The Advice Centre
www.susu.org/life/
ACADEMIC
INTEGRITY
2011-2012
University of Southampton
Students’ Union
www.susu.org
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The Advice Centre
OPEN
Monday-Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm
Contacting: The Advice Centre:
Telephone: 023 8059 2085
Fax: 023 8059 5235
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.susu.org/life/
Address:
Students’ Union Building 40
Southampton University
University Road
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
• We are an appointments based service, however
occasionally quick queries can be dealt with immediately. All other enquiries will
need an appointment.
• The advice and information service is provided by a team of trained and
experienced staff who deal with matters of particular relevance to students.
The Advice Centre Mission Statement:
The Advice Centre aims to provide all students at the University of
Southampton with free, independent, confidential advice and representation
in a friendly, relaxed environment.
2
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
What is Academic Integrity?
Plagiarism, collusion, falsification, cheating, recycling or simply bad
referencing are all considered under the University’s Academic Integrity
Statement for Students.
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.
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
3
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 = Minor
If 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 significant
This 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.
4
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
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.
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
5
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
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.
6
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
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.
CONTACTS, SUPPORT AND RESOURCES:
CONTACTS
Dyslexia Services
45 University Road
(in a house just past the Jubilee Sports
Centre), Highfield
Telephone: 023 8059 2759
(internal: 22759)
Email: [email protected]
www.southampton.ac.uk/edusupport/ldc
Assistive Technology Service
www.ats.soton.ac.uk/
SUPPORT
Blackboard
Your Course Handbook
Education Support
39 University Road
Highfield Campus
www.soton.ac.uk/edusupport/index.
shtml
Disability
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 02380 597241
www.soton.ac.uk/edusupport/disability/
index.html
Nightline – 8.00pm to 8.00am
(term time)
Externally 023 8059 5236
Internally 25236
www.susu.org/life/
Mentoring
Student Services Centre
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 023 8059 7241
www.southampton.ac.uk/edusupport/
mentor/index.html
Counselling Service
Tel: 023 8059 3719
Email: [email protected]
www.soton.ac.uk/edusupport/
counselling/index.html
Career Destinations
Student Services Centre
Building 37
Tel: 023 8059 3501
www.soton.ac.uk/careers/index.shtml
RESOURCES
Study Skills
Websites:
www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/
And
www.soton.ac.uk/studentsupport/ldc/
academicskills/index.html
The Advice Centre www.susu.org/life/
The Advice Centre
Students’ Union Building 40
Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ
Tel: 023 8059 2085
Email: [email protected]
www.susu.org/life/
7
University of Southampton
Students’ Union
www.susu.org
The Advice Centre
www.susu.org/life
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/
8