What is academic misconduct?

Unauthorised communication with other students, using unauthorised materials, accessing an exam paper or questions in advance, or otherwise breaching exams conditions as set out in the instructions, subject outline or rules. 

Assisting another student, intentionally or recklessly, to commit academic misconduct or the unauthorised collaboration with other students on assessable work. This includes the unauthorised sharing or uploading of documents such as the subject outline and assessment task.

Getting someone else to complete part or all an assessment task for you. This may involve outsourcing to a commercial provider, current or former student, family member or acquaintance – either paid or unpaid. Contract cheating is one of the most serious forms of academic misconduct. A student found to have outsourced their work may not only receive a fail for the assessment task, but may be suspended from their studies or even expelled from the University. For more information on contract cheating, see ‘What is contract cheating?’ on AskUOW. Note: Be cautious of companies advertising contract cheating and assignment help. These services are illegal and can lead to blackmail or scams. 

Contract cheating includes: 

• Paying a company or individual to assist in producing work 
• Asking a friend, family member, or tutor to do your work
• Using unauthorised editing services

Submitting AI-generated work without permission from the subject coordinator or submitting AI-generated work where authorised but where the AI use is not acknowledged.

Falsifying or intentionally misrepresenting data, images or information in an assessment task including false citations and making an untrue statement about attendance or participation in an activity required for assessment purposes (including a professional learning placement).

Using the ideas, words, images or any form of representation made by someone else without giving proper acknowledgement. Common forms of plagiarism include copying, inadequate referencing, or self-referencing.

When submitting work, you always need to:

• Provide a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work, and
• Use the appropriate citation or referencing style for your subject or discipline 

Plagiarism can often be unintentional as a result of poor referencing. All students should familiarise themselves with the appropriate referencing guides, noting that different subjects, schools, and faculties may use different referencing styles. For the full referencing guides, see the Referencing & citing page. 

This category also extends to self-plagiarism, which is the reuse and submission of your own work which you have previously submitted for assessment, even if you submitted the work for a different subject.

Seeking an unfair academic advantage through submission of fraudulent documentation (including but not limited to medical certificates) to support an academic consideration application.