Related links
Academic integrity
Academic integrity breaches
During your time at the University, you will be required to submit assessment tasks. We use these assessment tasks to evaluate your progress toward developing the knowledge and skills required for your qualification.
The value of your qualification is based on the University’s reputation and culture of academic integrity.
The University does not tolerate breaches of academic integrity in assessment tasks and will investigate any student who appears to have breached any policy. There are a range of penalties that can be applied, which can often have consequences for your studies at the University, and even your career after you've graduated.
What is considered an academic integrity breach?
An academic integrity breach involves any conduct that undermines the integrity of the University’s academic work and standards. Conduct may range from unintended and accidental failures to comply with academic standards or policies, to intentional acts to gain an advantage by unfair or dishonest means.
We treat suspected all suspected breaches seriously because of our commitment to academic integrity. Academic dishonesty threatens the confidence the wider community has in the University’s students, staff and alumni.
The University adopts an educational approach when breaches occur due to a lack of understanding. However, for more serious breaches, such as contract cheating, the penalties are more severe and can have significant consequences for your studies at the University and your career after graduation.
You can find more information about academic integrity breaches in the Academic Integrity Policy, 2022 (pdf, 372KB).
The following are some common behaviours we associate with breaches of academic integrity.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism means presenting work that is not your own without acknowledging the original source of the work. It doesn’t matter whether you do this on purpose or by accident – it can still amount to a breach.
Plagiarism can include copying any material without correct referencing, regardless of the medium in which the original material was published. This includes material in hard copy (books, journals, theses etc), soft copy (internet, email attachments, e-journals etc), other digital formats (audio visual, MP3s etc) and live presentations (lectures, speeches etc).
For example, it is considered plagiarism if you:
- copy ideas, phrases, paragraphs, formulas, methods, evidence, programming code, diagrams, images, artworks or musical scores without correctly referencing where it came from
- copy from another student’s work without indicating this is what you have done
- mention the source in your bibliography but do not reference content properly in the main body of your work, so the assessor does not know what work is your own
- change the order of words taken from other material but retain the original idea or concept, without correct referencing
- quote from a speech or lecture without acknowledging the speaker
- quote from a secondary source, without acknowledging the primary source.
Not all acts of plagiarism are intentional. In some situations, it may be caused by your failure to understand the requirements of referencing. If this occurs early in your candidature and you have no prior breaches on record, you might be found to have committed a ‘minor breach’ only, and you will be directed to complete a development activity. You might also have a small mark penalty applied.
Plagiarism will be considered more serious where you have done it on purpose, repeatedly, or if the amount of copied or unacknowledged work dominates your own original work.
What’s not plagiarism
It is not considered plagiarism if:
- the ideas or words are commonly used and there is no other way to express them
- you have made the discovery yourself through experimentation or analysis
- you have combined the work and ideas of others to reach your own conclusion and have acknowledged these sources in the body of your work.
Learn more about avoiding plagiarism and referencing.
Recycling/resubmitting work
Recycling involves resubmitting work that has already been assessed, for which you have already been given feedback.
It is fine to generally build on concepts you have previously developed, but it is not okay to copy and paste directly from previous assignments.
If, in an assignment, you want to draw on work you have already been assessed on, speak to your lecturer, tutor or supervisor about how to do this legitimately.
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 including citations to publications that are incorrect or that simply don’t exist.
By making this information up you don’t benefit from the learning and skill development involved in gathering this information properly.
Collusion
Collusion involves engaging in illegitimate cooperation with one or more other students in the completion of assessable work.
We usually think of cooperation between students as legitimate (or appropriate) if it involves discussing general themes, ideas and concepts being taught in a unit of study. It is also legitimate to discuss assignment instructions and marking criteria. You can do this with just one of your friends or you might want to consider setting up a small study group that meets regularly.
Cooperation is not legitimate if it unfairly advantages a student, or group of students, over others. It can 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, or sharing written assignments like reports and essays.
If you’re not sure if the way you are working with other students is legitimate, you should first ask yourself: 'Am I willing to tell my teacher about this?' If your answer to this question is no, then you are probably not cooperating in a way that is academically honest.
Exam cheating
Make sure you're aware of our exam rules and regulations and that you know how to prepare for exams.
