Graduate Guide

Academic Integrity

The central activities and missions of a university rest upon the fundamental assumption that all members of the university community conduct themselves in accordance with a strict adherence to academic and scholarly integrity.

UCF expectations are included in the Faculty Handbook (Ethical Conduct of the University Community, pages 45-47) and in the Golden Rule and its associated UCF regulations (UCF-5.008, www.regulations.ucf.edu/chapter5/index.html). Guidance may be found in Information Literacy and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Classroom Management, Academic Integrity) and is reinforced through the offerings of the Center for Writing Excellence, the UCF Center for Ethics, the UCF Libraries, and other services on campus.

To maintain this atmosphere in the UCF graduate community, it is crucial that all students are made aware of the expectations of academic integrity, the responsibilities associated with research and scholarly work, and the consequences associated with the failure to abide by these expectations. Faculty plays an important role in this effort.

In support of this effort, the College of Graduate Studies and the Center for Ethics coordinate a series of ethics/responsible conduct of research (RCR) trainings (see information below).

Advising Students about Academic Integrity

Information for UCF Graduate Students

UCF Resources

Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

Information Literacy, Students, Avoiding Plagiarism Using MLA Style

UCF Libraries, Grammar and Writing: Avoiding Plagiarism

Other Resources

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity (ori.hhs.gov/Handling Misconduct—Case Summaries)

Academic Integrity Training

All newly admitted UCF graduate students must complete training designed to create awareness and understanding of fundamental issues related to ethics, academic integrity, and the responsible conduct of research (RCR) in accordance with university guidelines. This required training includes the following:

Pressures to Plagiarize

All graduate students must complete the Pressures to Plagiarize Webcourse before the end of their first semester. Students are automatically enrolled in the course soon after they accept their acceptance to their UCF graduate program.

Graduate students who do not complete Pressures to Plagiarize by their first semester will not be eligible to register for courses in their next semester.

For information on Pressures to Plagiarize, please see graduate.ucf.edu/plagiarism

Ethics Workshops

All incoming doctoral students must complete two online, synchronous ethics/RCR workshops on Personal & Professional Integrity and Ethics & Research Integrity facilitated by the UCF Center for Ethics. Additional details on these sessions is available at https://graduate.ucf.edu/academic-integrity-training

These workshops must be completed in the student’s first two years (six semesters). A doctoral student who has not completed the required ethics workshops within their first two years (six semesters) will not be eligible to register for courses in subsequent semesters.

Policy

Questions?

Contact the College of Graduate Studies (407-823-2766 or gradworkshops@ucf.edu) if you or your students have questions about academic integrity training.

CITI Responsible Conduct of Research Training

The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program is an organization that provides online research ethics education to all members of the research community, including more than a thousand U.S. and international institutions. Provided at no cost to researchers, this training includes several training courses with options for different disciplines.

Free CITI training is an educational resource is open to all faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Please consult the UCF Institutional Review Board (IRB) for guidance on CITI training required for specific research projects. To create a CITI account, see https://rcr.research.ucf.edu/citi



Student Advising Advising Thesis and Dissertation Students