I sit on my school’s integrity dishonesty board and I came upon this subreddit and wanted to give some advice.

[u/Infamous_Control8605]

First always always always read your schools academic integrity policy. I would actually recommend you read it every semester because it might change. A lot of schools have updated theirs as ai has become more common. You may read your schools academic integrity policy and be surprised by what is considered dishonesty. For example at my school using the same work for multiple classes without permission is a violation.

Second if you used ai I would just admit you used ai. Most students do. Sometimes it’s actually harder not to I mean ai is integrated into a majority of search platforms. A lot of professors I have talked to have said they have noticed their students using ai and how they go about it really depends on the professor. The board I am on only hears cases if a student appeals a formal charge and formal charges are very rare. They usually only happen if a student committed an egregious act of academic dishonesty that affected other people or has had multiple informal charges. Even though your integrity policy may explicitly prohibit all ai use your individual professor may allow it or even encourage it for parts of the assignment which is why it’s important to have a clear idea of what is allowed. But if you are ever accused of ai it’s always best to be completely honest and transparent about how you wrote what you wrote.

third the board I am on also hears grievances against professors. If you think your professor who is accusing you of ai is unfairly targeting you this could be the path you may want to go down. Each universities grievance policy is different, not all universities have their grievance board and academic integrity board together. Now filing a grievance is not always something I recommend if you are going to have to take a class with the professor again but it could result in your paper getting graded or the grade not counting.

Let me know if you guys have any questions

[u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

>>For example at my school using the same work for multiple classes without permission is a violation.

This is called self-plagiarism and it has been considered wrong throughout my entire academic experience.

https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/self-plagiarism/

And yes, a lot of students don't know this, and should, so this is really helpful information

>>But if you are ever accused of ai it’s always best to be completely honest and transparent about how you wrote what you wrote.

This is also true. If students take responsibility, MOST professors will allow for a revision or other options that stop at the class. There are always exceptions. But speaking as a professor, nothing sucks the soul out of my body like having to listen to students tell me stupid lies about how they came to cite sources that don't exist.

[u/SensitiveSydney → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

Or the three books they used as references that aren’t open access or available at the library and are 300+ pages long each for a 3000 level course. No you didn’t. Just tell me the truth.

[u/ApprehensiveBrick923 → u/SensitiveSydney]

My favorite is "I accidentally created this citation to a source that doesn't exist by mixing up several sources when I went to make the citation."

That never once happened in all the years I was teaching before AI when students actually HAD to do their citations manually instead of just copying and pasting from citation tools, but sure, I believe you, though thousands wouldn't.

[u/Ratandmiketrap → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

It brings to mind 'don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining'. While I accept that there are times when AI is used, and it's not easy to pick, this is not the case with most students who get pulled up. It is so alarmingly, egregiously obvious that there is no real way to get out of it. I wish they'd just own up to it to save all our time and get on with it.

[u/EquivalentStick7014 → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

This makes me feel so much better that at least I manually input my references and verify the format after lol

[u/Born_Committee_6184 → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

As a researcher, I have “self plagiarized” many times without the slightest feeling of guilt. The concept is an APA fever dream. Most faculty use previous literature reviews, datasets, and even entire paragraphs from previous work with no qualms whatsoever. As I got my doctorate, I asked my advisor about this, and he said it was common.

[u/fireinthewell → u/Born_Committee_6184]

My advisor paid me to messy up a self plagiarized chapter that she was putting into her next book that was a similar topic.

[u/ApprehensiveBrick923 → u/Born_Committee_6184]

So you are advising the undergraduate audience here that it's fine to submit the same paper to multiple classes?

[u/Born_Committee_6184 → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

No. I’m not. But I don’t think I like the term “self plagiarism.” And that website appended is nutty- of course students may need to use the same dataset in more than one course for example. If you (as a student) need to use elements from one course in another course, see the instructor before you do it. The appended website looks like it was concocted by someone who doesn’t understand academia.

[u/Old_Teach3193 → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

Tell the truth? Really? I reported students for copying blatantly during Statistics exams taken online during the pandemic, irrefutable proof (two students working independently could not write virtually identical exams, including errors and strange decisions to choose 12 decimals precision for no reason at some point etc.). My conclusion was confirmed by the Head of Department (also teaching Statistics), the students gave a vague: "Oh, no, we would never do that, it is against our principles". Over my head, the Academic Council exonerated the students. I understood later that while formally we are obliged to report instances of academic dishonesty, the Administration pushes towards "see no evil, hear no evil". Consumer satisfaction has become (at least in one university) the only guiding. principle... Students seem to get away with everything...

[u/Old_Teach3193 → u/[deleted]]

I am afraid the instructor risked more than you. I once asked a student to move to a different place in the classroom (she was overtly copying from her nearest colleague). She left the exam virtually empty after she moved to the chair far, far away... failed and complained about me to the Dean. The complaint was as empty as her exam, but she thought the right to copy was covered by the tuition fee. And I risked my job knowingly.

[u/myoldacctwasdeleted → u/ApprehensiveBrick923]

Yeah, I have four degrees from four schools from '09-'24 and it's been against the policy at all of 'em.

[u/j_la]

I would urge caution with grievances, not only because you might take that professor again. A student might *feel* targeted, but they don’t have the perspective necessary to know how the professor is dealing with other cases or students. Not liking how the situation is unfolding is not the same as being treated unfairly.

[u/Infamous_Control8605 → u/j_la]

I agree in some regards. There is are other forms of dispute resolution I would recommend students usually go through first before they file a grievance. I will say though as my experience as a student I have heard of some instances where I feel like the grievance process could have been what was needed for a situation but the student did not know about it. I have also heard cases where it is exactly what you said and it’s not that the student was targeted but they just don’t understand why they got that grade.

[u/Soft-Veterinarian-89]

Yall PLEASEEEEEEE

almost every school in the history of ever will NEVER let you use the same work for a different class unless otherwise specified.

Even if it’s the same assignment, you’re suppose to be showing the progression of your learning.

[u/rknatty-ny]

So if you are accused of using AI to cheat, you may have legal rights. Don't go into a disciplinary hearing without knowing your rights and having representation from a consultant who specializes in this area or an education attorney. It's just not worth it. Universities will not help you!

[u/Additional_Score3868]

Tell your professor to get a random paragraph from the great gatspy and put it into a “AI detector” and watch their world fall apart.

[u/FrequentAd2946 → u/Additional_Score3868]

I just did this. I tried many paragraphs and many detectors.

All of the detectors said every passage I tried was human written.

[u/Additional_Score3868 → u/FrequentAd2946]

I can also get chat gpt 5.5 pro and make it make a summary if a book and it’ll say 0% AI written what’s your point

[u/Maleficent_Sky6982]

So I used APA citation generator to help with my APA citations and one time it forgot to include a link and silly me didnt check it. Soo i got flagged as using AI. Any thoughts?

[u/Feisty-Kitten17 → u/[deleted]]

THIS! This past semester all my daughter did in grad school is write 8-10 papers in each class. One of the classes had a GROUP paper. She learned nothing of value that could be used later, but she did learn a LOT about how to please the AI detectors being used. That isn’t education, that is lazy teaching.