Policies and Procedures

Course Policies

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: The following paragraph comes from the University’s official statement on Academic Integrity and should be on all your syllabi for your students:

According to section 10.1 of the LSU Code of Student Conduct, “A student may be charged with Academic Misconduct” for a variety of offenses, including the following: unauthorized copying, collusion, or collaboration; “falsifying” data or citations; “assisting someone in the commission or attempted commission of an offense”; and plagiarism, which is defined in section 10.1.H as a “lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else's words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the instructor(s).”

 In addition to the above statement, you may include additional guidance. The passage below serves as an example. 

Plagiarism and Citation Method: Plagiarism is " “lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else's words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the instructor(s).” (Sec. 10.1.H of the LSU Code of Student Conduct). As a student at LSU, it is your responsibility to refrain from plagiarizing the academic property of another and to utilize appropriate citation method for all coursework. In this class, it is recommended that you use ___________ (please add the citation method appropriate for the course/subject matter here). Ignorance of the citation method is not an excuse for academic misconduct. One tool available to assist you in correct citations is the ‘References’ function in Microsoft Word. This program automatically formats the information you input according to the citation method you select for the document. This program also has the ability to generate a reference or works cited page for the information you input. The version of Microsoft Word with these added features is available in most University computer labs.

*Note to instructors: if you receive student work that you suspect has been plagiarized, please follow the procedure provided by the Office of Student Advocacy and Accountability, which you will find here.

DISABILITY CODE: According to the our General Catalogue, "The Office of Disability Services assists students in identifying and developing accommodations and services to help over-come barriers to the achievement of personal and academic goals. Services are provided for students with temporary or permanent disabilities. Accommodations and services are based on the individual student's disability-based need. Students must provide current documentation of their disabilities. Students should contact the office early so that necessary accommodations can be arranged."

You can use just the above, and do cite the General Catalogue.

According to the Office of Disability Services web site, "The Office of Disability Services (ODS), in collaboration with other university departments, is committed to providing appropriate auxiliary aids and services for students with disabilities in an effort to ensure their full participation in all activities, programs, and services to the university. ODS is dedicated to promoting the self-advocacy of students with disabilities, and is committed to working with the LSU administration on the development and revisions of policies and procedures relevant to students with disabilities. ODS also serves as a source of disability-related information for the university." (appl003.lsu.edu/slas/ods.nsf/index)

ATTENDANCE POLICY: When students have valid reasons for absence (see PS-22), they are responsible “for providing reasonable advance notification and appropriate documentation of the reason for the absence” and “for making up examinations, obtaining lecture notes, and otherwise compensating for what may have been missed.” Teachers “will assist those students who have valid reasons,” but some in-class activities are difficult to make up. Valid reasons that must be documented include:  Illness; serious family emergency; special curricular requirements such as judging trips or field trips; court-imposed legal obligations such as subpoenas or jury duty; military obligations; serious weather conditions; religious observances (see the interfaith calendar website); official participation in varsity athletic competitions or university musical events.

Absences without valid reasons, or unexcused absences, are limited to three per term in classes that meet three times a week (e.g., MWF) and two per term in classes that meet two times a week (e.g., TTH or MW).   Beyond these limits, each unexcused absence will lower the final course grade by one grade increment; for example, a B+ goes to a B, a B goes to a B-, and a B- goes to C+.
NOTE: DOCUMENTATION FOR ABSENCES ARE DUE TO THE INSTRUCTOR WITHIN A WEEK FOLLOWING THE ABSENCE.