MSR Academic Honor Code and Collaboration Policy

The Northwestern University MS in Robotics program has implemented this honor code in order to promote a collaborative academic environment. We expect all students to accept responsibility for their own education and to act with integrity and honesty in their dealings with faculty, staff, employers, and peers.

These rules present a common framework for understanding what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable academic conduct in the Northwestern University’s MS in Robotics program. These strict rules form the foundation for productive collaboration between students and faculty where nobody is uncertain about what behaviors are permitted and everybody feels comfortable that their contributions will be appropriately acknowledged.

The academic integrity rules for MSR students are outlined below:

1. Students must adhere to the Northwestern’s academic integrity principles, as outlined in Academic Integrity: A Basic Guide.
2. Students are expected to be honest with faculty, staff, employers, and peers.
3. Students are responsible for understanding and complying with the academic integrity rules set by each instructor.
4. Students are responsible for seeking explicit clarification if they are unsure about any rule. Until such clarification is obtained, students should implement each rule according to the interpretation that restricts their actions the most.
5. Collaboration and consulting external sources is not allowed unless explicitly permitted by the instructor.
   • Restrictions on the mode of collaboration or use of sources must be followed.
   • Permission from one instructor or for one class or for one assignment does not carry over to other instructors, assignments, or classes.
6. All external sources and collaborations must be cited according to the MSR citation rules, unless the instructor explicitly exempts a source from this requirement.
   • Failures to cite sources and collaborations according to the citation rules will be interpreted as intentional misconduct if such failure creates ambiguity as to which source was used or what parts of the assignment used the source.
   • If an instructor provides alternative citation rules, those rules may be substituted for the MSR rules.
   • If an instructor is unclear about citation rules, students should clarify the rules with the instructor.
7. Students should not take credit for the work of others or misrepresent someone else’s work as their own.
8. If you believe that these principles are being violated by other students, you are obligated to take one of the following actions:
   • If you believe that others are planning to violate the academic honor code you should work to discourage the behavior before it occurs.
   • If you become aware of a violation, the preferred action is to notify the course instructor and/or the MSR directors.
   • Ultimately it is up to each student to decide when behavior reaches the threshold where the instructor and/or MSR directors should be involved. Short of notifying the instructor and/or MSR directors, students may engage in actions to correct and prevent future academic integrity violations such as discussing the problematic behavior with the student or refusing to collaborate with the student.
   • Falsely reporting an instance of academic dishonesty is a violation of this policy.
9. In an academic integrity investigation, students are expected to be transparent, honest, and factual.
   • Lying or being evasive during an investigation can constitute a secondary academic integrity violation.

Just as students have responsibility for their own education, the MSR program directors are responsible for creating an environment where students freely exchange ideas and collaborate with each other and faculty. These rules are in addition to the general University and professional obligations of the faculty.

In the rules below “MSR faculty” refers to the MSR program directors. Other faculty are not bound by these rules.

1. MSR faculty will trust that students are being honest in their interactions with them, unless there is evidence of dishonesty.
   • For example, documentary evidence of illness or other problems to gain an extension on an assignment will not be requested by MSR faculty, unless required by the University.
2. MSR faculty will not use automated plagiarism detection tools to scan MSR student work for copying or other violations of this policy, unless evidence arises that individuals have been violating these principles.
3. MSR faculty will strive to be clear about the academic integrity rules for each course and assignment and issue clarifications to rules when asked. Asking questions about the rules will never be used as evidence of academic dishonesty.
4. MSR faculty will work to ensure that there is no retaliation against students who report academic dishonesty.
5. If MSR faculty become aware that a student has engaged in misconduct under this policy, they will handle the violation through official University procedures.
6. MSR faculty will acknowledge each student’s contribution to a project, assignment, or research as appropriate to the work they contributed and will have forthright discussions with any student who feels that their contribution may have been overlooked.

This policy applies to all MSR activities (the hackathon, cohort meetings, and classes taught by the MSR directors, and other activities that the MSR directors may specify). It grants permission to collaborate during all of these activities, unless explicitly prohibited. The policy does not grant such permission in courses taught by other faculty, even if they are required parts of the MSR curriculum.

Although collaboration is generally permitted during MSR activities, there are specific citation requirements. This policy focuses on what items need to be cited when: the method for how to cite various sources is discussed in the Citation Rules. Following the rules about how to properly cite sources is important because deviations that causes confusion or ambiguity may be considered as evidence of violating this policy.

There are two levels of citation: general (which lists the source generally for a whole project) and inline (where the general source is specifically cited at the location where it was used). Depending on the type of collaboration, sometimes a general citation is sufficient and other times inline citation is required.

Although these rules are specific to the MSR program, making a general practice of following these rules in all situations where collaboration is permitted should keep you in compliance with academic integrity policies, in the absence of more specific instructions. However, it is ultimately your responsibility to seek clarification when any collaboration rules are unclear.