Academic integrity
This information was last updated in March 2024.
Academic integrity, honesty, and a respect for knowledge, truth and ethical practices are fundamental to the business of the University. These principles govern many aspects of your behaviour whilst you are enrolled at the University.
You should revise the following information before commencing the Academic Integrity Module:
Policies
Academic integrity is not merely a set of rules to follow, but a reflection of the inherent value found in the pursuit of knowledge. It's an invitation to engage deeply and authentically with your educational journey. However, the University does have policies that describe or rights and expectations in relation to ethical academic conduct.
All students must familiarise themselves with the following:
From time to time, your course coordinator may want to discuss your construction of an assessment item with you. These discussions are a useful way to ensure you have complied with our principles of conduct. Please make sure that you retain drafts/versions of your progress prior to submission.
See How do I turn on AutoSave? and View previous versions of a file for Microsoft products such as Excel, PowerPoint or Word.
Academic misconduct
During your studies, you will engage in a range of different learning activities. Lectures, assignments, exams, research activities, practical tasks, and industry experiences, to name a few. Your involvement in academic endeavours should align with the University's Code of Conduct. Certain behaviors contradict these standards.
Being conscious of these behaviors will help you steer clear of both intentional and accidental academic breaches, which could have serious consequences.
Plagiarism
Submitting work that is not your own without acknowledging, citing or referencing the original source of the work, is known as plagiarism.
It doesn’t matter whether you do this accidentally or on purpose, whether you change the words to make them your own or simply copy and paste.
When you are using another person’s thoughts and ideas, you must reference the source material.
Recycling or resubmitting work
Recycling involves submitting (or resubmitting) work that has already been assessed, without your teacher’s permission.
For example, submitting a report that you were graded on in a first-year class as part of your work in a third-year class. If you want to build on your previous work, you should discuss this first with your Course Coordinator.
Fabricating information
Fabrication involves making up information for research-focused assessment tasks, such as experimental or interview data.
It can also include inventing sources of data, evidence or ideas by citing publications that are incorrect or that simply don’t exist.
Collusion
Collusion involves engaging in illegitimate cooperation with one or more other students to complete assessable work. This is different to working on group assignments that are set by your teachers.
Examples of illegitimate cooperation include working with a friend or group of friends to write an essay or report that is meant to be an individual piece of work. It can also include sharing quiz or test questions and answers with other students, as well as written assignments like reports and essays.
Exam cheating
Exam cheating includes:
- writing unapproved ‘cheat notes’ on your body or materials you take into the exam room;
- attempting to copy from other students;
- communicating with other students or people outside the exam venue while the exam is in progress;
- using electronic devices to access information related to the exam while it is in progress;
- bringing prohibited items, such as unapproved calculators or textbooks into exams
Contract cheating and impersonation
Contract cheating is a type of illegal commercial cheating.
It involves getting someone else to complete part or all of your work and then submitting the work as if you had completed it yourself.
This can include asking someone else to sit an exam for you or having them write an essay, report or some other kind of assignment, which is sometimes referred to as 'ghost-writing'.
Actions that support illegal contract cheating services are also considered breaches of academic integrity.
Adapted from TERTIARY EDUCATION QUALITY AND STANDARDS AGENCY, (2023). What is academic integrity? https://www.teqsa.gov.au/students/understanding-academic-integrity/what-academic-integrity
Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity
- Artificial Intelligence detection software may be used to review any work you submit.
- If you have used AI in any way other than has been expressly permitted by your course coordinator, you may be engaging in academic misconduct and be subject to penalties.
- Unlike Turnitin’s text matching functionality, results from AI detection software are not visible to students.
Assessments within your course are in place to ensure that you have met the course learning outcomes, not to test what AI tools can do.
Before deciding to use a tool like ChatGPT, check with your course coordinator or tutor to make sure that it’s permissible in your course and in that assignment and be conscious that:
- Work submitted for assessment must be your own original work.
- Follow the instructions of your course coordinator, and do not use generative artificial intelligence in any way that contradicts these instructions. If you are unsure, ask.
- From time to time, your course coordinator may want to discuss your construction of an assessment item with you. Please make sure that you retain drafts/versions of your progress prior to submission. See How do I turn on AutoSave? and View previous versions of a file for Microsoft products such as Excel, PowerPoint or Word.
- Acknowledgement is key. If you have used generative artificial intelligence in your assessment, make sure this use is correctly referenced.
- Artificial Intelligence detection software may be used to review any written work you submit.
- Make sure that you are familiar with expectations around academic integrity. Misuse of AI tools may be considered a breach of the University's Student Conduct Rule and could result in disciplinary action.
You should also note that many of the common artificial intelligence tools (such as ChatGPT) have significant limitations.
AI text generators lack understanding of the content they generate, instead they forecast the sequence of words based on an extensive repository of data. The generated output may be inaccurate, biased, or even objectionable. Visit AskUON, or refer to Issues and considerations for AI from the University Library, for more information on the limitations.
What about Grammarly?
Language editing, such as Grammarly, can be useful to improve the expression of academic writing. However, it’s always best to check with your course coordinator on whether such tools are allowable in a particular assignment.
In particular, GrammarlyGo (the generative Artificial Intelligence tool embedded within Grammarly) should only be used if your Course Coordinator has permitted use of gen AI in the assessment. If you are not sure, make sure you ask your Course Coordinator.
If AI is not allowed in a particular assessment, you should make sure that the GrammarlyGo feature is turned off in your customisation settings by using the following instructions.
Turnitin’s Artificial Intelligence Detection may flag use of Grammarly (or GrammarlyGo) in written submissions, and drafts of your work can be a useful part of any discussions around your learning and assessment.
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