PROPER ACADEMIC PRACTICE. How to handle sources and avoid examination cheating

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1 PROPER ACADEMIC PRACTICE How to handle sources and avoid examination cheating

2 AVOID EXAMINATION CHEATING SDU requires that you are able to work independently and that examinations always reflect your efforts. When you receive your diploma, people have to be able to count on the value of your education. WHAT IS EXAMINATION CHEATING? Examination is an assessment that must provide the examiner with a chance to assess your unique performance in a particular subject. Therefore, the examiner should be able to evaluate in the smallest detail what your individual performance constitutes based on your efforts. The examiner also has to be able to trust the fact that the performance is delivered under the framework and conditions that apply to the test. If you or others do something illegal intentional or unintentional which conceals your performance or if you deliver your performance under other conditions than required, then you are assessed under false conditions and such action is examination cheating. EXAMINATION CHEATING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! Your diploma guarantees that you have the necessary competences and qualifications that appear on your certificate. If you have cheated, not only does your certificate lose its value, but the credibility of all other diplomas issued by SDU also suffer. This is the reason why examination cheating is one of the most unacceptable actions in the academic world. Examination cheating can have serious consequences for you; at worst you can be expelled from the university. It is your own responsibility to be aware of proper academic practice and methods of examination; a sanction will be imposed regardless if the breach

3 is made unintentionally or deliberately. Violations are sanctioned consistently after the "Rules Regarding Disciplinary Measures for Students at the University of Southern Denmark". EXAMPLES OF EXAMINATION CHEATING It should be emphasized that the following are examples, and that the list is not extensive. If you are in doubt, then you can ask yourself the following questions: Is it my own qualifications I show in this assignment or in this examination? If you, for example, copy a piece of text from an author, who has written about the same topic as you, you are showing the author's qualifications, and therefore it is the author who is being assessed. Do I stay within the framework and the conditions? If you, for example, use reference books in connection with an examination that does not allow examination aids, the examiner may think that you have a considerable active knowledge, but it is the reference books that are being assessed, not you. If in doubt, contact your instructor or your student counselor. In the back of this leaflet, there is a reference to links, where you can find additional information about essay writing, source referencing, and examination cheating. PLAGIARISM/COPYING It is plagiarism, when you "imitate or directly copy others' texts, without referencing the source and pointing out that the paragraph involves quotation or a summarizing re writing" (Quote from Hanne Leth Andersen and Jens Toftskov: Eksamen og eksamensformer. Betydning og bedømmelse. Samfundslitteratur. 2008). Plagiarism is many things, but in an exam situation plagiarism means that you let a text, illustration, a structure or an idea, etc. appear as if it is your own work.

4 Principles for quoting: Direct quotation should be marked as such by using, e.g., quotation marks or italics. Facts or adopted argumentation should be marked with a note, using exact source references. All material from books, the Internet, notes, unprinted material is to be treated in accordance with the above mentioned rules. Reusing own, previously turned in assignments should be treated as any other source material. To use others' text or ideas is not plagiarism as such. It is not plagiarism until the examiner thinks that you are the author. Therefore, you have to be very careful with elucidating what is your work, and what is the work of others. You have to use quotation marks, source references, and bibliographies that describe precisely, from where you retrieved the text and the ideas. It is easy to find texts on the Internet that are interesting and relevant for your assignment. Similar interesting ideas can be found in books, articles, and other exam papers also in your own previous assignments. However, if you comply with the regulations about source treatment, then the examiner is never in doubt about what your work is, and from where you got your ideas and reflections. You may use notes that have been written in your study group, but since the notes are not entirely your own, you have to disclose the source, i.e. if you have written notes together with other students, and you include these notes in your assignment without referencing, such action is a case of plagiarism. If you copy directly or paraphrase from another person's assignment, from a previous assignment of your own, from the Internet, or another source without pointing out that you have copied the text, such action is examination cheating.

