Breadcrumbs

Dealing with academic dishonesty (administrative issues)

Academic honesty is a core value at the University of Sydney. Staff and students share the responsibility to maintain academic honesty. The responsibility of all students is to:

1. ensure that they do not
   a) collude with another person,
   b) commit plagiarism; and
   c) report possible instances of Plagiarism

2. comply with the University Policy and Procedures on Plagiarism and Academic Honesty in Coursework .

Breaches of academic honesty include both negligent and dishonest actions. Negligent plagiarism, for example, means innocently, recklessly or carelessly presenting another person's work as one's own work without acknowledgement of the source. Dishonest plagiarism, on the other hand, would result from knowingly presenting another person's work as one's own work.

All breaches of academic dishonesty will be investigated.

First offences considered serious enough may also be referred to the Registrar for potential misconduct proceedings under Chapter 8 University of Sydney By Laws (1999 as amended).

If a student is investigated for alleged dishonest plagiarism AND there has been a previous written warning, the investigation is automatically referred to the Registrar for potential misconduct proceedings.

If students have been found guilty of negligent or dishonest plagiarism they are always issued with a written warning which is placed on a central file maintained by the Registrar. Further consequences of negligent and dishonest actions include:

• requiring the student to resubmit the work for assessment;
• requiring the student to undertake another form of assessment;
• applying a fail grade to the work or part thereof.
• applying a fail grade to the unit of study

Misconduct proceedings and a hearing will be conducted by the Student Proctorial Panel set by the Senate (By Law 8.7.77). The penalties that may be imposed by the Panel include expulsion or suspension from the University. The key to the policy is a transparent and fair system of investigating all cases of suspected academic honesty. Dealing with the cases openly allows trust to develop between staff and students and maintains the integrity of student work carried out at the Faculty.
Ignorance cannot be used as an excuse to avoid penalties if you are involved in academic dishonesty. In 2006 commencing students will be required to note their completion of the Academic Honesty Test (on Blackboard) on the assessment cover sheet to indicate their understanding of academic honesty issues.

Special Consideration

If you find yourself in difficulty meeting deadlines for assessment tasks due to serious illness or misadventure, procedures are in place for you to apply for special consideration. Students are required to act honestly when applying for Special Consideration; submitting a fraudulent application in order to gain extra time for an assessment is a form of academic dishonesty. Please plan your workload carefully and help yourself to avoid the temptation to breach the honesty code.
The Student Administration Manual gives you all the details regarding the special consideration procedure and it is available through the Faculty website.

More Resources

If you wish to find out details of the penalties associated with academic dishonesty, please review the Academic Board Resolution/Plagiarism/Student Coursework - Policy and Procedures links above.

What would you do?

You have been working really hard in your part-time job and been delayed in starting your assignments. Then you get a cold and think of a possibility of getting a doctor's certificate and applying for special consideration and an extension on medical grounds. You know this is really not what the special consideration procedure is for, but it would buy you valuable time to write the assignment.

Here are some good reasons not to use the cold as a medical reason to apply for special consideration. Which one would be the most persuasive for you?