Mitigating Risk
Please see the seven scenarios below to learn how a student can mitigate the risk of academic misconduct. Flip each card to see what issue has arisen, and how and why the student risks violating or has violated the Academic Integrity Policy.
Suzie was working on her psychology essay. She found some great sources and copied and pasted quotes from various academic works into the Word document where she was writing her essay. She intended to paraphrase the content and properly cite and reference any quoted material, but she couldn't remember which work was hers and which work came from other sources. Suzie was tired, but she was pretty sure she managed to paraphrase, quote and cite the relevant work.
Suzie wasn't sure what work was hers and what work belonged to others. She could have accidentally plagiarised.
Next time she should:
- Have a separate document for her notes and quotes from academic work.
- Put all quoted content in quotation marks as soon as she records it and make note of the page number and source.
Suzie could have put her work through the Turnitin Self-Check. This tool would help her spot any copied content that she failed to cite or properly paraphrase.
Cian studied hard for his geography quiz, but on the day of the quiz he was so anxious that he made a mistake on the 5th question. As soon as he handed in his assignment, he realised his error, so when his lecturer returned the marked quiz, he fixed his mistake. He then told the lecturer that an error had been made in marking to get credit for the question.
Altering answers on a returned assignment is dishonest and a form of academic misconduct.
Cian should talk to his lecturer if he is struggling with the academic content, and he might consider speaking to the Academic Learning Centre and/or Counselling Services if he is overwhelmed or struggling with anxiety during examinations.
Jim has been asked to write a film review of The Shining. He has three essays due this week and he had completely forgotten about the film review. At first, he is worried about how he is going to get everything done, but then he remembers that he wrote a film review for The Shining in secondary school. He submits his old assignment and is delighted he has got back the needed time to work on his essays.
Self-plagiarism is still plagiarism. If Jim spoke with his lecturer before submitting his assignment, he would have realised he was not allowed to submit assignments submitted for other modules and programmes.
Jim is struggling with time management, he could start by downloading his assignment calendar from Moodle. He could also speak to the Academic Learning Centre about how to better manage his time and the completion of his assignments.
Aoife has been studying for her history exam for weeks, but she just can't keep all the dates and names in order. She decides to bring with her a little sheet of reminders to help her through the exam. The notes are just there to que her memory and she doesn't think her lecturer will have a problem with it.
It is academically dishonest to bring unapproved notes or a phone into an exam.
Aoife should have spoken to her lecturer first before bringing notes into an exam. Her lecturer would be able to tell her what is or isn't approved.
As Aoife is also struggling with the academic content, she might consider speaking to her lecturer about her difficulties. She might also obtain support from the Academic Learning Centre.
Jack is in his first year of college and has had a really difficult year. His grandmother passed away, and they were close. He has also struggled to make a new friendship group and is feeling really anxious about going to class. So much so, that he missed the last three lectures for his microteaching module and has fallen behind. He has a lesson plan due for this module, but he doesn't know where to begin. He had heard about an online website that sells lesson plans for students in college, and decides that, just this once, he will buy a lesson plan and submit it.
Submitting work that is not your own is a form of academic dishonesty.
Like many students, Jack's personal struggles are greatly impacting on his year and on his academic performance. It can be difficult to ask for help, but Jack isn't as alone as he thinks. There are various supports Jack might consider:
- He could get in touch with the Counselling Services to seek support.
- He could speak to his lecturer about getting an extension for the assignment.
- He could speak to Student Life and the Student Union about how he might get more involved in student activities to make some new friends.
Kieran is dyslexic but he does not want anyone to know. He is worried that if he tells others, they will judge him and think less of him. Kieran has an assignment due for history. He has taken extensive notes, put together a structure for the paper, picked all the key quotes he would like to use and selected the main arguments he wishes to make, but he is struggling to get the paper written. He decides he will put all his notes, plans, quotes and arguments into a Generative AI. It writes a paper for him which sounds okay and covers the key areas he wanted to cover. He doesn't reference his use of Generative AI as he doesn't want to explain that he is struggling with dyslexia.
Even though Kieran has used his own ideas, he has not used his own words. Because Kieran has not put the content in quotation marks and referenced the Generative AI he used, Kieran has plagiarised.
Many students have dyslexia, and the College seeks to offer support to all students.
Kieran might consider:
- Contacting the Access and Disability Office for confidential advice and to see what supports are available for students with dyslexia.
- Speaking to the Academic Learning Centre
- Using Word's AI powered spelling and grammar checker to correct his spelling and syntax.
- Asking a parent, a friend, or someone in the Academic Learning Centre to read through his assessment to give him feedback.
- If the blank screen is a big hurdle, Kieran might consider dictating rather than typing out what he would like to say.
Jill and Niamh have a maths assignment they need to complete, but neither of them is fully confident on how to go about answering the questions. They decide to work together to solve the questions and submit their work separately.
Jill and Niamh should have spoken to their lecturer to see if they could work together. If they had, they would have discovered that this was an individual assignment. Both Jill and Niamh have accidentally engaged in Academic Dishonesty.
Next time Jill and Niamh should:
- Speak to their lecturer about whether the assignment has to be done individually or not.
- Speak to the lecturer about any difficulties they are having with the module content.
- Get extra help from the Academic Learning Centre.
