Academic Integrity

Student Helpmate, LLC presents this policy as part of our efforts to maintain the integrity of the academic processes, persons, and programs that may encounter our services. A commitment to academic honesty is an integral part of the academic and higher learning communities. All students and tutors as well as all members of the academic community, including services such as those provided by Student Helpmate, LLC, must commit to academic honesty.

It is the responsibility of students to have a comprehensive understanding of what academic honesty consists of, as well as the most common violations. It is directly incumbent upon the student to commit themselves to maintaining the strictest standards for their own behavior and integrity.

A tutor, as defined by Student Helpmate, LLC is any person posting a response to a question posed by a student, whether through the use of a database or direct response methods. Tutors are responsible to act in an ethical manner and maintain the highest standards for their behavior regarding the types, use, originality, and competence of their work. Student Helpmate, LLC facilitates the meeting of students with tutors only, and does not validate the work submitted by tutors, nor is Student Helpmate, LLC liable, or in any way responsible, for the exchange of information and ideas presented, or accepted, by students.

It is the responsibility of each student and tutor to understand these policies. A lack of understanding is not an adequate defense against a charge of academic dishonesty.

With regard to the application of this policy, Student Helpmate, LLC ensures its support of tutors who are acting in good faith within the course and scope of their experience and expertise in the provision of assistance requested by students.

This policy is only a part of Student Helpmate, LLC’s effort to promote academic integrity in all aspects of our services. By necessity, this part discusses only prohibited acts and a process of applying sanctions and consequences of dishonest behavior. The ultimate goal, of course, is to provide an atmosphere that will make the following procedures and sanctions superfluous.

Definitions

Academic dishonesty involves acts that may subvert or compromise the integrity of the educational process. Included is any act by which a student gains or attempts to gain an academic advantage for himself or herself or another person by misrepresenting his or her or another’s work or by interfering with the completion, submission, or evaluation of work. These include, but are not limited to, accomplishing or attempting any of the following acts:

  1. Alteration of grades or official records by any means.

  2. Using any materials that are not authorized by the instructor for use during an examination (e.g. live chat in one window while taking an examination in another window).

  3. Copying of another work.

  4. Collaborating with another person to falsely present work as exclusively that of the student without recognition to the associate providing assistance.

  5. Stealing, buying, or otherwise obtaining information about an unadministered examination (e.g. buying the answers to specific quizzes or tests is strictly prohibited).

  6. Collaborating on laboratory work, take-home examinations, homework, or other assigned work when instructed to work independently.

  7. Substituting for another person or permitting any other person to substitute for oneself to take an examination.

  8. Submitting any theme, report, term paper, essay, computer program, or other written work, speech, painting, drawing, sculpture, or other art work as one’s own when prepared totally or in part by another without recognition of the associate providing assistance.

  9. Submitting without specific permission of the instructor, work that has been previously offered for credit in another course.

  10. Plagiarizing, that is, the offering as one’s own work, including words, ideas, or arguments of another person without appropriate attribution by quotation, reference, or footnote. Plagiarism occurs both when the words of another are reproduced without acknowledgement, and/or when the ideas or arguments of another are paraphrased in such a way as to lead the reader to believe that they originated with the writer. It is the responsibility of all students to understand the methods of proper attribution and to apply those principles in all materials submitted to their respective institutions.

  11. Sabotaging of another student’s work (e.g. students or tutors providing false information to a fellow student or misrepresenting their tutoring work).

  12. Falsifying or committing forgery on any form or document.

  13. Submitting altered or falsified data as experimental data from laboratory projects, survey research, or other field research.

  14. Committing any willful act of dishonesty that interferes with the operation of the academic process.

  15. Facilitating or aiding in any act of academic dishonesty.

Procedures

Sanctions for acts of academic dishonesty may be applied in the following ways:

  1. Suspension of privileges to site. If report is made of potential academic dishonesty by the student or tutor’s sponsoring institution (e.g. Phoenix University, Walden University, etc.) the account may be suspended disabling the ability of student or tutor involved from uploading or downloading content until the issue with the institution is resolved.

  2. Termination of account. If report is made regarding the provable exchange of plagiarized materials, submission of work done by another, and/or collaboration during an examination through the account, either student or tutor may be terminated. Any outstanding balances within the account in amounts less than $10.00 will be forfeit. Any amount over the $10.00 limit will be sent to the student or tutor as appropriate through routine means of dispensation.

  3. Notice of Violation of Terms of Use. If report is made of fraudulent conduct which is not clearly provable (e.g. claim made by a student that a tutor’s work was not as represented), a Notice of Violation of Terms of Use may be issued to the person accused. This has no effect on access to the account. If three Notice of Violation of Terms of Use notices are issued, the matter will be investigated and Suspension of privileges to site or possibly Termination of account may be instituted.

  4. Student Helpmate, LLC strives to maintain the strictest forms of legal, ethical, and academic integrity. Toward those ends, Student Helpmate, LLC will cooperate to the fullest extent any verifiable and legitimate investigation or inquiry made by recognized legal authorities and law enforcement agencies, including, but not limited to, local or state police operating within their jurisdictions, federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI or NSA, or federally appointed institutions with granted jurisdiction such as the IRS. Of course, under our privacy policy records may only be given to law enforcement agencies with a valid search warrant per the United States Constitutions Fourth Amendment.