Unfair Means / Plagarism

In short, academic misconduct means refers to cheating. It involves any attempt by a student to:

• gain unfair advantage over another student in the completion of an assessment or exam; or:

• assist someone else in gaining an unfair advantage.

Plagiarism - When you accidentally or knowingly submit someone else’s work or ideas as your own - e.g. the work of an expert, lecturer, or fellow/former student - without making it clear that it is not your own work.  You can also self-plagiarise if you submit your own previously assessed work as part of a new assignment, without proper acknowledgement.

Essay buying - When you buy or commission part of or a whole piece of work from another student or an essay-writing website (essay “mill” or “bank”) and submit it as your own. This is an extremely serious form of plagiarism.

Collusion - When you work with someone else, or a group of others, on a piece of assessed work that you are supposed to be completing by yourself.

Fabrication - When you submit made-up information e.g. quotes, lab results, or survey findings that are untrue.

The University will commence procedures to investigate and, where appropriate, take action in response to the Use of Academic Misconduct. See: Guidance for Students Where Concerns are Raised About Their Use of Academic Misconduct.

How you can prevent it

Referencing is a key skill that can help you to prevent the use of unfair means. Whenever you take notes, you should note down referencing details at the same time, otherwise you may find it difficult to credit other scholars properly in assessed work later on.

Whether you are a home or an international student, you can book a one-to-one session with the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) to help with your writing, including referencing skills.

• ELTC Writing Advisory Service

The Library also offers information on plagiarism and tutorials on how to adhere to University referencing standards.

• Library: Referencing and plagiarism

Please watch the video below for the key do’s and don’ts from the University’s Examination Regulations.

If you are found to be using unfair means, you will face action by your academic department or formal disciplinary action.

You can find the Regulations Relating to the Discipline of Students in the University Calendar (Page 109 onwards)

How we detect academic misconduct

We use a range of strategies to detect unfair means, including Turnitin, which helps detect plagiarism. See this link for further information: Turnitin and plagiarism

You are required to declare that all work submitted is entirely your own. We may require you to attach a declaration form to work that you submit.

If you wish to appeal against an academic misconduct decision taken by your academic department, please follow our Academic Appeals process.