Faculty of Arts

Procedures to be followed on detection of plagiarism - a guide for staff in the Faculty of Arts.

This guide sets out the procedures, in line with University policy, to be followed by staff who have detected instances of plagiarism in student work.

Step 1. Gather the evidence of plagiarism and fill in the relevant portions of the official form.

Note that according to the University guidelines, “Misconduct does not include relatively trivial breaches by an entry level student in their first 24 points of study in a course, which in the opinion of the relevant unit coordinator may routinely occur in the course of learning the techniques, methodologies and presentation conventions within an area or discipline.”

Step 2. If you are a tutor, forward the form and evidence of plagiarism to the unit coordinator.

Step 3. If you are the unit coordinator, forward the form and evidence to the Academic Conduct Adviser (ACA).

If the form has come to you from a tutor, examine the evidence and endorse the form with your signature before forwarding it to the ACA.

In the Faculty of Arts the ACA is the Associate Dean (Education), who in this context assumes the duties of the Heads of Schools as laid out in the University policy.

Step 4. The student must be informed by the unit coordinator that he or she is suspected of academic misconduct no later than when assessment items are returned to other students.

Step 5. The ACA will check the student’s level and academic misconduct record, then inform the unit coordinator of the course of action to be taken.

In most cases this will involve a brief meeting between the ACA, the unit coordinator, and the student, as required by University policy. This is an opportunity for clarifying any uncertainty on the student’s part about ethical scholarship, and also gives the student the opportunity to examine the evidence and to present mitigating circumstances. At the conclusion of the meeting the ACA will make a decision about the extent of the misconduct and apply the penalty outlined in the University policy. Alternatively, in some cases, the ACA may request that the unit coordinator alone meet with the student to issue a ‘notice of academic counselling’ and to provide advice on how to avoid plagiarism in the future.

It is University policy that no penalties can be applied in the Faculty for academic misconduct except by the ACA or the Dean.