Academic Honesty Guidelines

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Overview

Successful completion of all HBS Online courses requires participants to provide timely and thoughtful responses to all questions posed on the course platform. This standard is set to ensure that all participants engage meaningfully with the course content and their peers.  At times, it may be helpful to use outside sources or generative AI tools to draft a reflection response or further expand on a course concept. As participants work through their courses it’s important to be mindful of the HBS Online Honor Code.

In addition to reviewing the Honor Code itself, please read and review our guidance on citing your sources, using generative AI, and responding throughout each of our respective courses.

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Citing Your Sources

The purpose of HBS Online course questions and reflections is to prompt you to draw upon your own experience, in your own words, using your own thinking, rather than to produce the perfect answer. At times, you may be asked to provide an example, set of facts, or article in your response. Whenever you are using outside sources there are three important things you must keep in mind:

1. Be sure to include your own thinking and analysis. Your own words should be the focus of your response. Any quotes, facts, or other information should be in a supporting role only.  

2. Use quotes or other indicators to be very clear about which information is copied from your source and which are your own thoughts.  

3. Cite your sources. Citing your sources means disclosing exactly where you got your information. There are many different citation styles, and you are free to choose whichever type you are most comfortable using. Please review our Harvard Business School Citation Guide for the different ways to cite your sources and for additional information. At a minimum, you should include the title of the source (article name and website, magazine, or newspaper name), author (if applicable), and the URL, if online. The most important thing is to provide enough information so that someone else reading your response and the accompanying citation can find the original source on their own if they want to read about it more. 

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Response Guidelines and Generative AI Tools

Social learning is a major component of the HBS Online Learning Model. We expect all participants to actively engage with their coursework to foster a collaborative exchange of ideas and insights.  

HBS Online recognizes the wide availability of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bing, Claude, Grammarly, or HBS Online’s AI Course Assistant. It is important that participants use these tools appropriately without detracting from their own learning or that of others. We ask that participants engage thoughtfully with the content of our courses and respond to questions with intellectual rigor, using their own authentic experiences. Please review the HBS Online Honor Code and familiarize yourself with our policies on the use of Generative AI tools. As you compose responses, keep the following in mind: 

• Generative AI may be used to gather ideas, but original thinking and analysis must then incorporate those ideas into an original response. 
• Generative AI may be used to edit the spelling and grammar of a response, but the thinking and analysis behind the response must be original. 

Though we do not expect that participants will always be able to provide a correct response to every question, answering all reflection questions in your own words and to the best of your ability is an essential component of the HBS Online learning process and a major component of your eligibility. Incomplete participation in the course may render participants ineligible for a Certificate of Completion: 

• Generative AI may not be used to generate an answer which is then submitted as an original response.  
• Participants may not skip questions by providing cursory responses, such as "Yes," "Okay," or other one-word responses, or simply putting in filler text such as periods, dashes, or other symbols. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

When should I cite a source?  
Citations are expected to be used when you include outside information not from your personal and professional knowledge. This includes facts and statistics, definitions, and company information (descriptions, earnings, and accounts).   

What format should I cite my sources in?  
At a minimum, you should include the title of the source (article name and website, magazine, or newspaper name), author (if applicable), and the URL, if online. You are welcome to review our Harvard Business School Citation Guide for the different ways to cite your sources and for additional information 

Do I need to cite HBS Online course material as a source if I use it?  
The course text is also considered a source. When you are first learning new concepts, some similarity between the course text and your written responses is not unexpected. However, you should not copy and paste the course text as part of your responses. If you feel that you must include some of the course text, you should cite it as follows: [course name], HBS Online, [year].   

I forgot to cite my source before I submitted my answer, what do I do now?  
We generally do not delete or edit responses on the course platform, unless a response is intended to be private or is inappropriate. For participants who would like to edit a response, we suggest commenting on the submission if any changes are required. In the case of forgetting to cite a source, please be sure to add this as a comment as well.  

If I use Generative AI, do I need to cite it as a source?  
Yes. If you use Generative AI to generate ideas for a response that you then write yourself, you must note this in the response text before submitting. For example: “ChatGPT, response to “What is the history of the bond market?” OpenAI, February 8, 2023.” 

Can I use Generative AI to check my spelling and grammar?  
Yes, however, we ask that you first write your own response using your own thinking and your own authentic experience before using AI tools to check spelling and grammar. 

I want to make sure my use of the Generative AI output does not constitute plagiarism. Could you give me some guidance?   
As course policies prohibit plagiarism and require responses to be in your own words, it is important to keep in mind the following principles regarding bot usage: it would be considered plagiarism for you to copy and paste any bot-generated text directly into the platform and represent it as your own work. However, you are welcome to use the ideas and framework from the bot's example, including paraphrasing key points, to inspire your own original response in your own voice.   

What is considered a complete response to a prompt? Or an incomplete response to a prompt?  
A complete response generally includes 1-3 sentences, if not more, putting your original thinking in response to the prompt into words.  More is not necessarily better, and your peers are looking for insight into your personal reflection and your professional experience as they relate to the topic at hand. 

An example of an incomplete response could include providing cursory responses, such as "Yes," "Okay," or other one-word responses, or simply putting in filler text such as periods, dashes, or other symbols.