8 Jan 2020
You’ve got this: Don’t risk your degree by cheating
Surely no one at the University cheats in their studies? Well sadly it does happen, and the penalties can be serious. You could lose marks, fail your assignment or even have your studies terminated.
Check you’ve followed our good scholar guide below before you submit your assignment:
1. Get your referencing right
Make sure you know how to reference for your subject. If you don’t get it right, it’s called poor scholarship and could mean a drop of around 10% in your overall mark.
Check with your tutor which referencing method they expect you to use and read the guidance on referencing via the University Library website. Remember, you need to reference any diagrams and tables you use in your assignment as well as text.
If you copy from an external source and don’t reference it, you’re committing plagiarism – stealing someone else’s work and ideas and claiming them as your own. This could result in a formal reprimand or losing some or even all of your marks.
If in doubt, speak to your tutor or the academic librarians for advice.
2. Don’t copy other people’s work
Never copy someone else’s work. This is also plagiarism and means you’ll be subject to the University’s academic misconduct procedures.
The University has a range of software programmes such as Turnitin that can match text, computer code, mathematics formulae and diagrams, remembering everything ever submitted including all previous student assignments. So it’s really not worth the risk.
Did you know copying your own work from other assignments is known as self-plagiarism? It carries the same penalties as copying someone else. You can’t gain credit twice for the same piece of work – even if you do reference yourself correctly!
3. Don’t share your work with your peers
Never share any part of your work with others. If you do, you’re potentially allowing someone else to cheat and you’ll be found guilty of collusion. This means both you and the person you’ve shared your work with will be committing academic misconduct.
4. Never claim someone else’s work is yours
Allowing or paying someone else to do your assignment for you is known as contract cheating.
It doesn’t matter if a family member or friend completed it, or if it was a service you paid for. Even if they only change your work slightly, it’s no longer all your own work. Is it really worth it when there’s the risk of not being awarded your degree?
If you’re concerned in any way about your studies, coursework or exams, speak to your personal academic tutor or your lecturer or contact Student Services at the University.
If you think you might be cheating or you’ve received an allegation letter from the University, you can contact LSU Advice in the Students’ Union for independent, confidential and non-judgemental advice.