As a student, you are expected to cooperate in the learning process throughout your Programme of study by completing assignments of various kinds that are the product of your own study or research. For most students this does not present a problem, but occasionally, whether unwittingly or otherwise, a student may commit some form of academic malpractice (academic malpractice is cheating), or poor academic practice when carrying out an assignment. This may occur because a student is accustomed to different conventions, due to their prior educational experience. It can also occur through general ignorance of what is expected of them.
Academic malpractice is a serious offence and students found to have committed it will be penalised. You could be awarded zero, be required to re-submit the assignment, or be excluded from the Programme. Academic malpractice includes plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), collusion, fabrication or falsification of results and anything else intended by those committing it to achieve credit that they do not properly deserve.
We also review instances of ‘poor academic practice’ which involves minor infringement of examination conditions or accepted citation practice where there is evidence that the student did not apply the appropriate rules of the assessment or academic writing, and/or where the extent of copied or possessed material does not meet the level of significance such that it can be considered academic malpractice. Poor academic practice will not usually instigate disciplinary proceedings but will be taken into account through our marking processes.
Every student must read the University of Manchester’s full statement on Academic Malpractice which has additional detail on both malpractice and poor practice. It is your responsibility to ensure you are complying with the regulations.
The University uses electronic systems for the purposes of detecting plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for marking. Such systems include TurnitinUK and the plagiarism detection service used by the University. You may be asked to submit electronic versions of your work to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems (this requirement may be in addition to a requirement to submit a paper copy of your work). If you are asked to do this, you must do so within the required timescales.
The Programme also reserves the right to submit work handed in by you for formative or summative assessment to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University.
When work is submitted to the relevant electronic systems, it may be copied and then stored in a database to allow appropriate checks to be made.
See: University Guidance to Students on Plagiarism and other Forms of Academic Malpractice