2.10 Dealing with Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
Summary

It is essential that the School safeguards both the academic standards and integrity of our awards as well as the interests of the majority of students who work hard for their degree through their own merits.

Suspected cases of academic misconduct are managed and considered in accordance with the School's Student Disciplinary Policy which provides definitions and examples of the different types of academic misconduct.

Turnitin

Canvas is fully integrated with Turnitin in order to help identify possible academic misconduct - you will be given help by staff should you need it.

Turnitin is a text-matching software that assists in detecting plagiarism/collusion by highlighting similarities.  It compares student submissions against a large repository of internet documents and data, periodicals, journals and publications, and previously submitted student papers.  It then creates an ‘Originality Report’ which indicates where text in a student's submission has been matched to another source.

It is important to note that Turnitin does not definitively prove or disprove that academic misconduct has taken place - the Originality Report must be reviewed and interpreted before determining whether plagiarism or collusion has occurred.  However, you are advised to use Turnitin as it is an extremely useful tool in detecting misconduct.

Process for Suspected Academic Misconduct

If you suspect academic misconduct, you must raise the allegation with the relevant Programme Office and supply them with the relevant information (i.e. the evidence of the misconduct) so that the allegation can be investigated.

The Programme Office manages the formal process for considering all cases of academic misconduct.  At the end of the process the decision on the outcome and the application of an appropriate sanction is made by a senior faculty member (normally the relevant Academic Director) and a senior administrator (normally the relevant Programme Director).

Following the formal process is imperative for consistency - please do not try and come up with your own penalties as these may violate School policies and ultimately lead to appeals from students.

If you do refer a case of academic misconduct please be vigilant in checking up on the progress of what is happening.  If you have any concerns you should reach out to the Head of Quality Assurance, the Deputy Dean and/or Academic Directors.