Related links
Academic integrity
- Academic integrity
- Academic policy updates in 2023
- Academic integrity breaches
- Detection and investigation of academic integrity breaches
- Artificial intelligence
Detection and investigation of academic integrity breaches
The university takes academic integrity very seriously and will investigate any student suspected of committing a breach.
The Academic Integrity Policy 2022 (pdf, 372KB) and Academic Integrity Procedures, 2022 (pdf, 343KB) outline the procedure for handling incidents of academic integrity breaches.
If a tutor, marker or other staff member suspects you’ve breached the academic integrity policy, they will usually go to the relevant unit coordinator who’ll assess whether there’s evidence of a breach, and if so, determine what type of breach.
Some minor breaches can be handled by unit coordinators locally while more serious breaches are referred to the relevant faculty’s Educational Integrity Coordinator or one of its nominated academics for investigation.
The most serious instances of suspected cheating are handled under the misconduct process, which is governed by the University of Sydney (Student Discipline) Rule and handled by the Registrar.
Minor breach
These are small breaches of academic integrity requirements that can reasonably be attributed to inadvertence or a failure to fully understand referencing requirements or acceptable academic practice.
For example, not including quotation marks around a direct quotation or minor breaches of examination conditions.
Outcome and investigation
- If it has been determined that you have committed a minor breach in academic integrity, you will be sent a letter (via email) outlining the steps to resolve the matter.
- You will be required to complete an approved development course and may receive a small, remedial mark reductions to remove any advantage that could be gained through inappropriate academic practice.
- This is an opportunity for you to learn about the required standards of referencing and improve for future assessments.
Minor breaches may be determined by your unit coordinator (such as those relating to low-level plagiarism or recycling of previously assessed material). If you have a prior record of an academic integrity breach, the case cannot be handled locally by your unit coordinator and will instead be directed to the Faculty’s Educational Integrity team to be assessed.
Major breach
More serious forms of academic integrity breaches include persistent or reckless disregard for accepted academic practice. For example, making no attempt to acknowledge source material or fabricating citations.
Two or more minor breaches can also constitute a major breach.
Outcome and investigation
If the matter relates to a potentially more serious academic integrity breach, the Faculty Educational Integrity team will carry out an initial investigation in which they will consider why the incident was reported.
Before determining if the allegation has been substantiated, the Faculty Educational Integrity team will give you written notice that:
- informs you of the allegation
- provides instructions on how you should respond and a timeframe to respond
- requests you to attend a meeting or submit a written response.
Once you have responded to the formal allegation, or the time allowed for you to respond has elapsed, the Faculty Educational Integrity team will consider your response and the evidence. All available evidence will be considered. This may include the work you submitted, similarity-detection software reports from Turnitin, source publications, examination incident reports and prohibited materials confiscated during an examination.
They will then determine what outcome will be applied to the allegation.
The Faculty Educational Integrity team will inform you of the outcome and if you are required to complete a development course, or if the matter has been escalated to the Registrar.
Misconduct
Misconduct includes contract cheating, repeated academic integrity breaches, or breaches deemed by the decision maker to warrant a larger penalty than for those available ‘major’ breaches.
Misconduct has the same meaning as is outlined in the University of Sydney (Student Discipline) Rule (pdf, 162KB), and will be dealt with in the same manner.
Responding to an allegation
Before you respond to an allegation either at a meeting or in writing, we recommend seeking advice and support from one of the independent student advocacy services. These services are free, confidential and independent of the University. Their caseworkers are well-versed in university processes and can guide you through the best course of action.
- Undergraduate: contact the Caseworker Help service provided by the Students’ Representative Council
- Postgraduate: contact the Postgraduate Advocacy Service provided by the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA).
Be cautious of external companies claiming to assist with academic cases. They falsely advertise high success rates, charge high fees, and may encourage unethical practices. They also are not acquainted with the University’s systems and processes.
If you are requested to attend a meeting, it will usually take about 15 to 20 minutes and will include at least you, the Educational Integrity Coordinator from your faculty, and a professional staff member from the faculty. You can bring a support person, and occasionally your teacher or examination invigilator (supervisor) will also be asked to attend.
Turnitin
All text-based or written work that is submitted for assessment will be checked for plagiarism by being passed through text-matching or similarity-detection software such as Turnitin. Other assessment items, such as presentations or programming code may also be checked this way.
Turnitin checks if the work being submitted has been used in other assessments, used in scholarly journals or news media, or has already been posted online. It can also check for AI use.
An originality report and score is produced to be assessed by academic staff. There is no set score that counts as plagiarism; it is up to the assessor to deem whether there are potential integrity concerns that warrant investigation.
You should avoid using third-party similarity or AI detection sites,as these sites may misuse your work without your permission.
Reporting suspected breaches
Any university staff member or student can report suspected academic integrity breaches.
As a student, you can contact the Office of Educational Integrity at educational.integrity@sydney.edu.au to report an incident. You can do this anonymously.
You can also report academic dishonesty involving students or staff engaged in research-related activities to the Research Integrity and Ethics Administration at research.integrity@sydney.edu.au.
Last updated: 02 August 2024
