PLAGIARISM
theunionmmu.org facebook.com/theunionmmu twitter.com/theunionmmu
WHAT IS PLAGIARISM? Plagiarism basically means passing someone else’s work off as your own. Bad referencing is also considered as plagiarism and usually receives a penalty. If you are struggling with referencing please see your Faculty Student Support Officer immediately. All work submitted to the University is checked for plagiarism. A computer system called Turn It In is commonly used to check work and some departments encourage you to put your work through Turn It In before submission.
YOU CAN BE PENALISED FOR: PLAGIARISM
Copying from authors, not using quotation marks or taking sections from other people’s work and changing bits to make it look like your own. COLLUSION
Copying from other students, allowing your work to be copied or not taking reasonable steps to protect your work from being copied. Be especially careful when completing group work as many students are found to have ‘colluded or plagiarised’ each year. ATTEMPTING TO GAIN AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
Paying someone to do your work or falsifying data. CHEATING
Taking unauthorised material into an exam.
I HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER ACCUSING ME OF PLAGIARISM AND INVITING ME TO A MEETING, WHAT SHALL I DO? Attend the meeting. It will be with your Programme Leader or Head of Department and we may be able to attend this with you if you give us enough notice. In busier periods this may not be possible. If you do not attend the meeting it will happen without you and a decision will be made based on the evidence.
I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT Unfortunately bad referencing or submitting the wrong assignment is not an excuse and you will still be penalised. However if you have Exceptional Factors please come and see us.
WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES? It depends on what year you are in and if anything like this has happened before. However the general rules are as follows; Level 3/4 - If this is your first offence and your work is less than 20% plagiarised, it will be marked as it is and you will get a warning. If it is more than 20% plagiarised, you will receive a mark of 0% and you may have to repeat the assignment over the summer re-sit period. The re-submitted assignment will be capped at 40%. Level 5/6 - If this is your first offence and your work is less than 20% plagiarised, it will be capped at 40%. If your work is more than 20% plagiarised you will receive a mark of 0% and may have to repeat the assignment over the summer re-sit period. The re-submitted assignment will be capped at 40%. If you are a final year student, you may not be able to graduate when you expected to. Where there are multiple assignments involved that were submitted at around the same time they should be treated as a single occurrence. If this is your second offence or if you are a Postgraduate student or if you have been accused of cheating in your exam, the penalties are more serious. In exceptional cases your case may be forwarded to an Assessment Disciplinary Committee - this is more serious and the outcomes are more severe. If you are on a professional course, such as Law, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Social Work or Teaching, the department may want to consider whether you are professionally suitable and may have other requirements set by the Professional Standards Requirements Body. You have a right to appeal a decision – visit us to discuss this further
WHO CAN HELP ME? The advisers at Your Advice Centre can - come and visit us. We suggest that you draft a statement of events and come to an appointment at Your Advice Centre, which can be booked by calling us on 0161 247 6533. Bring the letter and evidence with you. If the letter did not include evidence, contact your Local HUB for a copy. For more detailed information on plagiarism please review Assessment Regulations for Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Programmes of Study www.mmu.ac.uk/academic/casqe/regulations/assessment.php Appendix 5.
MMU’S STUDENT SUPPORT OFFICERS CAN HELP WITH REFERENCING YOUR WORK: Manchester School of Art
Hollings Faculty
Student Hub Tel: 0161 247 1751 Email: studenthubgm@mmu.ac.uk www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/studentsupport/
Juliette Underwood Tel: 0161 247 2500 Email: j.underwood@mmu.ac.uk
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Katie Naish Tel: 0161 247 3857 Email: k.naish@mmu.ac.uk Lisa McDonagh Tel: 0161 247 6481 Email: l.mcdonagh@mmu.ac.uk www.business.mmu.ac.uk/ studentsupport/officer.php
Rochelle Morris Tel: 0161 247 1513 Email: rochelle.morris@mmu.ac.uk www.sci-eng.mmu.ac.uk/student_ support/
Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care and Faculty of Education Birley Amy Berry (Education) Tel: 0161 247 2040 Email: a.berry@mmu.ac.uk Kate Haley Tel: 0161 247 2535 Email: k.haley@mmu.ac.uk www.hpsc.mmu.ac.uk/students/ support_officer.php
Faculty of Business and Law
MMU Cheshire Mike McGarry Tel: 0161 247 5237 Email: m.mcgarry@mmu.ac.uk www.cheshire.mmu.ac.uk/students/ ssofficer.php
Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science David Peters Tel: 0161 247 6459 Email: d.peters@mmu.ac.uk www.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/student-support/
The Union, Manchester Metropolitan University Publication 2014 Disclaimer: Your Advice Centre has made every effort to ensure that the information in this leaflet is accurate. The Union cannot be held responsible for the consequences of any action taken as a result of reading this leaflet. Before taking any action you are advised to visit Your Advice Centre.
theunionmmu.org facebook.com/theunionmmu twitter.com/theunionmmu