Academic Honesty Policy

3. Legitimate co-operation

3.1 Students may legitimately co-operate and collaborate on a project, sharing materials or data collected and discussing the interpretation of such material. Examples of legitimate co-operation and collaboration include:

1. informal study/discussion groups;
2. discussion of general themes and concepts;
3. interpretation of assessment criteria; or
4. strengthening and development of academic writing and/or study skills through peer assistance.

3.2 In some cases legitimate co-operation and collaboration may extend to researching and writing of joint projects, written works or other assessable works. The educational value of interaction between students is recognised and encouraged but production of assessable work is the independent responsibility of each student.

3.3 Groupwork is a formally established assessment task to be conducted by a number of students in common, resulting in a single piece of work for assessment or a number of associated pieces of work. A student who has not contributed to the groupwork cannot submit the assessment task as representing his/her own work.

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4. Forms of academic dishonesty

Academic dishonesty may take a number of forms. These include but are not limited to:

1. cheating;
2. plagiarism;
3. collusion;
4. recycling;
5. impersonating another student;
6. claiming credit for groupwork in circumstances when the student has not actively participated in or contributed to such work;
7. use of forged, false, falsified, inaccurate or incomplete documentation or data or a document taken from another source and representing it to be the work of the student;
8. in research, any of the above behaviour related to proposing, conducting and/or reporting research.

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5. Cheating in an examination or other assessment task

5.1 A student taking an on-campus examination must not:

1. enter an examination room except as a candidate for an examination conducted in that room and then only in accordance with directions of a Supervisor or Lecturer-in-Charge or notice posted in the examination room;
2. cheat or attempt to cheat in any examination or other assessment task;
3. directly or indirectly assist any other student to cheat;
4. communicate with another student or give assistance to, or receive any communication or assistance from, any other student during an examination or other relevant assessment task;
5. read and/or copy or attempt to read and/or copy another student’s work or other materials during an examination or other relevant assessment task;
6. do anything to assist or enable or attempt to assist or enable another student to read and/or copy work or other materials during an examination;
7. bring into an examination room or conceal any textbook, dictionary, calculator, computer, palm pilot, notes, manuscript, bag, mobile phone or other materials or device or means of special assistance, except those items specifically authorised for the examination by the Lecturer-in-Charge of the unit (note: valuable items, such as small purses and wallets, may be brought into the examination room but must be left on the floor adjacent to the student’s desk for the duration of the examination; the Supervisor may inspect any such items);
8. use any electronic device (whether an authorised device or not) to receive data from, or send data to, or to communicate in any way with, any other person or electronic device during the examination;
9. consult with another person outside the examination room during the conduct of the examination;
10. improperly obtain prior knowledge of an examination paper or other assessment task and use that knowledge in an examination or other relevant assessment task;
11. write an examination paper outside the examination room, except with the permission of the Lecturer-in-Charge;
12. impersonate another person or procure impersonation in connection with any examination or other assessment task.

5.2 Inappropriate behaviour in examinations

A student must not:

1. cause a disturbance, annoyance to or interference with any other student;
2. remove any worked script or examination stationery from the examination room;
3. smoke in an examination room;
4. eat or drink in an examination room, unless specifically approved on medical grounds;
5. re-enter the examination room after leaving it, unless under supervision approved by the Supervisor during the full period of absence;
6. disobey any reasonable direction issued by a Supervisor, lecturer or other authorised person or set forth on an examination paper, writing book or any notice;
7. refuse or fail to answer any reasonable question asked of the student by a Supervisor.

5.3 Online examinations

Online examinations are subject to the specific instructions of the Lecturer-in-Charge, but the principles above regarding the unauthorised use of any assistance apply: no person other than the bona fide student may undertake an online examination on behalf of the student designated to undertake the examination.

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6. Plagiarism

6.1 Plagiarism occurs when a student presents as his/her own work the thoughts, ideas, findings or work which he/she knows to be the work of another person, persons, or entity, without acknowledgement, of the kind commonly required in academic practice, of the source. Plagiarism fundamentally breaches the principle of academic honesty. It may take many forms and, whether intentional or unintentional, it is unacceptable in academic work.

