Student Resources

Need help to figure out which classes to take, need help registering, or are you having trouble enrolling in a class? Our SIAS advisors are here to help you.

Independent Study and Internship Options

Multiple Majors Policy

Student Travel, Training and Event Funds

Funds are available to help send students to conferences, to bring in trainings/educational sessions and to travel to present your research. To learn more visit the UW Undergraduate Research Conference Travel Award page and the UW Tacoma Student Engagement & Student Transitions Funding Resources page.

Graduation Requirements

Commencement

Academic Honors and Societies

Quarterly Dean's List

Graduating with Honors

School of IAS Honors Thesis/Project

Honorary Societies at UW Tacoma

Most students who earn good grades study 20 to 30 hours a week, depending on the courses they carry that quarter. Professors have an expectation that you will study two hours for each hour you are in class. The pace of a quarter system schedule demands that you keep up with your homework and plan ahead to handle the large assignments. If you haven't already done this type of planning, you need to learn the skills of time (and project) management. By breaking large assignments down into manageable pieces and scheduling intermediate deadlines, you will get your homework done on time and it won't be a "rush job," but something you can be proud of. You also will be learning something even more important — how to tackle a big job. Once you have an academic track record of doing this, you can convince a future employer that you have the experience they are looking for.

There is enough time to study, work, and play hard if you handle your day in the right way. Many good study skills books are available at the University Book Store. The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is also a great resource to use since they offer brief workshops on study skills and time management.

There are a lot of activities going on at a university, and UW Tacoma is no exception. Keep in mind that the primary relationship is between you and your instructors. That is where the bulk of the learning takes place. Take advantage of faculty office hours. Declare your major early so you become a part of a faculty member's advising group. The more contact you have with faculty, the better your educational outcome will be.

Most students benefit from speaking with the SIAS academic advisors. This is a two-year program for full-time students, so everyone needs some initial advising to get them on the right track. We are here to explain the majors, which major will meet your educational goals, how you can earn a degree, what courses may be best suited to you in any particular quarter. There is always a lot of change going on in the program-new instructors, new courses, and changes in requirements. The academic advisors are charged with keeping up with the rules and regulations--if an exception can be made, we know how to do it. You have to see an academic advisor to apply for graduation, but if you wait until then, chances are you may have taken a course or two you did not have to take because you were following outdated rules.

One of the most valuable skills you can develop during a university education is the ability to write well. It is a skill universally valued by employers as well as graduate and professional programs. Writing well is more than one skill, it is a set of skills which come together with the purpose of allowing you to communicate your ideas in an effective way.
In the School of IAS, much of your education will not occur in the classroom but instead in the researching and writing of papers required by your courses. It is where you will develop your own ideas and interpretations, and where you will practice organizing your thoughts into logical, persuasive arguments. Writing can be difficult for one simple reason: when you are writing, real learning is taking place. Don't avoid it. Practice it, work at it. If you need help getting started, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is the place to go. They can provide resources for organizing your thoughts, how to conduct research, and proofreading.

After a few quarters at UW Tacoma, you may be interested in doing an internship, independent research, or a one-on-one directed reading with your favorite professor. These independent study experiences can help you prepare for both work and graduate school by developing self-management skills.

Students in good standing may be able to have a faculty member agree to submit a grade of "I" for "incomplete." This usually happens when the student has a small amount of work left to do and some kind of emergency arises towards the end of the quarter. The rule is that a student must submit the rest of the work by the last day of classes in the next quarter (Summer quarter does not count, so students earning a Spring quarter incomplete have until the end of the Autumn quarter to finish the outstanding coursework).

If you choose this option, be aware that the deadline often approaches quickly and the resulting grade of "0.0" is automatically posted to your record, with a resulting drop in your GPA. If you think you might need an extension beyond the one quarter allowed, check with your faculty sponsor.

Students tend to think of a School of IAS degree as a valuable educational experience, but not much help in getting a job. Think again... School of IAS students have the very job skills most employers are interested in: you have proven again and again in different courses that you can start and finish projects, write well, research topics, speak effectively, work in groups, absorb knowledge, and explain concepts. You may have proven that you can juggle home responsibilities including childcare and working full-time while you went back to school to improve yourself. That's a powerful statement about who you are and what you can do. Students who do an internship find that it is an invaluable aid to finding employment after college.
Start thinking about your career and your goals. Your SIAS advisor, faculty advisor, and the staff in the Career Development & Education office are all here to help.

