With no time to spare headed into finals week and no desire to linger in the frigid outdoors, students across campus may find themselves searching with renewed interest for shortcuts whenever they have somewhere to go.

But those looking for shortcuts on their tests and papers as the semester ends run the risk of winding up back at square one – or worse.

University policy defines academic dishonesty, or cheating, as any attempt to use illegitimate materials during an examination, copy answers during an exam from another student or pass off work that is not one's own as original.

A first-time cheating offense can earn a student a failing grade on the assignment or examination in question, as well as a recommendation that he or she be withdrawn from or receive an "F" in the course. Repeat offenses can mean suspension or expulsion.

Faculty members who suspect a student has cheated must notify the student in writing and meet with him or her before taking action, according to university policy. Students who wish to contest an allegation may file a written appeal.

According to faculty members, most instances of cheating involve plagiarism on papers. John Jones, a professor of philosophy, said such situations sometimes arise when students feel like they have no other way out of a tight spot.

"We've had a variety of reasons why students cheat, often because of unusual circumstances that got them behind an '8 ball,' " he said. "In these cases, cheating represented a lamentable lack of judgment by students who were otherwise quite honest."

Jones estimated that in his 12 years as chair or assistant chair of his department, there were typically no more than five cases of cheating each semester, and several semesters in which no cases arose.

He said when it comes to deterring cheating during examinations, policies are usually set by individual instructors.

Ruth Howes, professor and chair of physics, said in large classrooms in which students sit side by side, such policies may include issuing multiple versions of examinations, using assigned seats, barring all electronic devices and checking student IDs.

Howes said smaller classrooms are easier to police.

She said her department comes across perhaps one or two cases of unambiguous cheating per year, and typically gives a zero on the assignment in question once the allegation has been proven. She said repeat cheating instances are rare.

Some offenses, she said, are easy to catch.

"One student turned in a lab report on an experiment done the year before (he or she) was enrolled in the class," she said. "The experiment was not done in that student's year. It had obviously been copied whole hog."

Tim Machan, professor and chair of English, said his department finds cases of plagiarism every semester, and that such offenses are getting easier and easier to catch.

"The technology to detect plagiarism, particularly with anything from the Internet, is very effective," he said.

Jones urged students who find themselves in a bind and tempted to cheat to step back and talk it through with a friend or adviser.

He said in the end, cheating "spoils the climate of honesty on which a class depends."

"When I had cheating cases in my own classes, it adversely affected my relation to students for an entire semester," he said. "I became hypersensitive to any possibility of cheating. That's not a good recipe for a class."