Academic Integrity

When Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants,” he was being generous, but he was also being truthful. Good science builds on the work of others and explicitly acknowledges their work.

Youth Science Canada affirms that the pursuit of truth is grounded in certain core values, including diligence, civility and honesty. One of the most important traditions in the scientific community goes hand in hand with honesty, and that is the tradition of academic integrity. Scientists build on others’ achievements. They must be able to trust the integrity of the published literature they build on.

Students want to work in communities where competition is fair, integrity is respected and cheating is not tolerated. Students have significant responsibility to help protect and promote the highest standards of academic integrity. They are expected to respect the best values of their teachers, mentors and parents, and these values include a full commitment to academic integrity. At all science fairs, but particularly at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, students are required to present work that is the result of their own efforts. All assistance received from others must be acknowledged, and all written material that draws on the work of others must be accompanied by appropriate references.

Failure to follow the rules of academic integrity almost always results in disqualification at the CWSF. Specific examples of violations include:

  • Plagiarism – presenting the work of others as your own without acknowledging the source. In this case, “work” means scientific results, conceptual development of a topic and substantive formulation or reformulation of a problem. This includes work done by a family member or a mentor. Information on how to properly cite references can be found in CWSF Project Report (Policy 3.1.2.4).
  • Fabricating or falsifying data
  • Forging signatures
  • Fabricating or falsifying registration information
  • Entering a project that is either derived from a previous CWSF project or acontinuation or revision of a previous project by the student (or by another) without documentation of the previous work

Students rightly expect their academic work to be fairly and fully assessed. Youth Science Canada will ensure that judging at the CWSF is of the highest professional and ethical standards, without bias or conflict of interest.

Youth Science Canada also works with affiliated regions and other partners to achieve the highest possible standards of judging at all levels of science fairs.

CWSF participants must read the full Youth Science Canada policies: Academic Integrity (Policy1.5.5), Code of Conduct (Policy1.5.1) and Discipline (Policy1.5.2)– before signing the CWSF Permission and Release form or attending the CWSF.