It makes coherent discourse possible and is a necessary condition for all sharing, dialogue and evaluation.
All forms of academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabricating, facilitating academic dishonesty and plagiarism, are violations of the Social Contract. Cheating is defined as using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise. Fabrication is defined as faking data, footnotes or other evidence. Plagiarism is defined as representing the works or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise. It includes, but is not limited to, copying materials directly, failure to cite sources of arguments and data, and failure to explicitly acknowledge joint work or authorship of assignments.
Your academic program often forms a covenant which will set out the roles and responsibilities of the members of your learning community. It may include possible penalties and procedures for appeal to the deans. Penalties for violation of the standards of academic honesty may be severe, such as expulsion from programs.
Contact your faculty concerning the terms of a program covenant. Consult the Social Contract or contact the dean of students for other issues relating to academic honesty.