Plagiarism is a kind of fraud: passing off someone else's work or ideas as your own in order to get a higher mark. Plagiarism is treated very seriously. The assignments you hand in must be your own and must not contain anyone else's ideas. Refer to the University of Ottawa's Policy on Academic Fraud for a more detailed description of plagiarism and sanctions.
You may discuss assignments with friends and classmates, but only
up to a point: you may discuss and compare general approaches and also
how to get around particular difficulties, but you should not leave
such discussions with any written material. You should not look at
another student's solution to an assignment on paper or on the
computer screen, even in draft form. Answering assignment
questions must be done individually.
Note that it is also a serious offense to help someone commit
plagiarism. Do not lend your assignment answers, printout, and do
not let others copy or read them.
If you do talk with anyone about an assignment, please state this in your assignment and state the extent of your discussion. If you use another resource (such as textbooks, internet resources, etc) when solving your assignment, include the proper reference.
Although you must not solve your assignments with the help of others, there are still many ways in which students can help each other. For instance, you can go over difficult lecture or tutorial material, work through exercises, or help each other understand an assignment handout. This sort of course collaboration can be done in study groups or through the discussion group.