UTD expects from its students a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty.  Because the value of an academic degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree, it is imperative that students maintain a high standard of individual honor in their scholastic work. You can see how the university feels about dishonesty at [http://www.utdallas.edu/dishonesty/]. (In short, they don’t like it. Neither do I.)

In this class, there is an Honor Code that governs all of your assignments. You will be working with a great deal of independence in this class, and I need to be able to trust that you are making honest representations of the work you do.

• Reading Quizzes. The reading quizzes are meant to help you check on your learning, in order to make sure you are mastering the material presented in the course. You can consult your reading materials and notes while you are taking any quiz, but you should not ask another person to give you the answers to a quiz. Likewise, if someone asks you to give them the answers to the quiz, you must not do that: every person must complete the quizzes on their own.

• Writing. Your writing assignments must be written in your own words. You should not copy from another source either word from word. You also should not paraphrase sentence by sentence, making only minor editorial changes. To make sure you are writing in your own words, do your writing without looking at any other source other than your own notes and rough drafts. If you turn in plagiarized work for this class, serious penalties will apply.

• Gradebook Declarations. A Gradebook Declaration is a simple true-false declaration of the work you have completed for class. Be sure you have read the section titled “Gradebook Declarations” on the Grading Policy page. It is essential that you are honest in completing these Declarations, only taking credit for work that you have completed.

  Make sure you read the declaration carefully, and under no circumstances of any kind should you complete a Declaration without having finished the assignment first. If you are unable to complete an assignment or if you forget to do a Declaration, don’t worry about it! Missing a few points here and there will not affect your grade, plus there are lots of extra credit options you can use to make up missing points. There is no good excuse for making an inaccurate declaration.

Penalties

Violations of the Honor Code are subject to serious penalties in this class, as governed by the procedures outlined in the UT Dallas Handbook of Operating Procedures, Title V Chapter 49. Do not cheat, plagiarize, or make an inaccurate declaration: it is not worth it. Please save us both a lot of trouble and follow this Honor Code.