6.2 Materials plagiarised may include any printed, electronic or audio-visual material (including computer-based material), drawings, designs, experimental results or conclusions, statistical data, computer programs or other creative work.

6.3 Examples of plagiarism, whether by individuals or in groupwork, include the following:

1. an assessment task that is copied almost entirely from another source such as a published article, text, computer program, internet source or another student’s work (or draft work);
2. an assessment task that is constructed of segments drawn from one or a number of sources without attribution of the source, linked by comments produced by the student;
3. summarising another person’s work without acknowledgement of the source;
4. failure to acknowledge indebtedness to books, articles and other sources such as the internet. Students should make it clear when they are using a direct quotation from another work. They should also indicate, by the appropriate method of footnoting or referencing, if they have used an idea or an argument which is heavily dependent on the work of another person;
5. citing sources (eg texts) which the student has not read, without acknowledging the ‘secondary’ source from which knowledge of them has been obtained;
6. in an assessment task where there was legitimate cooperation and collaborative preparatory work, submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student; or
7. (g) in groupwork, where the group utilises work from another group or from other sources, or
8. (h) in group work, where a student claims credit for the work of the group but has not actively participated in or contributed to such work.

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7. Collusion

7.1 Collusion occurs where a student undertakes unauthorised collaboration with others and presents, as his/her own, work which is in full or in part the work of one or more of those other persons. It differs from group assessment tasks where the learning activity specifically designates that it be undertaken as groupwork.

7.2 If individually assessable work is required to be submitted, any legitimate co-operation and collaboration should be acknowledged and the formulation of ideas and conclusions in the paper must be the independent work of each student. Any other circumstances in which a student allows another student to copy his/her work for the purposes of assessment, or where students work together to submit identical work or work with large components of commonality, amounts to collusion.

7.3 Encouraging or assisting another person to commit plagiarism is a form of collusion and may attract the same penalties which apply to plagiarism.

7.4 Collusion does not apply to assessment tasks submitted in accordance with groupwork guidelines provided by the Lecturer-in-Charge.

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8. Recycling

A student may not, without the prior written approval of the Lecturer-in-Charge of the unit, submit for assessment work which is the same or substantially the same as work being submitted, or which has previously been counted towards the completion of another unit undertaken for credit towards any qualification, whether at this University or elsewhere. Where the Lecturer-in-Charge of the unit approves the resubmitting of work, the source of the work must be acknowledged. The same principles and procedures apply to recycling as apply to plagiarism.

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9. Impersonation

A student must personally undertake all work and assessment and other requirements for a unit and course. A student must not allow or procure impersonation of himself/herself in relation to any assessment task, unit or course requirement, including in the online environment.

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10. Use of forged, false, falsified or incomplete documents

A student must not create or use, in connection with any activity within or connected with his/her application for, enrolment or re-enrolment, assessment or progression in a unit or course, or for any other purpose, forged, false or falsified documentation or data, or create or use documentation or data which the student knows to be inaccurate or incomplete.

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11. Academic dishonesty in research

Academic dishonesty in research includes any behaviour described in sections 5 to 10 above in relation to proposing, conducting or reporting research, and further includes:

1. fabricating data;
2. intentionally omitting reference to relevant published works of others for the purpose of implying personal discovery of new information or original analysis of data;
3. attributing work to others who have not in fact contributed to the research;
4. intentionally or negligently stating or presenting a relevant or significant falsehood or omitting information or data so as to distort what is presented;
5. making use of any information in breach of any duty of confidentiality associated therewith; or
6. intentionally and without authorisation taking or damaging any research-related property of another person or body.

This may include, but is not limited to, apparatus, reagents, biological materials, writings, manuscripts, data, hardware, software or any other substance or device used or produced in the conduct of research.

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12. Related documents

This Policy should be read in conjunction with the following:

• Procedures for Dealing with Alleged Breaches of Academic Honesty
• Code of Practice for Academic Honesty
• Academic Regulations
• Assessment Policy
• Assessment Procedures
• Glossary of Terms
• Research and Professional Doctorate Degree Regulations
• Statute 10 Student Conduct and Discipline
• Student Appeals Policy.

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