Academic Integrity and Misconduct

Academic integrity 

Academic honesty is one of the cornerstones of all academic work, and the importance of properly conducted academic research cannot be overemphasized. All Diploma Programme candidates must understand the basic meaning and significance of these concepts: 

• Authenticity and original authorship: An authentic piece of work is one that is based on the candidate’s individual and original ideas with the ideas and work of others fully acknowledged. Therefore, all assignments, written or oral, completed by a candidate for assessment must wholly and authentically use that candidate’s own language and expression. Where sources are used or referred to, they must be fully and appropriately acknowledged, whether they are in the form of 

• direct quotation, always enclosed within quotation marks, or 

• paraphrase: the rendition of another person’s words presented in a new style and integrated grammatically into the writing 

• Intellectual property and ownership of creative material: There are many different forms of intellectual property, such as patents, registered designs, trademarks, moral rights and copyright. All forms of intellectual and creative expression (for example, works of literature, art or music) must be respected and are normally protected by law. 

• Acknowledgement: Using the words and ideas of another person to support one’s arguments while following accepted practices is an integral part of any intellectual endeavour, and integrating these words and ideas with one’s own in accepted ways is an important academic skill. However: 

• All ideas and work of other persons, regardless of their source, or AI must be acknowledged 

• CD, e-mail messages, web sites on the Internet and any other electronic media must be treated in the same way as books and journals 

• The sources of all photographs, maps, illustrations, computer programs, data, graphs, audio-visual and similar material must be acknowledged if they are not the candidate's own work 

• Passages that are quoted verbatim must be enclosed within quotation marks and references provided 

• The source of an idea if that idea emerged as a result of discussion with, or listening to, a fellow student, a teacher or any other person must be acknowledged as well 

It is not sufficient to simply list sources in a bibliography or in footnotes. There are several standard ways of acknowledgement - consult your teacher for the most suitable format. 

• Proper conduct in relation to the written examinations 

• Respect for the integrity of all forms of assessment for the Diploma Programme 

The IB Learner Profile states that IB students aim to be principled and “act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere”. 

Ressun lukio expects all its students to bear in mind the principles of academic honesty in all their work.   

Honesty is the cornerstone of academic research and the teachers will do their best to guide the students to good academic practice.  

The students themselves are always ultimately responsible for all work they submit. They are encouraged to ask for additional guidance whenever they are uncertain about the proper procedure. 

Academic misconduct 

The IB defines academic misconduct as “behaviour (whether deliberate or inadvertent) that results in, or may result in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage” in one or more assessment components. The same applies to behaviour disadvantaging a student. Misconduct can for example refer to 

• Plagiarism:  the representation – intentional or not – of the ideas or work of another person without proper clear and explicit acknowledgement. 

• Collusion: supporting academic misconduct by another candidate, eg by allowing one’s work to be copied. 

• Duplication of work: presentation of the same work twice for different assessment requirements. 

• Misconduct in IB exams: accessing unauthorized material, disrupting the exams, communicating in exams etc 

• Unethical behavior: eg not following ethical guidelines in research, submitting inappropriate work 

• Any other behaviour that gains an unfair advantage for a candidate or that affects the results of another candidate (for example falsifying a CAS record, disclosure of information to and receipt of information from candidates about the content of an examination paper within 24 hours after a written examination – via any form of communication). 

Academic misconduct is viewed as a serious academic offence and will be penalized if discovered. 

Suspected misconduct :

 All forms of plagiarism, cheating etc are forbidden and students caught will be penalised. Any breach of these regulations will be discussed with the student and reported to the DP Coordinator. The parents and the principal may be included in the discussion. Suspicious work will not be assessed. 

The IB randomly check candidates’ work for plagiarism using a web-based plagiarism detection system. Examiners are adept at identifying material that is not the authentic work of a candidate. 

If a teacher or the coordinator has reason to suspect that a candidate's work may not be authentic, it will not be accepted or submitted for assessment. If possible plagiarism is identified after a candidate’s work has been submitted for assessment, the IB will be informed so that an investigation can be undertaken. 

If a candidate is found guilty of academic misconduct in the production of assignments for a component, no grade will be awarded for the subject. As a result, no diploma will be awarded. If a case of misconduct is very serious, the final award can decide that the candidate will not be permitted to register for examinations in any future session. If misconduct by a candidate is brought to the attention of the IB after the issue of results, the IB diploma may be withdrawn from a candidate at any time.