CSE 201 Course Policy on Cooperation, Collaboration, and Professional Ethics

The policy on collaboration with others is fairly liberal -- but please don't be tempted to test its limits. Certain things clearly will be permissible (e.g., discussing problems and solution approaches) and certain things clearly will not be permissible (e.g., passing off as your own the work of someone else). Some people think there is a fuzzy area in between. If you have doubts about the middle area, stay out of it; ask your instructor for assistance. Violations are surprisingly easy to detect and they must and will be dealt with according to OSU rules on academic misconduct.

You may ask the consultants or others for assistance with the computers, Windows, Eclipse, or Java (including interpreting the meanings of error messages and general advice about what causes them, but not including actually fixing the errors).
You may not write or otherwise record any part of your solution to an assignment while someone is helping you.
You may not take a physical or electronic copy of any part of a solution to an assignment from anyone.
You may not give a physical or electronic copy of any part of a solution to an assignment to anyone.

One possibly ambiguous area involves talking to others about homework assignments and about the design, logic, and implementation of a program. You are encouraged to talk with others (especially others in the class) about these things. But do not give anyone or take from anyone written or recorded material, and in all cases please write up your own solution without assistance. If you feel the need to cheat on these rules or are not sure whether some activity would constitute cheating, please discuss your questions with your instructor first!

And just in case it is not clear from the statements above:

You may not ask for any help on the internet to solve any assignments (homeworks and labs).
You may not search on the internet for any solutions to any of the assignments.
You may not use any partial or complete solution found on the internet to any of the assignments for any reason or purpose.

There is one other rule about professional ethics:

You may not turn in an assignment solution from a previous quarter's offering of the course.

Please note that this last rule applies even if you have previously taken the course and you think it might save you some time to turn in an old solution. Lab assignments may change in subtle ways from one quarter to the next. Any homework or lab submission that gives evidence of having been prepared for a previous quarter's course offering will receive zero credit. Moreover, if there is reason to suspect you got the questionable solution from someone else who took the course in a previous quarter, it will be treated as academic misconduct just as if you had gotten it from someone else who is taking the course this quarter.

For other information about appropriate use of the laboratory computing facilities, please see the official policies.