Exam cheating involves a number of different behaviours, which can include:
- writing cheat notes on your arms, legs or another part of your body
- taking prohibited materials into an exam, such as cheat notes, textbooks, or unapproved phones, tablets or calculators
- attempting to communicate with or copy from another student during an exam
- using electronic devices, such as a smartphone or smartwatch, to access information related to the exam while it is in progress
- discussing an exam with someone else outside the exam venue while it is in progress
- allowing another person or a service, to complete or contribute to all or part of an examination
- removing confidential examination papers from an exam venue.
Contract cheating
There doesn’t have to be a payment for something to be considered contract cheating.
Contract cheating involves getting someone else to complete all or part 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 'ghostwriting'.
You can be accused of contract cheating if you:
- buy a completed assignment from a ‘tutoring’ or ghostwriting company
- ask a partner, friend or family member to write part or all of an assignment for you
- pay a private tutoring company to coach you on how to complete an assignment
- submit 'model' assignment answers provided by a private tutor or tutoring company
- get someone to sit an exam for you
- sit an exam for someone else
- buy, sell or swap completed assignments or assignment answers via 'sharing' websites or social media platforms.
The University takes contract cheating, misconduct and impersonation very seriously and applies severe penalties under the University of Sydney (Student Discipline) Rule.
Engaging in contract cheating can result in failing your unit of study, or even suspension or expulsion from the University. Cheating could also undermine your future employment and career prospects and may affect your registration with professional associations, employer groups, and federations.
Contract cheating is also illegal under Australian law.
The difference between genuinely tutoring someone, and helping them cheat
Many companies market themselves to students as offering ‘tutoring support’ or ‘assignment help’, when in effect they are facilitating cheating. These companies might also call themselves ‘exam helpers’, ‘education assistants’ or similar.
While some of the services these companies offer are legitimate, many of them are not, and many of their practices directly contravene integrity policies. This could include providing explicit, step-by-step instructions for how to complete assignments or ‘model answers’. At the worst level it could include sitting exams on behalf of a student, or writing whole assessments on behalf of a student.
Having someone else provide you with the answer is considered contract cheating, and you are not genuinely learning in the process.
Contract cheating is different to legitimate tutoring, in which students are guided to gradually improve as learners, in a way that transfers to non-assessment settings - rather than being given easy shortcuts or unfair advantages with the primary purpose of helping students achieve a particular grade.
Contract cheating companies are prolific near campuses and student areas, handing out pamphlets or free giveaways or even holding social events. They are also present on websites and social media platforms.
Be careful: just because a person or group calls themselves a ‘tutor’ or ‘tutoring company’, it doesn’t mean they are legitimate. Using their services could result in severe consequences both at University and even beyond.
Blackmail, extortion and scams
When a student engages with a contract cheating company based in Australia, in many cases the work is actually outsourced to individuals offshore. When engaging with these companies, you don’t know where your personal data is going. Your personal data can be at risk.
Contract cheating companies have been known to steal students’ money or personal details. And some contract cheating companies blackmail students who buy completed assignments off them or receive other unauthorised assistance, threatening to tell the university that the student has cheated unless a sum of money is paid by the student. This can even happen long after the student has graduated, which could lead to a qualification being revoked.
Other behaviours associated with contract cheating
The following behaviours are associated with contract cheating and may be considered personal misconduct by the University. In some cases, these behaviours might also be against the law.
Such behaviours include:
- Uploading the University's copyright teaching materials such as unit of study outlines, lecture slides and assignment questions to 'study notes' sharing websites so that you can access documents uploaded by other students.
- Selling or sharing the University's teaching materials with private tutoring or ghostwriting companies.
- ·Booking University venues on behalf of private tutoring companies who illegally use the University's teaching materials to provide their own services to students for payment.
- Providing your UniKey login details to private tutoring and ghostwriting companies so that they can access teaching materials hosted in Canvas.
Unauthorised use of digital technologies, including generative artificial intelligence
You may only use automated writing tools that significantly alter your writing such as translation software, paraphrasing tools, or generative AI tools (including Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT) if your unit coordinator has expressly permitted them for your whole class. You will need to acknowledge where and how you have used them, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.
The unapproved use of AI tools in the completion of assignments, or failing to acknowledge their use, is considered to be a breach of academic integrity.
To find more information about the use of AI in assessable work, visit our artificial intelligence page.
Last updated: 22 August 2024
