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Do(ugh)not Cheat!

Tuesday 09-05-2023 - 12:07

Do(ugh)not Cheat!

By Chelsea Mogwo (President: Education 22/23)

The Do(ugh)not cheat campaign is an exciting campaign discovering academic resources and the support available, implementing solutions that can help students with their assignments and exams.

Your President: Education, Chelsea Mogwo, has put together the following guide on academic integrity.

What is Academic Misconduct?

Some of the most common offences are:

  • Plagiarism: this is the deliberate act of producing any work, data, or concepts that are not your own without giving credit to the original source.
  • Self-plagiarism: submitting the same work that you have already submitted and gained credit for in another assessment in a different module or for a different programme.
  • Cheating: the act of gaining an unfair advantage in an assignment or examination space, in person or online.
  • Contract Cheating (Paying for someone to do your assignment!): Contract cheating is the act of paying for someone to amend, adjust or complete your assignment with the intention to submit the work as your own. This is illegal in England based on the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.
  • Collusion: When more than one student contributes to a piece of work that is submitted as the work of an individual. Individual assessment work should be entirely the work of the student submitting that work.

What is Academic Negligence?

Academic Negligence is defined in the academic misconduct regulations as a student’s first academic misconduct offence. For example, attempting to follow good academic practice but failing. For more information, read the Academic Misconduct Regulations here.

Tips for Avoiding Academic Misconduct

  • If there are any circumstances that are out of your control, there are a few things that you can do. You can ask your module leader for an extension of up to 7 days (look at your module handbook to see how many days of extension you are entitled to) or if you need more than 7 days, then you can submit an Extenuating Circumstance Form. Find the Extenuating Circumstance Form here.
  • If you are experiencing challenging circumstances that will have a profound impact on your studies, then you can request a leave of absence here.
  • Don’t share your final work or the ideas that you will use in your assignment with others.
  • There is a useful University Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct Guide.
  • Cite your sources as you go! There are useful resources that can help you with referencing and the one that is recommended by the university is Cite Them Right.
  • Time management – give yourself plenty of time to do your assignments or to revise.
  • Ask for help – There is a lot of support available at the university and you can find out what support is available below.

Academic Misconduct Regulations

Reading the regulations can be just as important in helping you to avoid academic misconduct. The regulations have recently been updated to include artificial intelligence and chat-GPT which states that using artificial intelligence to produce your work and you submitting that work as your own will also be treated as contract cheating. Find out more about the Academic Misconduct Regulations here.

Appealing

You can appeal the decision that has been made on the academic misconduct. If you would like any help, you can book an appointment with the Students’ Union advisor here.

What support is available?

  • Attend a daily drop-in with a Study Skills Adviser.
  • For academic study skills support, you can book a one-to-one study skill appointment with an Adviser.
  • For help with finding resources you can receive subject specific support by booking a one-to-one meeting with your Library Liaison here.
  • Studiosity, an ethical writing feedback service, is available for first year undergraduate students.
  • There are Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) which are currently running in stage 1 Psychology, Computer Science, and Bio-Medical Sciences.

If you have found yourself in an academic misconduct hearing, you can contact our advisor for free, impartial advice.

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