academic-integrity
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http://www.susu.org/downloads/pdf-booklets/advice/academic-integrity.pdfTRANSCRIPT
The Advice Centrewww.susu.org/life/
ACADEMICINTEGRITY
2011-2012
University of SouthamptonStudents’ Unionwww.susu.org
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
What is Academic Integrity?
You can find this at:www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/academic-integrity-statement.html
How can I avoid a breach of Academic Integrity?Ways to avoid a breach of Academic Integrity
1. Read the University’s Guide to Academic Integrity at: http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/integrity/
2. Read the course handbook.
3. Attend any special seminars or lectures about referencing.
4. There are specific guidelines for working in groups or pairs. Ensure that you understand and follow them.
5. Listen to podcasts at: www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/
6. Ask for help from your tutor if you are not sure whether you are referencing properly.
7. Take advice! Follow feedback on written work.
8. Make careful notes detailing page numbers of books and websites where you got your ideas. Do this as you go along.
9. Don’t rely too heavily on the ideas of others.
10. Put ideas into your own words so your tutors can see you understand.
11. Reference all material you’ve read in your Bibliography even if you haven’t referred to it in the assignment.
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Plagiarism, collusion, falsification, cheating, recycling or simply bad referencing are all considered under the University’s Academic Integrity Statement for Students.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
I’ve been told that a possible breach of Academic Integrity has been found in my work
What happens first?The regulations treat cases differently according to how serious they believe they may be.
Stage 1 = MinorIf a small breach is identified by the tutor marking your work, and you have never been given previous feedback about problems with other work then it is likely they will consider the breach as ‘minor’. This means that you will be given a warning, some feedback on your marking sheet and you may lose some marks. You will be advised in writing about it and informed about what can happen if the situation recurs again. A copy of the note will be kept on your student file.
You will not need to take any further action.
If you do not agree that your work contains a breach, or you want to make the school aware of problems that were affecting your ability to study when you completed the work, then you should do so as soon as you can. If you are in this position then you should firstly contact The Advice Centre for guidance.
Stage 2 = More significantThis can mean that the school believes the breach is more serious. This could be for various reasons. It may be that you have already had a warning and feedback for a minor offence in the past. It can also be when it can be demonstrated that you had participated in a learning activity (seminar, lecture), before completing the assignment, to reinforce the principles of the academic integrity statement, but still failed to follow the guidelines.
In this case the school will ask their Academic Integrity Officer to consider the case.
If the Academic Integrity Officer believes the case is more significant s/he will invite you for a meeting.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Stage 3 = Major When the school suspects an extremely serious breach of the statement they will treat the case as ‘major’.
Examples of a major breach are:• Extensive plagiarism (very large amounts of copied work)
• Serial plagiarism (you have been warned more than once or for several pieces of work)
• Ghosting/use of essay bank services
• Impersonation
• Falsification
• Deliberate breaches of examination regulations
You will be asked to attend a stage 3 Academic Integrity Panel Meeting.
I’ve been asked to attend a meeting with an Academic Integrity Officer (Stage 2)
What happens now?A meeting will be arranged for you to speak to the Academic Integrity Officer who will describe the suspected breach and allow you to give an explanation as to why you believe there is no breach, or for the reasons one may have occurred.
Sometimes there can be circumstances that will be taken into account when deciding a penalty such as: Illness or mitigating circumstances that you were unable or unwilling to inform the school about at the time of completing the work.
That the school did not provide you with information, seminars, tutorials about how to avoid breaches.
There may be other individual circumstances that may be considered.
You can take a Student Adviser from The Advice Centre along to support you, and it is recommended that you seek advice from us before the meeting. The meeting will be between you, the Academic Integrity Officer and a note-taker. It is not designed as a punishment it is an information gathering exercise so that a decision can be made based on all the facts of your case.
Following the meeting the Academic Integrity Officer will decide firstly, whether there really is a breach and secondly, on an appropriate penalty.
The range of penalties can be found in the procedures (Appendix 1):www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/academic-integrity-procedures.html
I’ve been asked to attend a Stage 3 Academic Integrity Panel meeting
What happens now?You will be invited to attend a formal panel meeting. There will be 3 members of staff on the panel who will consider your case.
You can seek guidance from The Advice Centre beforehand and you can take an adviser with you for support. We will normally advise you to write a statement or bullet points to cover everything you wish to say at the meeting.
Although the meeting is formal it is not intended to intimidate you or be part of a punishment. It is about establishing the facts of your case so that the panel members can make a decision.
I don’t agree with the decision that I am guilty of a breach of Academic Integrity
What happens now?If your case has only been considered so far by the Academic Integrity Officer (stage 2) then you are able to ask for an Academic Integrity panel to meet to reconsider. You can do this by contacting the school to say that you dispute the findings of the Academic Integrity Officer.
If you have already had a panel meeting (stage 3) then you will need to consider whether you have grounds for an appeal. See our booklet How to Deal with Problems Affecting your Studies (Complaints and Appeals) at: www.susu.org/life/
You should seek guidance and support from The Advice Centre in either case.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Will anything stay on my record?This may vary from school to school but in general any breach will remain on your record. This does not necessarily mean that it will be mentioned in any references your school writes for you, but you should be aware that if they are directly asked about matters of integrity they may note that there was a breach. This is more likely if the breach was found to be more significant or major.
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Please note that at time of publication every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this booklet. The Advice Centre and University of Southampton Students’ Union cannot accept responsibility for errors, omissions, or subsequent changes in legal requirements. The Information and figures quoted in this publication were believed to be accurate at the time of going to print, but may be subject to change.
August 2011
Alternative Formats of this leaflet are available on request.The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/