5 You also have to be careful if you quote from a textbook that is used in your course. You may be inclined to think that your instructor/examiner should know from where you have retrieved your text, your argumentation, or your idea but you still have to follow the regulations concerning source treatment. A textbook is a source just like all other sources. There may be gray areas, in which you are uncertain about the necessity of referencing sources. It is possible that some information is such commonplace knowledge (e.g., Newton's Law or Maslow's hierarchy of needs) that you may refer to such knowledge in your assignment without referencing the source, but if you have any doubts, make a reference to the source. When you have made it absolutely clear what constitutes your work, there is no examination cheating, no matter how much you have quoted in your assignment. COOPERATION If the course description says that the assignment is to be solved individually, it is allowed to discuss academic issues with your fellow students, but the assignment must be your own as to reflections and wording. If you have prepared text passages with a fellow student, you are not allowed to use these passages in your paper, as if you prepared them individually. COMPLICITY If you participate in others' examination cheating, you also violate the academic regulations. For example; if you pass on your solutions during a written examination to a fellow student. You have be aware of the fact that you can put yourself in a gray area, if you pass on your written assignment as inspiration to at fellow student, who uses this assignment to at greater or lesser extent without displaying source information. The examiner cannot

6 see who originally produced the assignment. EXTERNAL HELP In connection with written examinations, it is also considered examination cheating if you have contact with other examinees/ people, even in case those people do not offer any assistance. If you bring your own PC for the written examination and you are not allowed to be online, it is considered examination cheating if you receive an e mail, also in cases where the mail does not contribute to the solution of the assignment. The same applies if you send an e mail. If you let a fellow student or a family member solve an assignment for you, it is considered examination cheating whether or not it is the whole assignment or just parts of it. You are allowed to discuss academic issues with others as long as the assignment is your own as to reflections and wording. UNAUTHORIZED EXAMINATION AIDS If you take a written exam under other conditions than required, you are assessed under false assumptions. If, for example, you have brought unauthorized aids, such action is a case of examination cheating. If you are not allowed to bring any examination aids, you cannot bring anything, neither a collection of formulas nor a dictionary. Obviously, you are not allowed to bring notes or yellow Post it notes. Similarly, you are not allowed to have written small "words of wisdom" on your arms. If you are only allowed to use a pocket calculator of a particular type, then it is cheating to bring a more advanced pocket calculator. If you, however, are allowed to bring examination aids, and you use quotations or facts in your assignment, then you have to treat the sources just like all other source material, i.e. you have to quote and reference REUSING correctly. OWN ASSIGNMENTS

7 If you reuse parts of an assignment that you have prepared for a previous purpose, you have to treat this assignment just like any other source; that is, use correct source referencing and quotation. FALSIFICATION OF DATA If you collect empirical data, it will be falsification, if you "invent" data. Thus, if you need 100 answers, and you have only succeeded in collecting 90, inventing the last 10 answers is not an acceptable solution. TIME LIMITS You have to respect the time limits that have been established for the examination, since the time factor is a part of the assessment. If you continue to work on the assignment after the examination ends or if you turn the assignment in late, then you get an advantage over your fellow students, and the assessment framework becomes invalid. If you continue to work after the written examination has ended, you commit examination cheating. If you somehow manage to correct your assignment or add additional information after the deadline, this is also a case of examination cheating. KNOWING ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT If you know about the examination assignment in advance, and you still participate in the exam, such action is examination cheating. So if you know about the assignment before the examination, you are not allowed to participate in said examination. If the mistake is SDU's, you will be offered to take a new exam.

8 ATTENDANCE INFORMATION Some courses have compulsory attendance, and the attendance in itself is considered a part of the examination. If you make a fellow student falsify your attendance by ticking your name off a list, even though you are not present, such action is a case of examination cheating. At the suspicion of examination cheating, the case is reported to the Vice Chancellor and a meeting with attendance of the Head of Studies, representatives from Registrar s Office and the student is held. After the meeting a recommendation to the Vice Chancellor regarding imposition of a possible sanction is made. If you "help" a fellow student by ticking the person in question off a list, then you help a fellow student in examination cheating. Such an action may result in a personal sanction. VIOLATION Violation of the academic regulations is treated after the "Rules Regarding Disciplinary Measures for Students at the University of Southern Denmark".

9 You can find additional information concerning the academic toolbox from these links: Examination Cheating: Click on Information for Current students Examination regulations and good advice Study Technique (academic integrity, essay writing, information handling): Click on Information for Current students Counseling Study technique The UB Test: Is your academic information handling sufficient take the UB Test: Stop Plagiarism Now: A web tutorial for students concerning plagiarism: English version: Regulations Regarding Disciplinary Measures: Click on Information for Current students Examination regulations and good advice If you are still in doubt, you can always ask your instructor, student counselor, or examiner. Registrar s Office, December 2011