Quality Assurance
Academic Policy
Assessment
6.8 Academic Misconduct
6.8.1 Examinations and Class Tests
6.8.1.1 The Regulations on Examination Procedures state “that to make use of unfair means in any University examination or test, or to assist another student to make use of such unfair means is an academic offence”
6.8.1.2 The use of scrap paper within the examination room is not permitted. Candidates may make any rough notes in the booklets provided by the University in the examination room. Any other paper, or other such material that may contain notes or prompts of any sort on a candidate’s desk, will be identified as unauthorised. Students found in possession of unauthorised material are deemed to be making use of unfair means.
6.8.1.3 Unless authorised, the use of mobile phones and other electronic devices in the examination room, or during a respite break from an examination room, is strictly prohibited.
6.8.1.4 If an invigilator suspects irregularity in the conduct of a candidate within, or during a respite break from, the examination room, the invigilator will inform the candidate, remove any possible prohibited material and endorse the candidate’s answer book. The candidate will be allowed to complete the examination and at the end of the examination the invigilator will inform the candidate that, in accordance with the information issued to candidates, a report will be made to the University Examinations Officer.
6.8.1.5 The University Examinations Officer shall receive a report from the invigilator as soon as possible after the event, and instances of the use of unfair means will be recorded on the University’s Academic Misconduct Register.
6.8.1.6 In all cases of infringement the student should be invited to attend a meeting with the Chief Examiner and one other member of staff (designee of HoD), the student may be accompanied by a person of their choosing. The purpose of the meeting is to confirm the use of unfair means and the classification of the offence, explain the penalty system and counsel the student about all forms of use of unfair means and identify sources of help i.e. SLS, etc. The completed Academic Misconduct Report Form should be e-mailed to academic.misconduct@stir.ac.uk, the original retained by the Division as a formal record of the meeting and a copy given/posted to the student. All instances should be notified to the relevant Board of Examiners. See 6.8.3 for classification of offences and table of penalty points.
6.8.1.7 The failure of the student to attend this meeting does not prevent the Division from taking appropriate action in accordance with this policy.
6.8.1.8 Instances of the use of unfair means and of plagiarism will be considered together as academic misconduct offences, and will count cumulatively in the application of the penalties described in section 6.8.3.
Academic Council, March 2000
Revised October 2004
Revised QEC November 2007
Revised QEC 5 May 2010
Revised QEC 9 May 2012
6.8.2 Plagiarism
Definitions
6.8.2.1 To plagiarise is to represent as one’s own the intellectual property of another. The Online Oxford English Dictionary definition of plagiarism is as follows:
"the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own"
6.8.2.2 Accordingly, the reproduction in a submitted assignment of another’s work without due acknowledgement is plagiarism since the writer is presenting as original work what is in fact derivative. When the assignment is submitted for assessment, plagiarism is the equivalent of cheating in an examination.
6.8.2.3 Such unacknowledged indebtedness is plagiarism whether the source is reproduced verbatim or is paraphrased. It is plagiarism whether the passage is brief or extensive, and whether the source is printed, electronic or hand-written. Strictly, it is also plagiarism when the source is oral, but on this see 6.8.2.9 – 6.8.2.10 below.
6.8.2.4 Plagiarism can also arise from a student using his or her own previous work (termed self-plagiarism). Self-plagiarism includes using work that has already been submitted for assessment at this university or for any other academic award.
Due Acknowledgement
6.8.2.5 It is not sufficient merely to list a source in an appended bibliography, or in the body of an assignment to express a general indebtedness. To avoid a charge of plagiarism, all sources must be specifically, precisely and accurately referenced in accordance with good academic practice.
6.8.2.6 When a source is directly quoted word-for-word, the passage quoted should be placed within quotation marks or indented and the source accurately referenced, in parenthesis, in a footnote, or in an endnote, according to a recognised system. There must be no ambiguity about where the quotation ends or begins.
6.8.2.7 The source of any data cited (e.g. figures, tables, charts) should be made explicit.
6.8.2.8 When ideas, or an argument, are reproduced from a source in a general or paraphrased way, the source must be acknowledged.
6.8.2.9 When submitted work is dependent upon a lecture or tutorial for its argument, this fact must be acknowledged.
6.8.2.10 In the case of group work submitted for assessment, the relevant module information will make clear whether the submission is collective or individual. In the case of a collective submission, indebtedness to sources must be acknowledged in the usual way, but it is not necessary for work to be attributed to individual members of the group. In the case of individual submissions resulting from group or collaborative work, it is the responsibility of each individual student to make sure that the submission is his or her own work. Acknowledgement should be made to the contribution of other members of the group when this is drawn upon.
Procedures
6.8.2.11 No formal procedures are instituted against a student unless the relevant unacknowledged source can be established. In cases where plagiarism is strongly suspected but no source has been identified, the student may be spoken to informally by the relevant module co-ordinator or tutor, to ensure that he or she understands the nature of plagiarism, and the penalties it incurs.
6.8.2.12 In all cases of infringement where a source has been identified, the student should be invited to attend a meeting with the Chief Examiner and one other member of staff (designee of HoD), the student may be accompanied by a person of their choosing. The purpose of the meeting is to confirm the occurrence of plagiarism and the classification of the offence, explain the penalty system and counsel the student about all forms of plagiarism and identify sources of help i.e. Student Learning Services, other pedagogic tools, etc. It is not the business of the meeting to seek to determine motivation. The completed Academic Misconduct Report Form should be e-mailed to academic.misconduct@stir.ac.uk the original retained by the Division as a formal record of the meeting and a copy given/posted to the student.
