Student Academic Misconduct

These notes describe the University's policy on student academic misconduct and define actions and behaviour which constitute such misconduct. They include a description of procedures followed by the University where student academic misconduct is alleged and penalties which the University may impose on students guilty of such misconduct.

2.1 What is Student Academic Misconduct?

The University Council has defined student academic misconduct as follows (29 August 1994):

Student Academic Misconduct means:

a) breach of such rules or guidelines relating to student academic conduct as may be prescribed by Faculties, Boards, Schools or the Vice-Chancellor;

b) misconduct relating to assessment or examinations;

and

any other conduct (the general nature of which has been made known to students) regarded as student academic misconduct according to current academic usage.

2.2 Types of Student Academic Misconduct

It is important that students realise just how broad the definition of student academic misconduct may be. It certainly covers practices such as cheating or copying or using another person's work. Furthermore, practices which may be acceptable in other situations are considered to be misconduct according to current academic usage within the University.

The following are important examples of the actions which have resulted in students being found guilty of student academic misconduct in recent years:

Misconduct concerning examinations:

• taking unauthorised materials or devices into an examination;
• impersonation in examinations;
• permitting another student to copy answers in an examination;
• exchanging notes between students in an examination;
• improperly obtaining prior knowledge of an examination paper and using that knowledge in the examination;
• removing an examination paper from an examination room when it is specified that the paper is not to be retained by the student.

Misconduct concerning academic works:

• failing to acknowledge the source of material in an assignment;
• quoting without the use of quotation marks or other academically acceptable device to indicate a quotation, even if the source is acknowledged;
• plagiarism;
• submitting work for assessment knowing it to be the work of another person.

Misconduct through misrepresentation:

• submitting a falsified medical certificate;
• submitting a falsified academic transcript.

Two instances of academic misconduct - plagiarism and cheating in exams - are discussed further in Sections 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 below.

2.3 Specific examples of Student Academic Misconduct

The following are two examples of student academic misconduct that have been detected frequently in recent years. Penalties imposed on students found guilty of misconduct in these areas have included failure in the course and exclusion from the University for periods as long as five years.

2.3.1 Plagiarism and Failure to Acknowledge Sources

Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and presenting it as one's own. Acts of plagiarism include copying parts of a document without acknowledging and providing the source for each quotation or piece of borrowed material. The rules against plagiarism apply whatever the source of the work relied upon may be, whether printed, stored on a compact disc or other medium, found on the World Wide Web or Internet.

Similarly, using or extracting another person's concepts, experimental results or conclusions, summarising another person's work or, where, there is collaborative preparatory work, submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student constitutes plagiarism.

It is your responsibility to make sure you acknowledge within your writing where you have "sourced" the information, ideas and facts, etc.

The basic principles are that you should not attempt to pass off the work of another person as your own, and it should be possible for a reader to check the information and ideas that you have used by going to the original source material. Acknowledgement should be sufficiently accurate to enable the source to be located speedily. If you are unsure whether, or how, to make acknowledgement consult your lecturer.

The following are some examples of breaches of these principles:

a) Quotation without the use of quotation marks or other academically acceptable device. It is a serious breach of these rules to quote another's work without using quotation marks or other academically acceptable device, even if one then refers to the quoted source. The fact that it is quoted must be acknowledged appropriately in your work.

b) Significant paraphrasing, e.g. several sentences, or one very important sentence, which in wording are very similar to the source. This applies even if the source is mentioned, unless there is also due acknowledgement of the fact that the source has been paraphrased.

c) Unacknowledged use of information or ideas, unless such information or ideas are commonplace.

Citing sources (e.g. texts) which you have not read, without acknowledging the 'secondary' source from which knowledge of them has been obtained.

d) Submitting work which is the result of collaboration with others unless approved by the relevant academic staff member.

It is a serious breach of these principles to submit work which is the result of collaboration unless the relevant academic staff member gives a clear indication that, for a particular assignment, joint work or collaborative work is acceptable. In this latter situation, you should specify the nature and extent of the collaboration and the identity of your co-workers.

These principles apply to both text and footnotes of sources. They also apply to sources such as teaching materials, and to any work by any student which has been or will be otherwise submitted for assessment. You must obtain the prior approval of the relevant academic staff member if you wish to submit to that staff member an essay substantially similar to one which has already been, or will be, submitted to another academic staff member.

Using the principles mentioned above about proper acknowledgement, you should also proceed on the general assumption that any work to be submitted for assessment should in fact be your own work.

Students should note that essays, written assignments, computational assignments, designs, laboratory reports and computer code may be tested for a match, for example with source documents on the Internet and other students' submissions from current or past years.

Note: As specified in clause 4.4 below - any student who assists another to commit plagiarism will be subject to the same procedures and penalties as the student who committed the plagiarism.

2.3.3 Unauthorised Materials in Exams

The possession of unauthorised materials in exams (which is taken to include class tests/quizzes) is another common example of student academic misconduct. The University's rules for the conduct relating to examinations state that no materials are to be brought into the examination room other than those specified in the examination timetable.

The following are examples of materials and devices which would be regarded as unauthorised (if not specified as being permitted in the examination):

a) a bag, writing paper, blotting paper, manuscript or book, other than the specified material;

b) a mobile telephone or other communication device or any type of playback device such as compact disc, mini disk and MP3 players. (If brought into the examination room, such devices must be switched off and placed under the candidate's seat for the duration of the examination);

c) written or printed notes of any kind or size;

d) writing on any part of the body;

e) writing on a ruler or any other instrument;

f) a calculator or hand-held computer where these are not permitted or where calculators are supplied by the University for the examination;

g) use of the stored memory capability of a calculator or other electronic device where this is not permitted.

There are simple steps that you can take to ensure you do not infringe the University's rules for examinations:

• read the examination timetable carefully and make sure you fully understand what materials are permitted in the exam;
• place all bags and belongings outside or at the front of the room before the exam commences;
• check your pockets and inside any pencil cases or calculators to ensure that you haven't accidentally left notes in them;
• listen carefully to the instructions given to you by the examination supervisor. Ask for assistance if you have any questions about the rules and arrangements for the examination;
• surrender any unauthorised notes or other materials before the exam begins: if you are found with these after the exam commences you will have broken the examination rules.

2.4 Penalties

Students found guilty of academic misconduct can be excluded from the University. Because of the different circumstances in individual cases, the period of exclusion can range from one session to permanent exclusion from the University.

2.5 Student Academic Misconduct Procedures

The University has detailed procedures for dealing with allegations or complaints of student academic misconduct. The full text of the Council resolution on student misconduct, which contains details of these procedures, can be obtained from the UNSW web site:

Student Misconduct Rules:

www.my.unsw.edu.au/student/academiclife/assessment/StudentMisconductRules.html

Procedures for dealing with cases of student plagiarism and student academic misconduct at UNSW@ADFA are available online at www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/student/misconduct