5.5 Important Statements

This section contains important official statements, using language provided by the SHU administration.

Disability Statement
If you have a disability that requires instructor consideration please contact the Director of Disability Services at 724-838-4295. It is recommended that this be accomplished by the second week of class.

If you need accommodations for successful participation in class activities prior to your appointment at the Disability Services Office, you should offer information in writing that includes suggestions for assistance in participating in and completing class assignments. It is not necessary to disclose the nature of your disability.

Academic Honesty and Ethical Conduct

Seton Hill University expects that all its students will practice academic honesty and ethical conduct.

The University regards plagiarism, cheating on examinations, falsification of papers, non-sanctioned collaboration, and misuse of library material, computer material, or any other material, published or unpublished, as violations of academic honesty. Violators of the code may expect disciplinary sanctions, which are discussed in the Seton Hill University Catalog, page 30, Code of Academic Conduct.

Many of your college assignments will involve quoting from or responding to other people's words and ideas. However, using those words or ideas without properly citing them, or resubmitting your own work for a different class, constitutes plagiarism.

Paraphrasing the thoughts or written work of another without reference -- even with permission from the source -- is also plagiarism. Helpful information is available at What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It.

Reusing someone else's source code is a gray area. Use your weblog to keep a record of which tutorials, examples, or other resources you drew on in order to develop your own project.  If someone posts 3D models or source code examples online, in a context in which visitors are invited to download and re-use those models, I see nothing wrong with doing so, even without giving credit in your final publication, so long as you give full credit in your development log.

You needn't interrupt a first-person shooter level with disclaimers every time you use an explosion sound effect that you lifted from somewhere else, but your project should somewhere include an "About" section that gives credit where it is due.

Any plagiarism or other form of academic dishonesty will result in a zero for that assignment. Any plagiarism or other form of academic dishonesty on a draft will result in a zero for the final grade on that assignment. All academic dishonesty will be reported to the dean's office.