Academic Misconduct & Plagiarism

In academic writing a high premium is placed on original thought which utilises and builds on the knowledge and ideas of others. You are expected to do your own thinking, and will be assigned work by your lecturers in order to analyse the ideas you have read about and to develop your own thoughts in reply to them. You MUST reference all your sources.

Academic misconduct is where a student gains, or seeks, attempts or intends to gain, advantage in relation to assessment, either for him/herself or for another person, by unfair or improper means. An act of academic misconduct is committed regardless of whether or not you intended to commit the act.

All relevant information can be found; Part 3 Section 10 of the Handbook of Academic Regulations, sets out the procedures relating to academic misconduct and penalties relating to academic misconduct.

Plagiarism Every student is expected to understand the rules regarding correct referencing. Whenever you submit a piece of coursework, you agree to the following: “I confirm that I understand what plagiarism is and have read and understood Section 10 of the Handbook of Academic Regulations. The work that I have submitted is entirely my own (unless authorised group work). Any work from other authors is duly referenced and acknowledged.”

Types of Plagiarism Classic Plagiarism; presents work for assessment which contains the unacknowledged published or unpublished words, thoughts, judgements, ideas, structures or images of some other person or persons. This includes material downloaded from electronic sources, and material sourced or contracted from a third party; or (Section 10 Academic Regulations) Intention vs unintentional Self-Plagiarism; presents for assessment work which that student has previously submitted for assessment as part of the same or another module or course, or at another institution. This is known as self-plagiarism, and relates to the principle that a student may not receive credit for the same piece of work more than once unless specifically required to resubmit work as a requirement of re-assessment. (Section 10 Academic Regulations) Collusion

How to avoid plagiarism Never submit the same assignment twice. Never use a part of one assignment in another assignment. If you are looking back at an old assignment for information you need again, make a brief note of the information beforehand and work from that note. Do not copy and paste. Do not try to disguise the duplication by making minor changes. If you do want to refer to something you have written elsewhere or even to put in a short quote from your own previous work, you must cite this correctly see below for further information on referencing your work.

Referencing Guidelines