Plagiarism, Collusion and Cheating are considered to be academic misconduct, and can result in a serious penalty. Some students, correctly found to have committed academic misconduct, may try to justify their actions through variations on the following reasons:
- “I ran out of time” / “I wasn’t feeling well”;
- “I simply forgot to put quotation marks around that bit”;
- “I didn’t know how to correctly cite the source”;
- “I mixed lots of sources together to create my own work”;
- “I mistakenly submitted a draft version of my assignment before it was finished”;
- “I gave my work to a friend, I didn’t know they would just copy it”;
- “I didn’t mean to do it” / “I won’t do it again”;
None of the above would be considered to be valid reasons for committing academic misconduct.
Remember: Regardless of whether it was intended or not, if academic misconduct occurs, it will be dealt with as academic misconduct.
This exercise is intended to help clarify what is, and what is not, acceptable academic practice in terms of Plagiarism and Collusion (i.e. the extent to which you can, and cannot, work together with another person, or use another person’s work).
Before undertaking this exercise, you should take a moment to familiarise yourself with the following definitions used at UH:
‘Plagiarism’:
The misappropriation or use of others’ ideas, intellectual property or work (written or otherwise), without acknowledgement or permission. This may include, but is not limited to:
- the importing of phrases from or all or part of another person’s work without using quotation marks and identifying the source;
- without acknowledgement of the source, making extensive use of another person’s work, either by summarising or paraphrasing the work merely by changing a few words or by altering the order in which the material is presented;
- the use of the ideas of another person without acknowledgement of the source or the presentation of work which substantially comprises the ideas of another person and which represents these as being the ideas of the candidate.
(Note for guidance: For the avoidance of doubt, plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional).
‘Collusion’:
Working together to produce assessed work in circumstances where it is forbidden.
‘Cheating’:
- to attempt to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process;
- to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process;
- where on the balance of probability it could reasonably be construed that a candidate intended to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process.
This may include, but is not limited to:
- Impersonation;
- Gaining unauthorised access to exam or test papers;
- Copying answers of another student in an exam;
- Covertly bringing answers into an exam or test.