Collaboration Policy
Collaboration policy for this class is as follows.
- You are strongly encouraged to
collaborate with one another in studying the textbook and lecture material.
- As long as it satisfies the following conditions, collaboration on the homework assignments is encouraged and will not reduce your grade:
- Before discussing each homework problem with anyone
else, you must give it an honest half-hour of serious thought.
- You may discuss ideas and approaches with other students in the class, but not share actual code.
In other words,
the code you write must be entirely your own, which you must write and debug
without looking at other people's code. Don't permit others to copy your code.
You must also acknowledge
clearly
in the appropriate portion of your solutions (e.g., in the comments of your
code) people with whom you discussed
ideas for that portion.
- You may get help from TFs and Java tutors in the lab for specific
problems with writing and
debugging your code. Don't expect them to do it for you,
however.
- If you get really stuck with a bug (defined roughly as over an
hour of frustration), you are allowed to get help from a
friend as long as you acknowledge that help clearly in your
solutions (e.g., in the comments of your code).
- You may not work with people outside this class (but come and talk to
us if you have a tutor), seek on-line solutions, get someone
else to do it for you, etc.
- You are not permitted to collaborate on exams.
The last point is particularly important: if you don't make an honest effort
on the homework but always get ideas from others, your exam score will reflect
it.
Violations of Collaboration Policy
Violations of collaboration policy fall into two categories: ones that are acknowledged at the time they occur
(for example, in clearly marked comments in your code) and ones that are unacknowledged.
Acknowledged violations (e.g., using someone else's code for a method you didn't know how to write
yourself, and stating clearly in your code that this is not your own work) will result in an appropriate
reduction in the grade, but will not be considered cheating.
Unacknowledged violations of the collaboration policy--for example, not
stating the names of your collaborators, or any other attempt to
represent the work of another as your own--will result in an automatic
failing grade and will be reported to the Academic Conduct Committee
(ACC). The ACC often suspends
or expels students deemed guilty of plagiarism or other forms of
cheating. I have served on the ACC and
have seen it happen. I will assume that you understand the CAS Academic
Conduct Code (read it if you
haven't).
If you are uncertain as to whether a particular kind of interaction with someone else constitutes illegal
collaboration or academic dishonesty, please ask me before taking any action that might violate the rules;
if you can't reach me in time, then at the very least include a clear explanation of what happened in your
homework write-up to avoid being treated as a cheater. Citing your sources is usually the easiest way out of
trouble.