CommLab FAQs

All work submitted to meet course requirements is expected to be the student’s own. In the preparation of all presentations and other related work submitted to meet course and degree requirements, a student must be careful to distinguish between ideas that are his or her own and those that have been derived from other sources. Information and opinions drawn from all sources are to be attributed specifically to these sources. It is the student’s responsibility to learn and use the proper forms of citation. Quotations must be properly placed within quotation marks and must be fully cited. All paraphrased material must also be fully cited. In all cases where ideas or material presented are derived from a student’s reading and research, the source used must be indicated. Students who submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to the original source, for whatever reason, face sanctions up to and including dismissal and expulsion. 

Students occasionally work with others or receive assistance in various aspects of their course work. Students should be very clear about how they are working with others and what types ofassistance, if any, they are receiving. Students should disclose to their professors any plans for outside professional assistance on editing, slide creation, statistical work, or other matters central to completing their work. The student's professor will approve those kinds and levels of assistance that support, rather than supplant, the student's final deliverable and learning. If assistance was approved, the student must specify what sort of assistance they received and from whom on the final deliverable in question, upon submission. The goal of this oversight is to preserve the status of the work as the student's own genuine intellectual product. Students should remember that the Gutman Library Academic Writing and Research Services is available to assist them with assessing and editing their own work. This assistance has been sanctioned by HGSE.