At UW Tacoma, most of the students have some sort of job, many work full-time. Some are also parents or have outside obligations to their families. Be aware of the time requirements for in-class and out-of-class work, and balance those with your personal and work commitments. Consider decreasing your course load so that you have time to meet all of your obligations. Trying to do more than is reasonable for you may land you in a no-win situation. If you already feel in over your head, talk to your instructors and a SIAS advisor about your available options.
Address personal and health problems immediately. One of the worst mistakes students make is to deny that they are overloaded or unable to cope. You may need to lighten your load by dropping a class; you may decide to leave school for a quarter; or you may have a frank talk with your instructor about alternatives. If a personal problem is keeping you from concentrating on your studies, discuss the situation with a counselor and work out a solution. No one can make these decisions for you.

The university has policies restricting class drops after the second week of the quarter. You are permitted only one class drop per year after the second week through the seventh week of the quarter, unless you can document true "hardship" (usually a medical reason). You must finish the quarter with all your courses once the annual drop is used. This can mean a grade of "0.0" appears on your transcript if you stop attending class. This can have a devastating effect on your GPA.
When contemplating putting too much on your plate, ask yourself, "What's the point?" Are you really trying to just get a degree at any cost, or do you want to take the time to savor the experience and come out with a degree and a GPA you can be proud of? A meaningful degree bolsters your confidence that you can take on challenges and meet your other responsibilities in an organized way.

Students receiving financial aid should remember that any changes in their status from full-time to part-time (under 12 credits) need to be discussed with a Financial Aid advisor. They are willing to help you understand the system and get you back on your feet.

At UW Tacoma, our goal is to help you get a meaningful education, not just a degree. Although one quarter may be an acceptable amount of time to feel a lot of pressure from work, home, and school, two years is not. Be realistic in your planning and allow for some free time. It will take a little longer to complete your degree, but the experience will be worth it.

There can be a tremendous amount of pressure on students at a university to get good grades and finish a degree. With the proliferation of websites that peddle research papers to students and the competitive admissions of many graduate programs, students have more temptations than ever to forget what education really means. The faculty at UW Tacoma takes academic honesty very seriously. It is at the core of our ethics and we expect students to behave accordingly. The following serves as a guideline for both students and faculty. This statement was prepared by the Committee on Academic Conduct of the College of Arts and Sciences at the UW Seattle campus. It amplifies the Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-120). We have modified it to refer to the UW Tacoma processes and resources.
Students at the University of Washington are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic conduct. Most UW students conduct themselves with integrity and are disturbed when they observe others cheating. The information on these pages should help you avoid unintentional misconduct and clarify the consequences of cheating.
Cheating harms the university community in many ways. Honest students are frustrated by the unfairness of cheating that goes undetected and therefore unpunished. Students who cheat skew the grading curve in a class, resulting in lower grades for students who worked hard and did their own work.
Cheaters also cheat themselves of a real education. They rob themselves not only of general knowledge but also of the experience of learning how to learn, the very experience that makes a bachelor's degree so valuable to employers. The reputation of the university and the worth of a UW degree suffer if employers find graduates lacking the abilities their degrees should guarantee.
Finally, most professions have codes of ethics, standards to which you will be expected to adhere when you are working. At the university, you practice the integrity you must demonstrate later. For all of these reasons, academic misconduct is considered a serious offense at the UW.

You are guilty of cheating whenever you present something you did not do as your own work. You are also guilty of cheating if you help someone else to cheat.

One of the most common forms of cheating is plagiarism; using someone's words or ideas without proper citation. When students plagiarize, they usually do so in one of the following six ways:

1. Using another writer's words without proper citation. If you use another writer's words, you must place quotation marks around the quoted material and include a footnote or other indication of the source of the quotation.
2. Using another writer's ideas without proper citation. When you use another author's ideas, you must indicate with footnotes or other means where this information can be found. Your instructors want to know which ideas and judgments are yours and which you arrived at by consulting other sources. Even if you arrived at the same judgment on your own, you need to acknowledge that the writer you consulted also came up with the idea.
3. Citing your source but reproducing the exact words of a printed source without quotation marks. This makes it appear that you have paraphrased rather than borrowed the author's exact words.
4. Borrowing the structure of another author's phrases or sentences without crediting the author from whom it came. This kind of plagiarism usually occurs out of laziness: it is easier to replicate another writer's style than to think about what you have read and then put it in your own words. The following example is from A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker (New York, 1989, p. 171).
   • Original: If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also startling news for animal behaviorists.
   • Unacceptable borrowing of words: An ape who knew sign language unsettled linguists and startled animal behaviorists.
   • Unacceptable borrowing of sentence structure: If the presence of a sign language- using chimp was disturbing for scientists studying language, it was also surprising to scientists studying animal behavior.
   • Acceptable paraphrase: When they learned of an ape's ability to use sign language, both linguists and animal behaviorists were taken by surprise.
5. Borrowing all or part of another student's paper or using someone else's outline to write your own paper.
6. Using a paper writing "service" on the web or elsewhere, or having a friend write the paper for you. Regardless of whether you pay a stranger or have a friend do it, it is a breach of academic honesty to hand in work that is not your own or to use parts of another student's paper.

