Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one’s own.  It is a very serious matter of student misconduct. 

Procedures on how staff are to deal with plagiarism are outlined below. 

Students must be made aware that their assessments may be submitted to the University's plagiarism tool called 'Turnitin'.  Students must sign the assessments cover sheet which states that they understand this and the UNSW Plagiarism policy. 

A central register is kept of those students who plagiarise. 

Please alert students to the Learning Centre's website on Plagiarism which outlines what it is and how to avoid it.

Staff should ensure that all assignments are submitted with a signed Assessment Cover Sheet. Students can access this in the Current Students part of this website under Learning and Teaching / Key Information.

For written assignments staff are encouraged to use Turnitin to help them detect similarities between the assignment and millions of web pages, articles and other students’ work.  If you use WebCT Vista in your teaching, you can automatically upload your students’ assignments to Turnitin for checking, otherwise you should ask that your students submit their assignments electronically to you or submit it themselves to Turnitin. For information on how to get started with Turnitin, please read Turnitin Instructor Quickstart (see below).

All the information in this section should be read in conjunction with the “ Procedures for Dealing with Student Plagiarism – Handbook for Staff”.

If, through Turnitin or on your own reading, you suspect plagiarism:

1.    First thing to consider:

Is the plagiarism Significant? Some of the issues here are:

1. importance of the plagiarised material to the assessment item [e.g. is it the main argument, or a central example, or an important supporting argument];

2. extent of the plagiarised material in proportion to the whole assessment;

3. proportion of the overall mark determined by the assessment item;

In reaching a decision on Significance the academic should also take into account and any relevant conventions of the discipline.

If the plagiarism isn’t significant then generally the response can be made according to School policies. Possible responses include counseling, referral, re-submission and mark reduction.

2.    Significant, but is it Formal or Informal?:

If it is significant, the academic can still decide to deal with it informally.

Normally an informal educative response is only applicable to a 1st year undergraduate student.

An informal response may involve counseling the student, referral to the Learning Centre, resubmission of the item and reduction in marks. No entry is made on the Central Plagiarism Register.

3.    If the Significant Plagiarism requires a formal response:

If the teaching academic considers the plagiarism to be Significant and serious enough for a formal response he or she should:

1. gather information on the source of the plagiarised material

2. notify the Head of School

The Head of School should organise either the School Student Ethics Officer (SSEO) or another independent academic to undertake an investigation into the allegation, and the teaching academic should no longer be involved.

4.    What does the Head of School do?

The Head of School should organise either the SSEO or another independent academic to undertake an investigation into the allegation. The student should be contacted, informed of the allegation made against them, and invited to a meeting with the Head of School and the SSEO or investigating academic. The student may bring a support person. This meeting allows the allegations and evidence to be outlined clearly, the student to comment on the evidence and for a decision to be made, and a penalty determined.

If the Head of School has a conflict of interest with the case, he or she should refer the matter to the Faculty Student Ethics Officer (FSEO).

The appropriate penalties can include a warning, referral, reduction in marks, re-submission and or failure.

The FSEO should be informed and an entry made onto the Central Plagiarism Register.

5.    What if the case is more serious?

If the Head of School considers the case is very serious, and requires a more serious penalty, he or she should consult the FSEO as to whether the case  should  be referred onto the Vice-Chancellor as a serious Student Academic Misconduct. If they both agree, then the case is referred, usually for consideration by the Director of Student Services on the Vice-Chancellor’s behalf. Penalties here can include failure, exclusion or a fine.

Please note that the FSEO at COFA is Graham Forsyth, Associate Dean (Academic).  For further queries, please email or phone: +61 2 9385 0778.