Academic Misconduct

Academic Misconduct 

Academic Misconduct is defined by the University as either an attempt by a student to gain an unfair advantage in an assessment or to assist another student to do so. This can be done in a variety of ways including:
 

• Cheating: behaving in a dishonest way to gain an academic advantage;
• Collusion: an agreement between people acting together in order to deceive or cheat;
• Fabrication: making up data, information or references;
• Impersonation: assuming a student's identity with intent to provide an advantage for the student;
• Self-Plagiarism/Duplication: submitting work that has already been used for assessment purposes;
• Buying someone else's work: whether the work has been written or produced specifically for you or not, but where money or other benefits have been exchanged.

Cheating in examinations is also defined as Academic Misconduct. Examples include:

• Taking notes or other unauthorised material into an examination, or temporarily leaving the examination to refer to such material;
• The use of an unauthorised dictionary;
• Obtaining an advance copy of an unseen examination paper;
• Taking away paperwork designated not to be removed from an examination 

Writing essays and preparing for exams can be stressful, difficult and confusing. There may be times when you have paraphrased some work or referenced something and are unsure if it is done correctly. The University of Northampton have guides you can access from the Skills Hub (on a laptop or tablet is best), here you can view factsheets which explain how to reference, have good academic integrity, how to write essays, literature reviews, reports, reflective writing, annotated bibliographies and more.

You can also book a 1-1 appointment with an academic librarian to support you with your referencing and work. You can book this by logging in to the student hub (on your phone or laptop) and clicking ‘academic skills tutorials’. 
 
If you are facing an allegation of academic misconduct, please contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 01604 89 2272