Types of academic misconduct
Plagiarism is identified in the Academic Integrity Policy as
- Unattributed use of the words and/or ideas of others
- Incorrect attribution of the word and/or ideas of others
This involves using someone else's work or ideas and presenting them as your own, including
- Incorrect referencing - such as citing the wrong source
- Using information or ideas without referencing - not paraphrasing where required, missing quotation marks and citations.
- Copying the work of a previous student
Copying your own previous work is not good academic practice. It may be considered as self-plagiarism if you have been instructed not to use previous work in your current assignment.
Collusion involves working together to produce an assignment which should be an individual piece of work.
Allowing someone else access to your work may result in them writing something very similar or even copying your work which maybe considered as collusion.
This refers to submission of work written by, or assisted by, a third party in a way that is not permitted in the assessment regulations. The third party may be a human or an artificial intelligence app (AI)
Your work has to be your own. This means that you cannot ask, buy or accept an offer from a third party to write part or all of your work for you. Work purchased from an essay writing site, or written for free in part or whole by a fellow student, friend, family member or electronically by AI is not permitted.
Legitimate use of AI and proofreading
It is acceptable to have your work proofread, but you must ensure that you follow the guidelines and do not allow the proofreader to make changes to your work for you, by adding information, correcting factual errors or changing the text. This may potentially lead to an allegation of academic misconduct of not writing the work yourself. A proofreader may identify issues, information that appears to be incorrect, or areas which appear to not make sense, but cannot change them for you.
It may be acceptable to use Artificial Intelligence apps if this is permitted within your assessment brief, or if it is used to assist with research and assessment structure rather than creating content for you. Cite Them Right advises how to reference AI where you are permitted to use it.
Use of AI to write text for you and then submit it as if it were your own work, paraphrase information from sources for you or translate into English for you is not permitted, and could lead to an allegation of academic misconduct.
This involves taking items into an exam which are not permitted, and which would potentially allow you to cheat. This includes notes, mobile phones, smart watches or other electronic devices. Always check what is permitted in an exam before you arrive.
Exam answers, including online exams, will also be checked for plagiarism, therefore referencing requirement apply in the same ways as for essays.
This involves making up information. For example making up false data for use in research, making up or adjusting sources to fit your topic, or fabricating permissions.
This involves asking someone to pretend to be you - such as sitting an exam for you.
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