A notice of an academic integrity allegation is often full of unfamiliar terms, and those terms often decide what a student is actually facing. This glossary explains the words students encounter most often in college misconduct cases, sanctions, standardized test score reviews, and graduate admissions, in plain English.
In short: Most of these terms describe what a student is accused of, how the case is decided, what outcomes are possible, or how a finding can follow a student later.
A note on rules: every college and testing organization writes its own policies, uses its own terminology, and revises both over time. The definitions below describe how these terms are commonly used. A school’s or organization’s current official policies are always the controlling source.
Types of Academic Misconduct
What is academic misconduct?
Short answer: Academic misconduct, also called academic dishonesty or an academic integrity violation, is any conduct a school’s policy treats as gaining an unfair academic advantage or misrepresenting one’s work.
Common categories include cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, fabrication, and helping another student violate the policy. Each school defines these in its own academic integrity policy or honor code. Learn more about what to know if you’re accused of academic misconduct.
What is plagiarism?
Short answer: Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s words, ideas, or work as your own without proper attribution.
Schools often treat plagiarism as including improper paraphrasing and missing citations, not just copying, and many now address work generated by AI tools in their policies. See why plagiarism allegations are not always about copying.
What is unauthorized collaboration?
Short answer: Unauthorized collaboration is working with others on an assignment or exam when the course rules require individual work.
Because collaboration rules differ from course to course, the syllabus and assignment instructions usually determine what was permitted. See accused of unauthorized collaboration.
What is unauthorized AI use?
Short answer: Unauthorized AI use is using artificial intelligence tools in a way a course or school policy prohibits.
Policies vary widely: some courses ban AI tools entirely, some allow them for certain tasks, and some require disclosure of any use. See why AI use allegations are increasing and why AI detection results alone can trigger cheating cases.
What is facilitation?
Short answer: Facilitation means helping another student commit academic misconduct, such as sharing answers or completed work.
At many schools, a student can be charged with facilitation even if they did not personally benefit. See accused of sharing assignments and accused of unauthorized assistance.
How Cases Are Decided
What is an honor code?
Short answer: An honor code is a set of academic integrity standards students agree to follow, often paired with a process for handling violations.
What is an honor council or hearing board?
Short answer: It is a body, often made up of faculty, students, or both, that hears academic integrity cases and decides whether a violation occurred.
Names and structures vary. Some schools call it an honor council, others a hearing board, committee, or panel. See what to expect at an academic integrity hearing.
What does “preponderance of the evidence” mean?
Short answer: It is the standard of proof many colleges use in misconduct cases, meaning a violation is found if it is more likely than not that it occurred.
It is a lower standard than “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which applies in criminal courts. See why colleges accuse students even without direct proof.
What does “responsible” mean?
Short answer: “Responsible” is the term many colleges use, instead of “guilty,” for a finding that a student violated a policy.
The opposite finding is usually called “not responsible.” Some schools say “in violation” or “not in violation.” See falsely accused of cheating.
What is an informal resolution?
Short answer: An informal resolution resolves an allegation without a formal hearing, often between the instructor and the student or through an administrator.
Informal resolutions are frequently still reported and recorded, and at some schools accepting one limits the ability to appeal.
What is an advisor?
Short answer: An advisor is a person a student may bring to meetings or hearings for support and advice, though in most processes the advisor cannot speak for the student.
Who may serve as an advisor varies. Some schools permit attorneys, while others limit advisors to members of the campus community. See what a college academic integrity hearing advisor does.
What is an appeal?
Short answer: An appeal asks a higher authority at the school to review a finding or sanction, usually only on limited grounds such as procedural error, new evidence, or a disproportionate sanction.
Appeals generally are not new hearings, and they have deadlines set by the school’s policy. See appealing an academic misconduct decision.
Sanctions and Outcomes
What is a sanction?
Short answer: A sanction is the consequence imposed after a student is found responsible, which can be academic, disciplinary, or educational.
Academic sanctions affect grades. Disciplinary sanctions affect a student’s standing at the school. Educational sanctions, such as integrity seminars, are meant to teach. See conduct violations in college.
What is a special grade for academic dishonesty?
Short answer: Some colleges record a failing grade caused by academic misconduct with a special transcript notation instead of an ordinary F.
These notations vary by school, and examples include XF, XE, F*, or a Z placed in front of a course grade. Whether they can be removed, and how, depends on the school’s policy.
What is disciplinary probation?
Short answer: Disciplinary probation is a period during which a student remains enrolled but any further violation can lead to more serious consequences.
It differs from academic probation, which usually results from low grades rather than misconduct.
What is academic probation?
Short answer: Academic probation is a warning status, usually triggered by a GPA below a school’s minimum, that can lead to suspension or dismissal if academic performance does not improve.
See facing dismissal from college due to grades or GPA.
What is a suspension?
Short answer: A suspension is a temporary separation from the college for a set period, after which a student may be eligible to return, often with conditions.
See defending against suspension or expulsion.
What is the difference between dismissal and expulsion?
Short answer: Both separate a student from the school, but expulsion is typically permanent, while dismissal may allow a future return under conditions, depending on the school’s definitions.
Schools use these terms differently, so a school’s policy controls what each one means there. See can you fight a graduate school dismissal.
What is an interim suspension?
Short answer: An interim suspension removes a student from campus, classes, or housing while a case is still pending, before any finding has been made.
What is a conduct record?
Short answer: A conduct record, or disciplinary record, is a school’s file of a student’s findings and sanctions, which can be separate from the academic transcript.
Conduct records can matter later, because graduate schools, professional schools, and employers sometimes ask about them. See are universities auditing past semesters for academic misconduct.
How Findings Can Follow a Student
What is an institutional action?
Short answer: On the AMCAS medical school application, an institutional action is any action by a college or medical school resulting from unacceptable academic performance or a conduct violation.
The AAMC’s definition includes actions that never appeared on a transcript. See does academic misconduct follow you to graduate school.
What is a dean’s certification?
Short answer: A dean’s certification is a form some law schools require, completed by the applicant’s college, reporting on the applicant’s academic and disciplinary record.
What is a character and fitness question?
Short answer: It is a question on law school and other professional applications asking about an applicant’s past academic discipline and other conduct.
What is research misconduct?
Short answer: Under the federal definition used for Public Health Service-funded research, research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.
The federal definition excludes honest error and differences of opinion. For a related academic setting, see dismissed from medical school.
Standardized Testing Terms
What is a score hold?
Short answer: A score hold means a testing organization is withholding a score while it reviews or investigates, so the test taker cannot view or send it in the meantime.
What is a score cancellation?
Short answer: A score cancellation is a testing organization’s decision that a score will not stand, which may be reported to schools depending on the organization’s rules.
See why ACT invalidates test scores even when students did nothing wrong.
What is ACT Option 3?
Short answer: When ACT questions a score, Option 3 is the choice to provide documentation to ACT’s Test Security Review Panel to establish that the score is valid.
See why ACT score invalidation cases are often misunderstood by families.
What is testing arbitration?
Short answer: Testing arbitration is a process some testing organizations, including ACT and ETS, provide for an independent arbitrator to review a decision to cancel a score.
Arbitration is generally limited to reviewing the organization’s decision based on the record already developed. See why ACT arbitration is not just about test scores.
Representation in Academic Misconduct and Testing Matters
Every case turns on its specific facts and on the policies in effect at the time, and those policies can change. Attorney Richard Asselta is a student defense attorney who represents students in academic misconduct cases and standardized testing disputes at colleges, universities, and testing organizations nationwide. Call 855-338-5299.