6.8.2.13 The failure of the student(s) to attend this meeting does not prevent the Division from taking appropriate action in accordance with this policy.
6.8.2.14 All instances of plagiarism should be notified to the relevant Board of Examiners.
6.8.2.15 The same procedure is followed in cases where two or more students submit similar or identical work. However, it is recognised that in such cases, whilst the fact of plagiarism is clear, it may not have been possible to determine culpability prior to the meeting. In such cases, the meeting itself will serve as a forum in which to establish the facts and determine culpability.
Penalties
6.8.2.16 The general principle is that the penalty should be appropriate to the scale of the offence.
6.8.2.17 When a first offence occurs for first year undergraduate students and two or more assessments are submitted simultaneously or in close succession, the student must be counselled about the first offence, have time to take this on board and rectify their poor academic practice in subsequent assessments before a second penalty can be applied. For students in all other years, both undergraduate and taught postgraduate, these cases should be reported via academic.misconduct@stir.ac.uk to the Admissions, Progress and Awards Committee, who will determine the penalty to be applied.
6.8.2.18 Where it becomes apparent to the Chief Examiner/Examinations Office that a first year student has been penalised for plagiarism on different modules in the same semester, the Examinations Office/Chief Examiner(s) in the relevant Division(s) should confer prior to applying a penalty and reporting to the Board of Examiners. The assignment with the later due date will be counted as a second or subsequent offence. The Chief Examiner will inform the student of the decision. In the event of a coincidence of due dates the relevant Chief Examiners will confer.
6.8.2.19 The Examinations Office will refer cases that reach the trigger points, set out in the table of penalties, to the Student Programmes Office. A student required to withdraw from registration for a degree will be entitled to any award for which he or she is qualified. In addition, where applicable, all students must comply with the professional requirements of their programme.
6.8.2.20 Students who receive a grade 5 where plagiarism has been identified should be permitted a resit examination only if the academic misconduct did not occur in the examination element of the module and where the module grade was not PL (the grade awarded upon the accumulation of 20 penalty points).
6.8.2.21 Normally an UG student may be permitted to repeat or substitute a module which has been failed because of a penalty for plagiarism, if that failure precludes the student from graduating.
6.8.2.22 Normally a PG student may be permitted to resubmit their dissertation which has been failed because of a penalty for plagiarism (up to a maximum of 15 penalty points). The resubmission would be on the existing topic and would be capped at grade 3C. In such circumstances the student would be required to pay the standard resubmission fee.
6.8.2.23 In a case where two or more students submit similar or identical work and culpability cannot be established, the penalty shall be applied equally to both students.
6.8.2.24 Penalties imposed for plagiarism must be reported to the Examinations Office (academic.misconduct@stir.ac.uk) on the Academic Misconduct Report Form, normally within a week of the meeting with the student. Penalties shall also be reported to the relevant Board of Examiners and recorded in its minutes, but not re-considered or re-opened.
6.8.2.25 A current case does not justify re-consideration of work submitted on modules completed and graded in previous semesters or of assessed work submitted for other modules in the same semester.
6.8.2.26 For cases where other coursework requirements are not met (e.g. failure to attend an examination and the grade awarded is ‘X’), details of the plagiarism offence will still be recorded in the central register.
6.8.2.27 All decisions relating to academic misconduct are communicated to students in writing by Student Administration.
6.8.2.28 See 6.8.3 for classification of offences and table of penalty points.
Note: At its meeting on 5 May 2010 QEC approved implementation of the recommendation that Turnitin (or its equivalent) must be used by all academic areas, for all years of study (including taught postgraduate level), for the identification of plagiarism.
6.8.3 Academic Misconduct - Classification of Offence and Penalty points
Classification |
Definition/Examples | Penalty Points |
1 Minor
|
Minor plagiarism | 5 |
| Use of unfair means that would allow only a minor contribution/advantage due to misunderstanding | ||
2 Major |
Major plagiarism |
10 |
| Collusion | ||
| Use of unfair means that would allow the student to gain an major advantage | ||
3 Gross
|
Using work that is not your own, ie bought/borrowed |
20 |
| Circumventing Turnltln | ||
| Use of unfair means that would allow the student to gain a gross advantage ie going to toilet to read notes, using technology to source answers during an exam/class test |
| Penalty Points Accumulation Scale | |
| 5 | No change to grade but student is strongly advised and encouraged to undertake the educational process to ensure they understand what plagiarism/exam/class test regulations are. |
| 10 | Downgrade assignment/examination/class test by one class ie 3A to 4A with no option to resubmit or resit. |
| 15 | Fail module , grade of 5C |
| 20 | Fail module, grade of 5C (PL) and unable to graduate with Honours or Masters |
| 25 | Required to withdraw from programme |
6.8.4 Exceptional Cases
Any exceptional cases not covered by this policy should be referred to Admissions, Progress and Awards Committee (APAC) Student Panel for consideration.
Approved by Academic Council, 8 June 2005
Revised June 2006
Revised QEC 14 May 2008
Revised QEC 5 May 2010
Revised Chair’s Action Oct 2010
Revised QEC 9 May 2012