The purpose of this essay is to discuss how academic misconduct such as collusion, plagiarism, cheating and fabrication can be avoided by having good academic writing and study skills.
Academic misconduct is any type of cheating associated with academic assessment. This form of misconduct is common amongst students of varying education levels and is often driven by students' temptation to gain an unfair advantage in assessments (Robert Gordon University, n.d.). This is likely due to high expectations from families and peer pressure when friends attain better grades. They feel a need to prove that they can do better and the simplest way is by committing academic misconduct.
Each university handbook contains information on student's code of conduct which suggests the expectations of student during their period of study. Academic misconduct is a dishonest act which is prohibited by the student's code of conduct. University of Hertfordshire (2010) provides their students the Faculty Guidelines for Referencing and Bibliographical Citation to avoid accusations of any form of academic misconduct. It demonstrates clear detail of citing sources in text and in referencing list.
The University of Hertfordshire (2010) handbook states that if the student is found guilty of offence, the university's Board of Examiners will decide on an appropriate punishment. This is a serious case and students might be withdrawn from their course (University of Wolverhampton, n.d.). All institutions value students who put in effort and show academic integrity in completing their assignments. These are students who deserve to be rewarded with degrees in their programmes.
University of Wisconsin-Madison (2006) suggests that it is important for students to identify the areas of academic misconduct, the university's expectations of student and the consequences in any academic misconduct to avoid such allegations.
University of the West of England, Bristol (2010) describes collusion as working in a group to produce a joint piece of work which a student presents as their individual effort. Collusion is likely to occur in teamwork as it is necessary for team members to work together to develop methodology, collect raw data (University of York, n.d.) and results. However, each individual's report of the analysis of raw data, presentation of results and expression of arguments or discussion should be of individual's own.
University of Ballarat (2010) defines plagiarism as passing off any presentation of someone else's idea as without proper acknowledgement or citation. According to James Cook University (2010), this expression of idea can be in a form of diagrams, sketches, pictures, objects, text and definition of words, work and thoughts. According to Griffith University (n.d.), the sources can be from books, articles, theses, unpublished works, working papers, seminar and conference papers, internal reports, lecture notes or tapes.
Plagiarism is not only direct copying of another person's work but also the reproduction of the person's ideas (James Cook University, 2010). Hence, even paraphrasing of sentences require acknowledgement of origin by citing the references clearly. According to Decoo & Colpaert (2002), the seriousness of plagiarism depends on the quantity of plagiarised material. It is considered a minor plagiarism when a few paragraphs are used and a major plagiarism where whole chapters are used.
Cheating is bringing any unauthorised material into an examination hall in attempt to gain special consideration (University of Hertfordshire, 2010) and includes, for example, all breaches of examination room rules, impersonating another candidate, falsifying data and obtaining an examination paper in advance of its authorised release (University of Wolverhampton, n.d.).
Fabrication is the falsification of data. Some examples from University of California, Los Angeles (n.d.) includes "the making up of data, changing data to support hypothesis and deliberately included resources which were not used."
Gillett (2010) demonstrates that academic writing is a process which starts from understanding the task given and doing research. The next stage involves planning and writing various drafts. It is followed by proof-reading and editing before leading to the final text. Lomanno (2009) also suggests the writer plan properly by brainstorming in order to write a more effective essay.
As academic writing involves a thorough research and understanding of the topic, a range of information and evidence is used for evaluation. These externally sourced information must be referenced to acknowledge the ideas used from the various authors.
Edinburgh Napier University (2009) demonstrates two parts of referencing. One is referencing within text which includes quoting and paraphrasing. Ohio University (2010) suggests putting quotation marks around the passage taken and add indication of its origin by using a footnote. University of California, Berkeley (2002) suggests treating the passage as direct quotation if the writer copies the author's words exactly. The sources are referenced at the end of each sentence or paragraph for the reader to validate that these sources are used by writer.
Students should paraphrase and explain in own words as much as possible. Other than showing a good understanding of given topic, it also avoids collusion when working in a same group where raw data and methodologies are alike.
Another is the reference list at the end of the academic writing which contains full detail of all the sources used. This reference list ensures that the sources used matches with the citations, hence clearly avoids plagiarism as the writer acknowledges the various authors. According to University of Hertfordshire's handbook (2010), improper referencing or no referencing and passed work as student's own will be penalised for plagiarism offences.
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Providing evidences to support the writer's idea avoid fabrication as the reader can verify that there is no falsification of data. Sources used are referenced at the end of each sentence or paragraph for the reader to validate that these sources are used by writer.
Students should have a good understanding of academic misconduct and what is required of them by abiding the university's Student's Code of Conduct. Having good academic writing skills and study skills can limit the potential for academic misconduct by acknowledging ideas of authors by clearly citing references used and supporting evaluation with evidences.
Refer to PPT.
Students can avoid collusion by not discussing information in detail.
Study skills
Referencing List
Colpaert, J. & Decoo, W. (2002). Crisis on Campus: Confronting Academic Misconduct. Hong Kong: MIT Press
Edinburgh Napier University. (2009). Referencing. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from
http://www2.napier.ac.uk/gus/managing_information/referencing.html
Gillett, A. (n.d.). Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from
http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
Griffith University. (n.d.). Studying with Open Universities Australia. Retrieved November 22, 2010 from
http://www.griffith.edu.au/oua/studying.html
James Cook University. (2010). Glossary of Terms for Policies in the Student and Teaching & Course Management chapters of the Policy Library. Retrieved November 22, 2010 from
http://www.jcu.edu.au/policy/teaching/JCUDEV_005410.html
Lomanno, K. (2009). What is Academic Writing? How to Write Effectively for High School and College. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from
http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-academic-writing-a145723
Ohio University. (2010). Academic Misconduct. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from
http://www.ohio.edu/judiciaries/academic-misconduct.cfm
Robert Gordon University. (2010). Information for Students on Academic Misconduct. Retrieved November 22, 2010 from
http://www4.rgu.ac.uk/academicaffairs/assessment/page.cfm?pge=7088
University of Ballarat. (2010). Plagiarism. Retrieved December 7, 2010 from
http://www.ballarat.edu.au/student/learning_support/generalguide/ch01s05.shtml
University of California, Berkeley. (2002). Preventing Academic Dishonesty. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/prevent.html
University of California, Los Angeles. (n.d.). Things you don't want to do. Retrieved November 26, 2010 from
http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/col/bruinsuccess/05/04.cfm
University of Hertfordshire. (2010). Undergraduate handbook. University of Hertfordshire
University of the West of England, Bristol. (2010). Assessment Offences. Retrieved 8 December, 2010 from
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/currentstudents/assessments/assessmentoffences.aspx
University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2006). Academic Misconduct. Retrieved November 25, 2010 from
http://students.wisc.edu/saja/misconduct/UWS14.html
University of Wolverhampton. (n.d.). How to Avoid Academic Misconduct: A guide for Students. Retrieved November 25, 2010 from
http://www2.wlv.ac.uk/webteam/curr_sdts/sharpen/ss-HowtoAvoidAM.doc
University of Wolverhampton. Read Write Pass.
University of York. (2010). Plagiarism and Collusion. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from
http://www.york.ac.uk/biology/ugrad/current/common/plagiarism.htm
UH referencing guidelines
