Doing Your Own Work in Computer Science Courses

Examples of work that is not your own

• Looking at how someone else solved an assigned problem (program, homework problem, etc.) and then writing your own version of their solution without acknowledging their contribution is plagiarism.
  
• Notice that it's "their" solution; that's what makes this plagiarism.  You're receiving credit for work that is not yours, which means that your grade is not a true reflection of your knowledge and abilities
• This applies to looking at solutions by other students or non-students, solutions on the Web, solutions found in books outside those listed in the syllabus as resources for the class, etc.
  
• One of the main problems with this form of plagiarism is that you're not learning to develop your own solutions.  And if you don't learn to solve programming problems on your own, then you're almost certainly not going to succeed in fields that require a CS degree.
• Asking someone else to explain to you how to write a program or solve a problem on a written assignment, then writing up the solution and turning it in as your own is plagiarism.
• This is essentially the same situation as the one previously described, except that you are asking someone to solve the problem rather than looking at a solution that someone has already written.
• Working together with someone else to complete an assignment and then each of you turning in the work as your own is plagiarism.
• If some of the work is not your own, then the work as a whole is not your own.
  
• Copying someone else's solution, even if you make some changes to their solution, is plagiarism.
• Turning in work that was done mostly by you but that contains some plagiarized work is plagiarism.
  

Examples of acceptable help

• Any help that you receive from your instructor is acceptable.
• All instructors in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science have office hours when you can visit in person for help, and many will meet with you outside of office hours if you ask for an alternate time.  Instructors will also answer questions by phone or email.
  
• Any help that you receive from the paid student tutors provided by the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is acceptable, assuming that you have explained the nature of your questions to the tutor (e.g., it would not be acceptable to ask tutors for help with questions from a take-home exam, and it would not be acceptable to tell tutors that an assignment question was something that was covered in class but that you didn't write down the answer to).
  
• You can sign up for free tutoring on sheets near the entrance to the College Hall 439 computer lab (across from the elevators).
• Any help that you receive from other faculty members in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is acceptable, again, assuming that you have explained the nature of your questions to the faculty member.
  
• Any information you find in books listed in the course syllabus, in course notes, and in similar course-related sources is acceptable.
• Help you receive from someone in understanding material contained in the course textbook, in course notes, and in similar course-related sources is acceptable.
  
• Help you receive from someone in understanding what an assignment is asking for is acceptable.
• Help you receive from someone in learning how to use some or all of the features of a software package (assuming that this learning is not part of the assignment) is acceptable.
• Generally speaking, having someone help you understand a single compiler error message or find a single bug that you've struggled to locate in a program is acceptable.  But if someone else is doing a substantial portion of the debugging of "your" program, they are doing a significant part of the work of developing the program, and the program is no longer entirely your work.
  

How to avoid plagiarism

• Start your programming assignments as soon as possible and plan to finish them with time to spare.  In this way, if you need help, you should have time to get it from an acceptable source rather than panicking because of an imminent deadline and being tempted to plagiarize.
• Don't ignore your doubts.  If it crosses your mind that what you're doing might be plagiarism, it probably is.  You should stop immediately, think it through carefully, and ask your instructor if any doubt remains.
• If you realize after the fact that your final work includes the work of others, acknowledge their work in what you turn in.  Your instructor may choose not to accept the work, or may reduce the grade on the work, or may assign a make-up assignment.  But you will not have plagiarized, so you will not have violated academic integrity and you will not be liable for the sanctions that could have applied had you plagiarized.