The ANU Academic Integrity Rule 2021 outlines a range of actions that are breaches of academic integrity. Depending on the severity and circumstances, these may be considered as academic misconduct or as poor academic practice.
Breaches typically fall into these categories:
| Breach | Meaning |
| Plagiarism | Copying another author's (published or not) words or ideas without acknowledgment and presenting them as your own |
| Recycling/self-plagiarism | Re-using old work in new assessments |
| Collusion | Collaborating on assignments which should be completed individually |
| Ghost writing/ contract cheating | Asking or paying someone to write or rewrite your assignment, in part or whole, or doing this for someone else |
| Impersonation/cheating in exams | Completing someone else's exam, having someone complete your exam, or any behaviours in breach of exam rules |
| Fabrication | Making up data, research, references, or information in an assignment |
While sometimes these breaches are accidental or unintentional, they always carry consequences. The good thing is that there are counter-actions and behaviours we can nurture to ensure we do not breach academic integrity:
| Breach | Do Not | Do |
| Plagiarism | - Copy text from source/s verbatim
- Neglect to reference source/s in-text and in the reference list
| |
| Recycling/self-plagiarism | - Re-use words or ideas from old assignment
| - Undertake new research and writing for new tasks
- Use an earlier assignment as a starting point/inspiration, but then set it aside and produce new work
|
| Collusion | - Collaborate on assignments that should be completed independently
| - Complete individual tasks independently
- Collaborate on group/team assessments only
- If support is needed, seek legitimate forms of support, e.g. your lecturer, tutor, or Academic Skills
|
| Ghost writing/contract cheating | - Ask or pay others to write your assignments in part or whole
- Let a friend, family member, or other party rewrite or alter your assignment in part or whole
- Produce work for someone else
| - Write assignments independently
- Manage time so you have plenty of time to work on an assignment
- If support is needed, seek legitimate forms of support, e.g. your lecturer, tutor, or Academic Skills
|
| Impersonation/cheating in exams | - Ask someone to sit an exam on your behalf
- Sit an exam on someone else's behalf
- Use materials not permitted in the exam environment
| - Sit all exams yourself
- Study effectively in the months, weeks and days leading to the exam
- Manage time to ensure you have time to prepare for exams
- Consult the exam rules and guidelines so you know what is or is not permissible, and clarify with course conveners where needed
- Consult ANU Counselling for tips and strategies around managing exam anxiety
|
| Fabrication | - Make up data or information for an assignment
- Make up references
| - Present evidence and data accurately, even when it does not support your hypothesis
- Use only legitimate research sources in your assessments
|
The Best practice principles page further illustrates best practices for producing work with integrity.