Academic misconduct
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Academic misconduct is treated very seriously by the University. It is defined as any activity or attempted activity which gives an unfair advantage to one or more students over their peers.
Academic misconduct regulations (pdf - 748kb)
In order to avoid academic misconduct, the University is committed to continually educating students on how to develop good academic practice and writing skills.
Support available to you includes:
- advice and guidance from The Link based in the Students’ Union and/or Student Services
The Link - Drop in Student Skills Centre (DISSC), located in the Library, where academic tutors provide writing and study skills support
DISSC - a facility for students and staff to use plagiarism e-detection software
- briefings on academic misconduct provided at student induction events and during relevant modules.
To ensure students are treated fairly and equitably, academic misconduct is divided into three types:
Academic negligence
This is regarded as the least serious offence and covers first time minor offences. It includes plagiarism that is small in scale, not related to the work of other students, and which is considered to have resulted from ignorance or carelessness.
Academic malpractice
This covers extensive paraphrasing of material with no acknowledgement of the source, systematic failure to reference, submitting work which has already been submitted for another assignment and subsequent cases of academic negligence.
Academic cheating
This is regarded as the most serious offence and covers plagiarism in dissertations, final year projects and taught doctorate modules, collusion with other students, theft, commissioning or purchasing work, falsification of results/data and all examination irregularities.
If suspected of academic misconduct, you will be required to attend either an informal or formal meeting and, if subsequently found guilty, you will receive a penalty, the most serious of which can be exclusion from the University. If you are found guilty of academic misconduct after the end of your programme, any award that you have received may be withdrawn. This can be done after you have graduated.
We have an Exceptional Cases Procedure, which can be used when it is suspected that a piece of work submitted by a student is not their own work. You could be interviewed to determine the authorship of work. You are therefore strongly advised to retain materials used in developing work.
The following tips may help you avoid academic misconduct:
Do:
- familiarise yourself with the regulations and penalties that can be incurred. For professional programmes, a single case of academic misconduct may result in you being discontinued from your programme
- make sure that you know how to acknowledge other people’s work or opinions correctly and get feedback from your tutor on whether or not you are doing this correctly
- take care when making notes from books or articles and always keep a record of whether your notes are a paraphrase of the source or a direct quotation, so that you don’t inadvertently include quotes without proper acknowledgement, (this is a frequently cited reason students give when accused of academic misconduct)
- seek support from your module or personal tutor if you are experiencing difficulties in completing your work on time.
Don’t:
- cut and paste, or reproduce, chunks of material from electronic sources or books/articles, (even if you acknowledge the source, material not stated as being a direct quotation will make you vulnerable to an accusation of academic misconduct)
- loan your work to other students, (if it is then copied, you may be accused of academic misconduct)
- borrow work from current or previous students
- submit the same work for different assessments
- get someone else to do your work, (essay-writing websites don’t always keep their promises and have been known to inform universities of students who have purchased work).
