Assessment Ethics and Unfair Means
Introduction
We expect our students to set themselves high ethical standards. The work you produce is something you should be proud of - and it should be your own. In the History department, we want you to learn from one another, and occasionally you will be asked to undertake collaborative assignments. But taking care to acknowledge influence and assistance and respect the intellectual property of others is vital across the programme. Alongside the advice below, History Hacks has interactive resources on how to meet these expectations in your coursework.
Assessment, whatever form it takes, is the means by which the University tests whether a student has achieved the objectives of a course and the standards of an award. It is fundamentally important that students are assessed fairly, and on equal terms with each other for the same award.
Any attempt by a student to gain unfair advantage over another student in the completion of an assessment, or to assist someone else to gain an unfair advantage, is cheating. Cheating undermines the standards of the University's awards and disadvantages those students who have attempted to complete assessments honestly and fairly. It is an offence against the values of the academic community of which students and staff are both part.
Where a marker has reason to suspect that unfair means have been used, the case will be referred to the department’s Unfair Means Committee. Students whose work has been flagged are always offered the opportunity to account for their actions, but as problems with the likes of plagiarism and self plagiarism are often the result of poor practice rather than intent to deceive, we would rather you have the confidence and capacities to avoid giving us grounds for suspicion.
The basic principle underlying the preparation of any piece of academic work is that the work submitted must be your own original work.
When preparing essays, projects or other work, you will read widely and become familiar with the work of others. You must ensure that the materials you prepare for submission are your own and that you acknowledge the sources you draw from. A lecturer or tutor who is assessing your work is interested in your understanding and you should use your own words to demonstrate it. The selective quoting of material from books and articles is perfectly permissible, but the material must always be attributed to its sources by means of quotation marks and clear footnotes.
Rules for citation and references or sources are given in the Sheffield History Style Guide. For further guidance please consult the Library Skills Tutorial, History Hacks resources on being an ethical researcher, and / or have a chat with your personal or module tutor.
Types of Unfair Means
The sections below illustrates the most common forms of unfair means to watch out for.
Take the History Hacks quiz to see whether you can spot what would fall under the definition of unfair means
Plagiarism
Plagiarism - the passing off of others words and ideas as your own - is often the inadvertent product of poor note-taking, but regardless of intent, it is still liable to penalties. It is therefore important to understand what it means. Most often, it involves the direct quotation or close paraphrasing of other sources without clear attribution in the form of quotation marks. Even when a footnote directs your marker to the source, this is still defined as plagiarism. Plagiarism can include:
Passing off others’ work as your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to your benefit.
Submitting a piece of work produced by others, or copied from another source, e.g. sentences lifted from Wikipedia, a book, or a journal article.
Unless the words you have used are clearly marked out by quotation marks and an accompanying footnote, producing a piece of work that includes sections lifted directly from other authors is plagiarism,. When copying sections from other authors it is not sufficient simply to list the source in the bibliography. While selective quoting of material from books and articles (duly attributed to its sources) is permissible, extensive use of others' work is not acceptable even if acknowledged.
Paraphrasing from another source without the appropriate attribution (i.e. footnote) is also plagiarism. If you have derived ideas from somebody else's work, even if not quoting directly, then you should always indicate the source. Acceptable paraphrasing means using your own words to demonstrate an understanding and accurately convey the meaning of the original work; merely reordering or changing a few words or phrases of the existing text does not save you from the charge of plagiarism.
Self-Plagiarism
If plagiarism is a form of intellectual property theft, then self-plagiarism seems a contradiction in terms. How, after all, can you steal from yourself?
But copying or resubmitting your own work from another credit bearing assignment, is self-plagiarism, and is not acceptable, as it allows you to claim double credit for a single piece of work. Be particularly careful here with take home exams, where it can be tempting to copy from coursework essays on the same module. Such an action risks a heavy penalty.
There are exceptions in our programme where a 'revise and resubmit' model allows you to submit reworked drafts without penalty. However, the first draft here is always a purely formative (i.e. not for credit) exercise.
Artificial Intelligence
AI has many potential uses for historians but if you submit for credit work generated by a computer without attribution you are committing plagiarism: the passing off of someone’s (or in this case something’s) work as your own.
The University has produced guidance on student use of AI and we encourage you to read it. Try to be aware too of the limits of AI as a research and writing tool and of the risks entailed in giving away personal data. A more detailed overview of AI's potential strengths and limitations is available via the library.
Buying essays: essay 'banks' or 'mills'
You may see advertisements on social media offering to sell you ready- or custom-written essays to pass off as your own. This is one of the most serious forms of plagiarism. You may be assured that the work is an original piece, but you can never be sure of this. Your tutors and examiners use a variety of means to identify any possible cheating; Turnitin is one method, but is used in combination with other forms of analysis. The consequences of submitting a bought essay as your own work are not worth the risk.
Collusion
Collusion involves one or more students collaborating to gain an unfair advantage on an individual assignment. It goes beyond acceptable collaborative work: e.g. discussing ideas for an essay. It can include:
A form of plagiarism where two or more people work together to produce a piece of work all or part of which is then submitted by each of them as their own individual work.
If someone else composes the whole or part of any piece of work, this is collusion.
Copying the whole or part of someone else's piece of work with or without the knowledge or consent of the latter, is collusion.
If two or more students work on an assignment together, produce an agreed piece of work and then copy it up for individual submission, then this is collusion. When producing a piece of work arising out of group work, you should ask the tutor setting the assigned work as to the acceptable limits of collaboration.
Consequences
The Unfair Means Committee in the History Department will assess penalties proportionate to the offence. This can range from small mark deductions to the work being failed entirely.
More serious cases, in which the use of unfair means is substantial, and / or there is intent to deceive, will be marked at 0 and the student may also be referred to the University Discipline Committee. Students who have been penalised for unfair means in the past may also have their cases escalated for consideration by the University.
You can also read further information on university regulations and procedures regarding unfair means.