<p>These days, it seems every student has access to the solution manuals of the class textbook. They are available usually for free for the most popular books, which usually happen to be for the hardest weed out classes.</p>
<p>It won't determine how you do on the tests and the professors aren't dumb enough to use problems out of the text.</p>
<p>So ... is it academic dishonesty in any way to use them?</p>
<p>No. I use one for my Calculus1 book for my homework. (The book and manual are for Cal1+2+3) My professor recommended it to the class, and it really helps on those problems where you’re like “How the ***** did they solve this.” </p>
<p>So, I think solution manuals are fair game. I mean, they’re sold in my college book store.</p>
<p>Yea. In my class last semester, students brought the solutions in to the TAs office hours to ask questions about it.</p>
<p>I guess it’s just allowed.</p>
<p>It’s always best to check with the professor or instructor for the class policy with regards to using solutions manuals, collaborating on homework, etc. If I were a professor, I would not mind it if students used solutions manuals to check their work. For collaboration, it’s a trickier subject. Treating the homework as a group project might work, but it can lead to hassles if some students in the group feel that they’ve put in more effort that’s not acknowledged.</p>
<p>Does it help you learn the material? If so, go for it. The point of the class is to learn.</p>
<p>It depends entirely on the class. I found that solution manuals were useful for checking one’s work and helping to move along when you are stuck, but many people use them to just blatantly copy the answers, and that is at best being dishonest to yourself.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the class. Using them when they’re sold in the bookstore and endorsed by the professor should obviously make it ok.</p>
<p>If you’re using the solution manual for a book where you need to contact the publisher with proof to show you’re teaching a class using the book is pretty dishonest.</p>
<p>why would it be dishonest? the whole idea behind solutions manuals is to show you the steps in the solution of a problem so you have a better understanding of whats going on. when you take exams, you’re still expected to perform the problems correctly without any aid. if a solutions manual can help you understand a problem well enough that you have no problem doing it on exams then it can help you understand a problem well enough for any other class or situation where you will need to recall that information. thats not cheating, thats learning.</p>
<p>It depends on the class. While some manuals are made for students, most are generated to help the instructors, saving them the hassle of generating their own and the embarrassment of possible mistakes. I would say that using these latter books DOES constitute academic dishonesty, and may schools and courses explicitly state this unless the instructor says otherwise.</p>
<p>Usually they don’t mind (sometimes they might). If you look at it from their perspective, the homework is the student’s opportunity to learn the material presented in class. If the student doesn’t know what going on and just decides to copy the solutions down from the solutions manual, then it will undoubtedly come back to haunt him come exam time, especially during finals, which is a significantly higher percentage of your overall grade.</p>
<p>I personally like using solutions manuals because I like to know that I am on the right track, or can get on the right track if I’m making mistakes, when learning how to solve different problems right there instead of having to wait for a professor or TA to grade it and hand it back.</p>
<p>As a quick note, the OP is discussing a situation in which the instructor is not issuing homework problems out of the book - in this case I do not feel that there is anything wrong with using the solution manual. HOWEVER, in the case where the instructor is grading problems assigned from the book, there is an implicit (or explicit) assumption that the work presented for grading represents the student’s own effort, and use of a solutions manual in this case is no different than any other kind of cheating - you are taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own.</p>
<p>To be honest, for one class where the prof was absolutely horrendous, a lot of people (including me) basically copied the solution manual for the weekly assignments.</p>
<p>The prof didn’t care at all.</p>
<p>Solutions manuals are incredibly valuable if you want to get a good understanding of some problems. Let’s face it: some problems are just not approachable, and rather than going to course staff, sometimes it’s better i you can take your time and try and understand each step of a solution.</p>
<p>Depends on the context. If you’re using it to understand how to solve a problem (studying for a test, going over old homework, etc.) then there’s no problem.</p>
<p>If you’re using it to improve your grade in a class by looking at answers and then passing off others’ work, in whole or in part, as your own… that’s a problem.</p>
<p>When I was a TA, my policy was that any source was OK, provided that appropriate references were given (note: plagiarism isn’t avoided by providing citations!). Students who referenced the manual and avoided plagiarizing the answer got full credit; students caught using the manual without citations, or who plagiarized, were dealt with according to the academic dishonesty policy.</p>
<p>Most of my classes don’t have homework from the book. In the cases where they do, the solution manual usually cannot be found for the book.</p>
<p>Not if its available online, such as the students solutions manual</p>
<p>If the problems aren’t ones you are being graded on, feel free to apply whatever resources you can obtain to getting them off the page and into your head. Obviously just copying the answers over won’t help you on an actual exam, but neither will bashing your head against the same problem for hours.</p>