Academic Integrity Matters at NIC

Integrity is important in your academic, personal, and professional lives. Here, we explain what academic integrity means and what it looks like when you are a student at NIC.

Why is Academic Integrity Important

Integrity is embedded in the principles of ethical behaviour.

Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody’s watching, and doing as you say you would do.
Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Academic integrity is important because it recognizes and appreciates the work done by other scholars and it promotes behaviours that avoid dishonesty, plagiarism, and cheating.

When you are using information or knowledge, it is important to acknowledge what was created before so you can demonstrate how your work builds on the existing knowledge. Acknowledging the ideas that informed your thoughts means that you are demonstrating Academic Integrity.

Forsythe, G. (2011). Academic Integrity. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

What can you do?

Read the NIC policies

Familiarize yourself with NIC Policy 3-06, Student Code of Academic, Personal and Professional Conduct. Remember that research conducted at or under the auspices of NIC may require Ethics approval as per NIC Policy 1-12, Research Involving Humans; you can check Research Ethics approval if needed. Being uninformed about the policies does not prevent you from having to face disciplinary action.

Complete the Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) @ NIC tutorial on Brightspace

This tutorial takes 30-40 minutes and you can learn about plagiarism, citing, writing tips, and academic integrity. Test your knowledge with the quizzes and when you achieve 100%, you can download a custom certificate with your name and date of completion. In some courses and programs, completion of the AIM tutorial is a requirement; your instructor will let you know if this is the case.

To access the tutorial, go to myNIC. The tutorial is on Brightspace. On the Brightspace landing page, click on My Courses and then View all courses.

Know when to work alone

Find out when you can work in groups and when you need to work alone. Collaboration on assignments, quizzes, and essays can get you in trouble if you were meant to work alone.

Start fresh

While recycling is great for the environment, recycling previous work is almost always the wrong thing to do. Start fresh with new ideas, new research, and new content.

Cite your sources

Make sure you make a note of all your sources and cite them accurately. Even if it is accidental, plagiarism is plagiarism. Consider attending one of the Library & Learning Common’s one-hour workshops on Citation, Quoting, and Paraphrasing & Summarizing to learn strategies to avoid plagiarism.

Ask for help

When unsure, ask for help. Reach out to your Instructor, the Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee, the Library and Learning Commons, or Early Assist. We are here to help you do the best work you can.

What happens when an instructor suspects academic misconduct?

  1. When an Instructor suspects an incident of academic misconduct, they will usually contact the student (within 2 days).
  2. After speaking to the student, if the instructor believes that academic misconduct has occurred, they will refer the case to the Academic Integrity Committee (usually within 5 days).
  3. The Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee will contact the student concerned (usually within 2 days). According to Policy 3-06, the student can:
    • Choose to present to the Academic Integrity Panel
      The student needs to tell the Chair (within 3 days of being contacted) whether they will appear in person, submit a written statement, or do both. The case will be scheduled at the next available meeting; if the student chooses to attend, they can bring a support person or student union advocate. After hearing the evidence, the panel can accept or dismiss the allegations. If accepted, the Academic Integrity Panel will forward the case to the Dean for sanctioning (usually within 3 days).
    • Acknowledge they committed academic misconduct
      In this case, the Academic Integrity Panel process does not happen. The Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee sends the case directly to the appropriate Dean for sanctioning.
    • Not respond to the Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee
      The Chair decides whether to raise the case with the Academic Integrity Panel or refer it directly to the appropriate Dean for their decision, and if appropriate, sanctioning.
  4. The Dean reviews all the evidence and determines sanctions that are appropriate for the situation. The aim of this process is to provide education and to prevent further incidents of academic misconduct.
  5. Students who wish to appeal the Dean’s decision need to refer to Policy 3-30, Student Appeals Policy.

If you require any support with this process, please email Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee.

Contact us

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email Student Affairs or the Chair of the Academic Integrity Committee.