The Emory Writing Center

Policy on Take-Home Examinations

The Emory Writing Center is bound by the Emory College Honor Code to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. At the same time, we are committed to helping students become excellent writers, able to generate and develop complex ideas and to express them coherently, eloquently, and correctly. To fulfill both of these missions, we have developed a policy on Take-Home Examinations based on the pamphlet given to all incoming students at Emory, The Honor Code of Emory College.

Article 4: Academic Misconduct lists 6 offenses subject to punishment by the Honor Council, under which Section (c) reads as follows:

Seeking, using, giving, or obtaining unauthorized assistance or information in any academic assignment or examination.

The key word here is “unauthorized.” We take this to mean that a course instructor’s permission must be obtained before a student may consult with a Writing Center tutor on a take-home examination.

The interpretation is supported by Item #5 in a memo to the Emory College Faculty from Dean Robert Paul describing guidelines for preventing Honor Code violations (dated August 13, 2001):

When giving take-home examinations, [faculty should] specify clearly in writing the rules under which the examination is to be taken. Frequently, misunderstandings arise as to whether the use of books or notes, or consultation with another student, is permissible.

Our Policy:

1) For our tutors, the line between an essay written for a course and a take-home examination essay is not clear, and it is up to the course instructor to decide whether discussions of content interfere with what s/he wishes the exam to measure.

Conferences on essay exams will be treated just like conferences on other kinds of papers. Tutors may discuss thesis development, organization, argumentation, clarity, and mechanics – obviously, without “giving” the student any answers to the exam question. Faculty may not ask tutors to ignore content and structure of the paper and to focus exclusively on correcting errors in grammar and punctuation.

In the unlikely event that the tutor and the student are taking the same course, the tutor will arrange for the student to work with another member of the staff.

2) Tutors will work with students on essay exams only with the written permission of the instructor, prior to conducting the conference.

It is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor and secure his/her permission. Instructors should e-mail the Program Coordinator of the Writing Center at kjetha@emory.edu

stating: their name, course title, and whether their permission extends to the entire class or only to a specific student.

We apologize for any inconvenience to students who have received verbal permission to use the Writing Center and cannot be helped until written permission is on file.