Academic misconduct
To encourage its students to develop good habits of scholarship, the University has established guidelines to help avoid academic misconduct, which includes cheating or attempting to cheat through:
- Colluding with another student to present work that is not their own
- Collaborating inappropriately with someone to submit work that is not their own
- Plagiarising by copying and presenting information as original work
- Misrepresenting or fabricating data or other information
- Sourcing and using electronic information without acknowledging the original text
- Breaching rules for the conduct of examinations so that the purpose of assessment is compromised
Misconduct at UWA
The University has classified academic misconduct into three levels of severity. The following guide to the ways someone can commit a breach of the University’s academic misconduct rules applies to all levels of study and work at UWA.
Level 1: minor academic misconduct
This is misconduct that is caused by careless practices and/or neglect of specific guidelines for instance:
- Minor plagiarism, such as inadequate or inconsistent referencing or paraphrasing that is too close to the original text. If less than 10% of the original is plagiarised then this is considered to be a level 1 misdemeanor
- Minor copying of material, such as copying one or two sentences
Level 2: moderate academic misconduct
This is moderate breach of ethical scholarship, which includes but is not limited to:
- Including plagiarised material of between 10-25% in an assessable task
- Recycling an item of assessment from one class and resubmitting it in complete or substantial form for another class or another assessment
- Fabricating or falsifying data
- Colluding with another student about assessable work and submitting it as individual work
Level 3: major academic misconduct
Serious breaches of academic misconduct include:
- Major plagiarism (more than 25%)
- Cheating in examinations including:
- Bringing in or referring to unauthorised material in an examination
- Communicating with others in an examination
- Reading the work of other examinees in an examination
- Engaging in or agreeing to any dishonest act
Penalties for academic misconduct
Level 1: minor academic misconduct
First instance: The student will be counseled and given the chance to revise and resubmit his or her work. There will be no penalty with respect to grades and the normal assessment scale will apply
Second instance: Marks will be deducted consistent with the level of misconduct. There will be no opportunity to revise and resubmit the work
Third instance: The assessment will be given zero marks
Level 2: moderate academic misconduct
First instance:
- If no previous record of academic misconduct has been recorded against the student, the Head of School or Director of Studies may determine that no grading penalty be imposed and the student be allowed to review and resubmit
- If a record of misconduct has been recorded, then marks consistent with the extent of the misconduct will be deducted from the final grade
Second instance: A fail for the unit or skill area will be recorded
Third instance: The student will be awarded a fail and may be reported for unsatisfactory academic progress
Level 3: major academic misconduct
First instance: The student is deemed to have failed the unit or skill area. He or she will be counseled by the Director of Studies and warned that further breaches will be referred to CELT’s Director.
Second instance: The student will fail all assessment tasks for the term. He or she will be referred to CELT’s Director and given a letter stating that he or she is in danger of making unsatisfactory academic progress.
Third instance: The students will fail all assessment tasks for the term and will receive a second and final letter warning of unsatisfactory academic progress. This may result in an exclusion from studying at the Centre for English Language Teaching and cancellation of student visa.