4 Academic Integrity
During your time at university, you will find yourself faced with many decisions — about university, your career and personal life. Many of these decisions will provide you with opportunities to grow your knowledge and skills, however sometimes they could tempt you to compromise your integrity. This is especially true with new technologies such as generative AI.
Academic Misconduct
Cheating
Cheating is where you fail to show your own learning and can include such behaviours as:
- using materials such as notes, online tools or devices without permission in an in-person or online exam
- copying from another student or online source
- sharing your answers with another student
- having someone else write an assessment or sit an exam on your behalf.
Consider this scenario:
Aoife has been working long hours and doesn’t feel prepared for her exam even though she has spent a lot of time studying and has a good grasp of the topic. She knows she can position her phone where the online software cannot detect her using the ChatGPT app to get answers instead of formulating her own. Aoife is not demonstrating her own learning.
Contract cheating
The Australian Government’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) defines contract cheating as:
“…when students outsource their assessments to a third party, whether that is a commercial provider, current or former student, family member or acquaintance. It includes the unauthorised use of file-sharing sites, as well as organising another person to take an examination.”
(Definition from Good practice note: Addressing contract cheating to safeguard academic integrity by Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency available under a CC BY 3.0 license)
Paid contract cheating services are illegal in Australia. They include websites and individuals or groups that market or provide cheating services to students and file sharing sites.
Remember, there doesn’t have to be an exchange of money to be considered contract cheating.
Examples of contract cheating include:
- paying for an essay from a contract cheating website
- paying or getting a friend, peer, or relative to complete an assignment for you
- using a Generative AI tool to complete all or part of an assessment for you where it is not permitted
- sharing University lecture notes on a contract cheating website for credits or financial gain.
Consider these scenarios:
Maria & Aarushi are working on a group project and have found it hard to meet to work on it. Maria has found an online service that will provide the finished assessment item and presentation slides. Maria suggests that they split the cost of the service so that they can submit it on time. Maria is suggesting that they participate in paid contract cheating to gain an advantage in their studies.
Lahiru has an assessment task due and is running out of time to complete it. Lahiru finds a company that advertises help with assignment writing from a generative AI tool, and asks the company to write their assignment. Lahiru is participating in contract cheating by outsourcing their whole assignment to a generative AI tool.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you present someone else’s ideas or work as your own. It could occur in writing, design, music, film, software code and many other situations. Some examples include:
- handing in someone else’s work as your own
- copying words or ideas from someone else or a generative AI tool without providing credit
- failing to use quotation marks when you quote a source
- giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
- changing a few words in a sentence but leaving the rest of it the same, with or without crediting the source
- handing in work that you already used for another assignment without crediting the source (self-plagiarism).
An important part of academic writing is acknowledging the ideas and work of others. When you do this, it allows your own analysis, ideas, and voice to shine.
Consider this scenario:
Basheer asks Microsoft Copilot to answer part of his assignment question. He copies the output he is given exactly and changes only a few words in the hopes that it won’t get detected by plagiarism software or recognised by the marker. Basheer does not reference or cite that he used Copilot in his work. He is intentionally pretending that he came up with these ideas on his own. This is plagiarism.
Collusion
Collusion is when two or more students act together to cheat, plagiarise or engage in academic misconduct, or encourage others to do so. Some examples include:
- sharing answers for an online quiz in a group chat or deliberately sharing answers in a physical exam room
- giving part or all of an assignment you have written to a friend so they can copy it
- planning or co-writing a response to an individual assignment with another student.
Be aware that leaving your work in an insecure place where other people could copy it (e.g. leaving your laptop open, forgetting to collect your printing) can lead to collusion even if you do not intend to share your work.
Consider this scenario:
Jamie is taking a subject that their sister Hannah completed last year. Jamie asks if they can look at Hannah’s assignment because they aren’t sure how to answer the question. Hannah sends Jamie her completed assignment. Even though Jamie promises not to copy it, they are obtaining an unfair advantage over their peers, and this is an example of collusion. Both Jamie and Hannah can get into trouble if they engage in collusion.
What can go wrong?
If you don’t act with academic integrity, you are likely to face penalties that can include:
- facing the misconduct process of the university
- having to repeat and/or failing the assessment task or subject
- being suspended from your degree or subject for a period of time
- being expelled and/or losing your degree
- being denied entry into your chosen profession, especially Law and Medicine
- facing criminal charges.
Give yourself the best chance
The best way to avoid cheating is to be honest with yourself and do the work. Manage your time and be prepared.
- Read widely on your topic and collect the information for your assessment yourself.
- Analyse the information and write the assessment yourself.
- Check the task requirements before using any generative AI, translation, software or online tool. Speak to your lecturers if you are unsure.
- Assess any tools or programs you choose to use to make sure that they are fit for purpose and permitted.
If you are having difficulties with your studies, seek out help. You can speak to your lecturer or tutor, access Library services to help with your assessments, or reach out to the University student support services.
Complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) in MySR to ensure that you are studying with integrity.
