University & SGS Policies

Graduate studies at the University of Toronto exist in the context of many overall University of Toronto policies, additional policies and regulations set out by the School of Graduate Studies founded on the U of T policy, as well as, the graduate department’s own policies and regulations, which are founded on both.

Students should become familiar with University of Toronto policies and regulations.

• School of Graduate Studies Calendar (Graduate Regulation)
• Access to Student Academic Records
• Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters
• Code of Student Conduct
• University Assessment and Grading Practices Policy (NOTE: new policy name)

Academic Integrity

With respect to academic integrity, MScOT students are held to the same standards as all School of Graduate Studies and Temerty Faculty of Medicine programs. It is each student’s responsibility to know and abide by policies pertaining to academic offences.

The University of Toronto and the School of Graduate Studies have a number of valuable resources, such as:

• The Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters discusses what constitutes an offense.

• The Academic Integrity Resources outlines policies, guidelines and preparation for case referrals.
• SGS Academic Integrity Page
• How Not to Plagiarize
• SGS Policies on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence 

Academic Offence of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. The University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters clearly outlines all rules, regulations and responsibilities related to plagiarism. Students should ensure they are familiar with the policy pertaining to academic offences and in particular, plagiarism. While the following guidelines have been prepared by the OT Faculty to assist students in the interpretation of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, it is each student’s responsibility to ensure that their work is compliant with this Code.

The School of Graduate Studies has several valuable resources. It is the students’ responsibility to refer to the links listed above.

Students should refer to the School of Graduate Studies’ Calendar Section 11.6 Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters for a complete discussion of what constitutes an offence.

1. For independent written or oral work:
   • All written work taken verbatim from an article, book, or any other written source, including the Internet, AI based programs (e.g. Chat GPT), will include quotation marks, and must be fully referenced, including page numbers or adequate Internet information to allow for identification of passage.
   • All paraphrasing requires a significant alteration to a quotation. Altering one or two words within a reference does not necessarily account for adequate change, and thus still can require quotations and a page number, in addition to a complete reference.
   • All adequately paraphrased passages or expressed ideas taken from an article, book, or another individual, require a full reference but do not require quotes or a page number.
   • Any personal communication MUST be identified as such within the text.
   • All individually assigned papers must be written individually. Discussing an outline, sharing general ideas and references for a paper is encouraged in study groups and with peers. Shared or similar ideas and opinions may be expressed in independent work, however, the paper must be written independently of others demonstrating an individual paper format and organization, application of references, and reasoning.
2. For group written or oral work:
   • All members of a group who are engaged in a group project are together responsible for the content of the entire group project even though they may not have been involved in the creation of their entire project.

It is considered an offence when:

1. Using published material,
   • To represent, as one’s own, any written passage which is not commonly held knowledge (i.e., deemed factual by more than five sources and is not commonly contradicted by others) on any academic examination, term test or paper, or in connection with any other form of academic work.
2. Using ideas from lectures, personal communications, etc.,
   • To represent, as one’s own, any idea or verbal expression of an idea or work of another, which is not commonly held knowledge, in any academic examination, term test or paper, or in connection with any other form of academic work.
3. Representing as one’s own,
   • Any specific written or expressed idea of a classmate, which is not commonly held knowledge, in any academic examination, term test or paper, or in connection with any other form of academic work.
   • Any created device (e.g., orthosis/splint) or project largely or entirely constructed by someone else, even with the knowledge and agreement of the other person(s).
4. Working as a member of a group,
   • Collaboration with group members is encouraged, however, sharing wording with another individual submission may be viewed as plagiarism. When completing individual assignments, we recommend students write their own assignment to avoid copying or duplicating a peer’s assignment.
   • To fail to do anything when knowing that an offence will, or has occurred. All individuals within a group are responsible for the representation of the content of any oral or written work.
   • Handing in completed group work that you have not contributed to, can be viewed as plagiarism.