Summary of the Penalties for Cheating, Collusion and Plagiarism

Rules of Conduct for Assessment Tasks

All work in each individual assessment task must be the work of the student. Penalties apply if the student is deemed to have cheated, colluded or plagiarised in their assessment task in any way and will not have that work accepted as valid evidence of their achievement. Cheating is when the student engages in a dishonest act to gain an unfair advantage. Collusion is when a student submits work that in not their own work in its entirety as it has been created in secret cooperation between two or more students. Plagiarism is when a student uses or copies someone else’s words or ideas without acknowledging that they have done so and presents this work as their own. It is not acceptable for a student to submit work that is prepared or substantively contributed to by another person. The student is not to use identical, paraphrased, summarised work of another person. Work that is seen to be identical, copied or downloaded from the internet or similar material to a published work that is not referenced or footnoted will be deemed as not the students own work.

In all instances where it is suspected that the student has cheated, colluded or plagiarised, the teacher will investigate the matter, and in conjunction with the Head of Department will issue a penalty if the student is found to have submitted work that is not truly their own work. Students may be required to submit another task to complete course requirements, but no mark or Grade will be given for that work. Students who allow their work to be copied will also be penalised. Each case will be considered individually; however, as a general rule, students can expect to have at least 50% of their marks deducted if they allow their work to be copied or share it with other students. The parents of the offending students will be informed of the penalty and any further disciplinary action.

Where there is more than one class taking the same course, in their own interests students must not discuss the nature of the questions with the students from the other classes until after all classes have completed the task. Discussion of the questions will be treated as collusion and the students will be penalised. Students are reminded that they should provide work that has only been prepared by them, use their own words in research and reference and acknowledge sources in the correct manner.

Summary of the Penalties for Cheating, Collusion and Plagiarism

Action Penalty

Cheating Students who have been found to cheat during a task will be awarded a mark of zero for that assessment. Collusion If students share work and then pass it as their own, the student who has copied the work will be given a mark of zero. The student who has shared their work with another will have at least a 50% penalty applied to the mark of that task. Plagiarism If plagiarism is scattered throughout the Assessment Task, a mark of zero will be awarded. If plagiarism is in one section of an articulated Assessment Task, a mark of zero will be awarded for that section of the task. Please refer to Appendix 2 for detailed information about the PMACS Academic Integrity and Referencing Guide.