Understanding Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

These links will help you quickly understand the issues around copying, paraphrasing, editing, plagiarism and correct citation.

All My Own Work - a comprehensive, easy to access guide to acknowledging sources, plagiarism and copyright.This site is from the NSW Board of Secondary Studies and will be compulsory for all NSW high school students from 2009. It has almost everything you need to know - simple!

You Quote It, You Note It! - from Acadia University, Canada. A light-hearted look at how to cite.

Searchpath Tutorial 6: Citing Sources, University of Michigan
Clear instructions about what bibliographic (source) info you need to include in a citation (reference) .

The Plagiarism Test, University of Michigan
a simple 4 question quiz which shows you exactly the difference between copying, paraphrasing (moving the words around) and creating your own scholarly interpretation.

University of NSW - an easy "Problem and Solution" approach to avoiding plagiarism.

ANU Meanings and Definitions

For the complete Code of Practice see ANU Code of Practice for Student Academic Honesty

Academic Honesty

is the principle that students' work is genuine and original, completed only with the assistance allowed according to the rules, policies and guidelines of the University. In particular, the words, ideas, scholarship and intellectual property of others used in the work must be appropriately acknowledged.

Note that "work" above includes not only written material, but in addition any oral, numerical, audio, visual or other material submitted for assessment.

Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, collusion, the fabrication or deliberate misrepresentation of data, and failure to adhere to the rules regarding examinations in such a way as to gain unfair academic advantage.

More general forms of dishonesty, not directly related to academic or scholarly activity, are not covered by this policy.

Cheating

means the breach of rules regarding formal examinations, or dishonest practice in informal examinations, tests or other assessments. Examples include the use of prohibited material or equipment for unfair advantage, and consultation with other persons during the course of the assessment where this is prohibited.

Collusion

is the involvement of more than one individual in an instance of academic dishonesty. All parties involved in such collusion are in breach of the principles of academic honesty (unless there is good evidence of innocent involvement). "Collusion" needs to be distinguished from "collaboration", defined for the purposes of this document as work jointly undertaken and produced.

Fabrication

is the representation of data, observation or other research activity as genuine, comprehensive and/or original when it is not. This includes inventing the data, using data gathered by other researchers without acknowledgment, or willfully omitting data to obtain desired results.

Originality

For the purposes of this Code, "original" work is work that is genuinely produced by the student specifically for the particular assessment task.

Plagiarism

is copying, paraphrasing or summarising, without appropriate acknowledgement, the words, ideas, scholarship and intellectual property of another person. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of that other person. Plagiarism has also taken place when direct use of others' words is not indicated, for example by inverted commas or indentation, in addition to appropriate citation of the source.

Each individual student is responsible for ensuring that they are fully informed about methods of acknowledgement appropriate to any piece of assessable work that they submit.

Recycling

is the submission for assessment of work which, wholly or in large part, has been previously presented by the same student for another assessment, either at the Australian National University or elsewhere. In some cases, lecturers will specifically allow this practice. If no specific provision to the contrary is made, submission of work for assessment a second or subsequent time constitutes a breach of this Code.

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