You may think that citing another author's work will lower your grade. In some unusual cases, this may be true, if your instructor has indicated that you must write your paper without reading additional material. However as you progress in your studies, you will be expected to show that you are familiar with important work in your field and can use this work to further your own thinking. Your professors write this kind of paper all the time. The key to avoiding plagiarism is that you show clearly where your own thinking ends and someone else's begins.

Another common form of cheating involves exams. Copying from someone else's paper, using notes (unless expressly allowed by the instructor), altering an exam for regrading, getting an advance copy of the examination, or hiring a surrogate test-taker are all flagrant violations of university policy.

Educators recognize the value of collaborative learning; students are often encouraged to form study groups and assigned group projects. Group study often results in accelerated learning, but only when each student takes responsibility for mastering all the material before the group.
Group projects require the careful division of responsibility and careful coordination to control the quality of the final product. Collective work quickly degenerates when some students see it as a way to get through an assignment with the least amount of effort. Group work calls for a different kind of effort, not less of it. Students make a mistake when they think of the finished product (presentation or paper) as the outcome of the group. When group projects are assigned, the instructor is usually interested in your mastery of group process as well as the subject. Ask the instructor to clarify individual responsibilities and suggest a method of proceeding. In summary, when a professor says, "Go ahead and work together," don't assume that anything goes. Professors often don't state the limits of collaboration explicitly. It is your responsibility to avoid crossing the line that turns collaboration into cheating. If you are not sure, ask.

Instructors are advised to discuss the matter with the student and the Program Director. If the issue is not resolved within the department, the instructor will submit a Student Conduct Incident Report to the Chancellor's Office. Instructors who believe they have discovered cheating and have not resolved the issue before grades are due will submit a grade of X (the equivalent of an unreported grade) for the course until the academic misconduct charge is resolved. The Informal Hearing Body for Academics will review the allegation of academic misconduct. Students have the right to appear before this Hearing Body to offer testimony.
If the allegation of academic misconduct is found to be true, the student will receive one of the following punishments, listed in order of increasing severity.

1. Disciplinary Warning: verbal or written notification that the student has not met the university's standards of conduct, and that a repeated offense will result in more serious disciplinary action.
2. Reprimand: a written statement censuring a student for violating the university's regulations, and stating that another offense will result in more serious action.
3. Restitution: the requirement that the student compensates the university or other persons for damages, injuries or losses.
4. Disciplinary Probation: an action that places conditions on the student's continued attendance at the university, including the statement that further violation of university policies will likely result in dismissal. The Hearing Body fixes the term and conditions of academic probation.
5. Suspension or Dismissal: a written statement notifying a student that his or her attendance at the university has been terminated for violating university policy. The statement includes the term of the dismissal and conditions for re-admittance if any.

All actions are reported to the Vice President for Student Affairs in Seattle. A student may, by written request to the V.P. for Student Affairs (usually at the time of graduation), requesting that the disciplinary record be expunged.

NOTE: Review the Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) for complete details on the student judicial system.

Although the prospect of dismissal may seem the most serious consequence of dishonesty, there are others. If you apply to a medical, law or other professional school, you may be required to provide a statement from a UW official attesting to your good conduct. Furthermore, the process of being brought up on charges of dishonesty, of having one's character and integrity questioned, is invariably a deeply embarrassing and troubling experience for a student, and a very painful memory.

Suggestions

The temptation to cheat can be eliminated by learning good time and stress management skills and sound study habits, by making good use of the academic support resources at the university and by engaging in educational planning with the help of academic counselors. Certain common patterns in student behavior increase the temptation to cheat: falling behind in coursework or leaving large projects until the last minute; working too many hours to keep up with courses; taking too many difficult courses at once; encountering emotional or health problems that distract from studies and interfere with concentration. Get in the habit of planning your education. Academic counselors can help you determine your educational goals, plan your classes, keep your quarterly load manageable and find a reasonable balance between work and school. Advising sessions are confidential and the privacy of your student record is guaranteed by federal law.

In Conclusion...

You will be expected to live up to the university's standard of academic honesty no matter what temptations you face. The good news is that this standard is not hard to maintain. It only requires that you clarify assignments and procedures with your instructors, study diligently and seek help when you need it.

• The University of Washington Tacoma catalog contains the university academic policies. You may find information on grading in Section 5: Academic and University Policies of the UW Tacoma catalog.