• Degree Requirements
• Exams and Grading

Academic Integrity

Academic Code

An academic code sets forth policies to ensure that all members of an academic community adhere to its high standards of honesty, scholarship, and academic integrity.

In accordance with its mission to prepare individuals for public leadership, Harvard Kennedy School has a commitment and obligation to produce graduates who are ethical professionals. Integral to this training is the value of academic honesty. High standards reflect the school’s academic integrity, foster a respectful environment for work and study, and provide an example of academic excellence for others. The Harvard Kennedy School Academic Code is an integral part of the School's Code of Conduct.

Download the complete Academic Code (link to PDF).

Students’ Ethical Responsibilities

View Harvard Kennedy School's policy on Students' Ethical Responsibilities (link to PDF).

Principles of Academic Integrity

The HKS Academic Code explains the policies on academic integrity in detail. All students are required to read and adhere to those policies. The basic ideas behind these policies are summed up by University of Chicago professor, Charles Lipson, as the “bedrock” principles of academic honesty:

• When you say you did the work yourself, you actually did it.
• When you rely on someone else’s work, you cite it.
• When you use their words, you quote them accurately, and you cite them too.
• When you present research materials, you present them fairly and truthfully.
• That’s true whether the research involves data, documents, or the writings of other scholars.¹

Situations related to Academic Integrity

• Sources: If you take just a few words from a web-site, a book or any other source, it must be in quotes and cited.
• Paraphrasing: If you change a just a few words a text, you still must cite it. Even if you paraphrase something in your own words, you should cite the author.
• Ideas. If you rely on the author’s idea to make your point, you must cite the source.
• If you are not clear about the requirements for any assignment or exam, ask. It is much better to ask for clarification than to make a mistake.
• In collaborative assignments, determine whether you are expected to think about the assignment together and write it up on your own, or whether the report, problem set or paper itself is supposed to be a group effort? Clarify it with the professor if you are unsure.
• Dual submission of your own work. Don’t submit the same work twice without the written permission in advance of both instructors.
• Is the assignment a research paper or a policy memo? Ask the professor to clarify the requirements for citation if it is a policy memo.
• Note-taking. When you do research and make notes that you will use later, do, as Lipson suggests, use the letter “Q” to denote the beginning and the end of the quote so you don’t forget to cite the passage in your work.²
• General knowledge. Anything that anyone who regularly reads a major newspaper knows should not need citation. If in doubt, cite.

Remember to seek help from the faculty member, course assistant, or your program director if you have a problem with completing assignments. It’s better to receive a grade of Incomplete than to submit work that is not your own.

Policy Memos

At HKS, you may be asked to write policy memos as part of your coursework. Whereas academic papers, such as you may write for publication require thorough citation, in your professional careers whether you are distilling the issues and making recommendations for a policymaker or a president, the rules for citation vary.

It is required (unless your professor indicates otherwise) that you attach a page of sources and acknowledgement to any policy memo assignment. However, even though a policy memo does not require footnotes, you are required to use quotation marks around words that are not your own.

Please review the Sample Policy Memo (link to PDF).