Academic Honesty

Every student is considered responsible for the work that he or she presents, in either oral or written form. An oral presentation, written paper or exam must be entirely a student's own work. A student must complete that work himself or herself, except in specified cases (such as group projects) where he or she may be responsible for only part of that assessment. Information and ideas that have been taken from others must be properly acknowledged, generally in footnotes and bibliographies, whether that material is taken from published, unpublished or online sources.

The University has a new official policy and procedure concerning student plagiarism that came into effect on 4 April 2005.

The Academic Board of the University of Sydney has defined plagiarism as 'presenting another person's Work as one's own Work by presenting, copying or reproducing it without Acknowledgement of the Source. Plagiarism includes presenting Work for assessment, publication, or otherwise, that includes: (a) sentences, paragraphs or longer extracts from published or unpublished Work (including from the Internet) without Acknowledgement of the Source; or (b) the Work of another person, without Acknowledgement of the Source and presented in a way that exceeds the boundaries of Legitimate Cooperation'.

There is both negligent and dishonest plagiarism. The former involves 'innocently, recklessly or carelessly presenting another person's Work as one's own Work without Acknowledgement of the Source', and 'often arises from a student's fear of paraphrasing or writing in their own words, and/or ignorance of this Policy and Procedure'. Dishonest plagiarism 'means knowingly presenting another person's Work as one's own Work without Acknowledgement of the Source'.

This means that plagiarism is presenting written work that contains sentences, paragraphs or longer sections from published work without acknowledgement. In other cases, students reproduce portions of the work of another student and present it as their own. Plagiarism also occurs when a student borrows, buys or obtains another person's work and submits it as his or her own work.

Furthermore, using the structure of another's argument is also a form of plagiarism, even if the wording is changed. Plagiarism is not just the use of someone else's words, but also someone else's ideas or interpretations, without due acknowledgement.

The History Department encourages students to think for themselves. In assessing your work, we look for evidence of your understanding and capacity for independent thought, so we are always disappointed to discover plagiarism. Our disappointment is only mitigated by the delight of successful detection: academics have very sensitive antennae and there are many clues that will swiftly alert our suspicions. Plagiarism from the Internet, in particular, is absurdly easy to detect.

The Department's first responsibility is educative, and where plagiarism is negligent, we will alert you to the problem and suggest strategies for improvement. Regardless of the reasons for it, however, plagiarised work is never acceptable, and may fail because it does not meet the requirements of academic merit.

Where dishonesty is apparent, the Department may proceed to disciplinary measures. In the most serious cases, University procedures relating to student misconduct may be invoked and can lead to expulsion.

There is an official procedure for handling cases of plagiarism, and for appeals.

The full text of the Academic Board Policy on Academic Honesty in Coursework may be found on the University's website.

You must attach to each of your written assignments (such as essays) a signed cover sheet stating that it is your own work. The form can be collected from the SOPHI counter, and must be stapled to your assignment when you submit it. Lecturers have been instructed by the university not to mark any piece of work that is not accompanied by this signed statement