
Don’t forget to talk with your graduate supervisor and instructors if you are ever in doubt about academic and scholarly integrity guidelines. While graduate students are expected to have a higher level of understanding about integrity concepts, your supervisor and instructors are still available to guide and mentor you in these matters (as these expectations may differ from your previous institutions).
Academic integrity versus scholarly integrity
In general, the principles of academic integrity apply to academic work related to your degree requirements (such as your classes, thesis and dissertation materials, fellowship applications, research proposals, and comprehensive exams).
Scholarly integrity (also known as responsible conduct of research) typically relates to work intended for publication and in some cases may be subject to Tri-Council Agency funding. The Responsible Conduct of Research site describes and provides information regarding scholarly integrity.
The following excerpt is reproduced from the UBC Responsible Conduct of Research website and is slightly adapted:
Academic misconduct applies to instances of a student or people engaging in, attempting to engage in or assisting others to engage in actions such as cheating, plagiarism, falsifying records or other conduct that occurs during graded assignments established by instructors for specific courses at the university. […]
Scholarly misconduct, by comparison, involves some of the same behaviours (e.g. plagiarism, fabricating research data), and could involve others ( e.g. misuse of grant funds, undeclared conflicts of interest or inappropriate authorship). The distinction between academic and scholarly misconduct is generally made based on whether the work in question is intended for publication. […]
Source: How to distinguish between scholarly and academic misconduct
Graduate students as instructors
Many graduate students serve as teaching assistants or sessional lecturers while at UBC. This means that they take courses and support teaching activities at different times during graduate school. Graduate students are expected to follow both the values of academic integrity and scholarly integrity, and as instructors-in-training they are also expected to promote and uphold academic integrity in any class they teach.
The Student Start page provides relevant resources for all students, including graduate students. Graduate students involved in teaching may also wish to review information for instructors about promoting academic integrity and responding to suspected academic misconduct (Faculty Start).
Teaching and learning
Some graduate students have both student and instructor responsibilities.
Role of the instructor
Instructors and teaching assistants are a primary source for students to learn about academic integrity. They also have an important role in the academic misconduct process.
Resources
