5. Acts of academic misconduct can take many forms. Depending on the nature of the allegation, you may be referred to an Academic Concern Meeting (ACM) to discuss allegations of poor academic practice, or an Academic Conduct Panel (ACP) for allegations of misconduct in coursework or examinations. Indicative definitions are given below, although these are not exhaustive and not intended to constrain or determine the findings of the Panels. There may be other acts or behaviours that are intended to deceive, which may result in you being penalised under this Regulation, or another Regulation such as the Student Fitness to Practise Regulations or the Disciplinary Regulations and Procedures. Broad examples of unoriginal work have been defined by Turnitin as a plagiarism spectrum.

6. Poor academic practice is the least serious type of academic misconduct. We acknowledge that you may need time to learn university expectations, requirements, and values. Poor academic practice is related to underdeveloped study and writing skills. This may arise from the following:

* lack of understanding of the standard methods of referencing and acknowledgement: e.g., attributing the source of words, ideas and diagrams in your work; acknowledging collaboration with another student; observing correct behaviour in an examination
* where the extent can be considered so slight that it does not justify further investigation or a sanction, e.g., errors made through naivety or carelessness.
* where you are new to studying in a) Higher Education, b) the University or c) are in your first year of study with us, and therefore unfamiliar with how to write and present work in accordance with our assessment requirements.

We would not consider a case as poor academic practice where there is an indication that you intended to gain an unfair advantage by your actions, or if you have been warned previously about poor academic practice.

7. Plagiarism: using the ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students), with or without their consent, incorporating them into your own work, and submitting the assessment piece as if it was your own original work. Plagiarism may take the form of direct copying and pasting from existing published sources, reproducing or paraphrasing ideas, sentences, drawings, graphs or other graphical material from printed matter, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement. Plagiarism also includes using the work of another that has been written in one language and then translated and submitted under your name. Translation includes direct verbatim copying of translated material, copying and re-arranging material, as well as taking the ideas and findings of the material without attribution. It is also an act of plagiarism to use paraphrasing software to reword the work of others without clear attribution of the original source.

8. Self-plagiarism: submission of work that is the same as, or broadly like, assessments you have submitted previously for academic credit, but without proper acknowledgement or the prior consent of the module leader for subsequent assessments. This may have been work submitted to this University or another institution for awarded credit. For clarity, this would not normally include work submitted for reassessment within the same module. It is not our intention to prevent you from developing an academic idea over the period of your study or within preparatory modules. Rather, it is to ensure that you do not receive credit twice for the same piece of work.

9. Contract cheating/concerns over authorship: This form of misconduct involves another person (or artificial intelligence) creating the assignment which you then submit as your own. Examples of this sort of misconduct include: buying an assignment from an ‘essay mill’/professional writer; submitting an assignment which you have downloaded from a file- sharing site; acquiring an essay from another student or family member and submitting it as your own; attempting to pass off work created by artificial intelligence as your own. These activities show a clear intention to deceive the marker and are treated as misconduct.

10. Trading material or writing for others: It is misconduct to sell, trade or create work for another student to submit under their own name. This includes exchanging work with current students at this University; supplying your work to an agency, file-sharing service, or essay mill; promoting the services of an essay supply service to students for commission.

11. Collusion: the unauthorised collaboration between two or more students, which may involve third parties, in the preparation and production of an assessment, which is then submitted individually by each student as their own work. This can occur in coursework and exam tasks. It is not collusion if the assignment rubric permits the submission of a single piece of work with several student authors. If collusion is suspected, and following investigation it cannot be established who is responsible, all students involved will be deemed responsible.

12. Cheating: unfair behaviour in an in-person or online exam, and any behaviours which contravene the Examination Conduct Policy. This may include, but is not limited to, actions such as:

• continuing to write after the invigilator has announced the end of the examination.
• copying, or attempting to copy, from any other candidate during an examination or reading other candidates' examination scripts.
• communicating, or trying to communicate, with any other person other than an authorised invigilator or another member of staff during an examination.
• possession of any written, printed, or electronic materials in the examination room unless expressly permitted by the rubric.
• writing on any part of your body or clothing.
• disruptive behaviour in an examination.
• assuming the identity of someone else. by sitting or attempting to sit an examination in the place of the student who should be sitting it. Impersonation can be applied to both the student and the impersonator.
• seeking and engaging in tutoring or third-party assistance during an online exam.

13. Fabrication or falsification of data: submitting work containing data measured in the field, in the laboratory or other setting, any part of which is falsified in any way. This includes the presentation of data in reports, projects, theses etc. based on experimental work falsely purported to have been carried out by you or data obtained by unfair means. It is misconduct to submit data for assessment which you know to be false. Examples include:

• figures which have been manipulated to produce a particular result.
• questionnaire data which has been adjusted or which you have created yourself.
• experiments that have been conducted by others which you claim as your own.
• other people’s data which you have imported without acknowledgement.
• reflections on placements or experiences which are false.

14. Breaches of confidentiality and/or unethical practice: failure to follow confidentiality, anonymity, or research ethics protocols which can include:

• non-compliance with university ethics procedures.
• failure to gain ethics approval prior to undertaking research.
• conducting research in a way that could threaten national or international security.
• direct naming of an individual or organisation (where local protocols prohibit).
• inclusion of documentation that links to privileged information.
• provision of information that could lead to the identification of a service user or organisation, e.g., dates of birth, hospital record numbers, addresses, or reference to unusual circumstances which could lead to identification of individuals or organisations.

15. Dishonest or unfair practice: the use of any form of dishonest academic practice not specifically categorised above. This may include, but is not limited to:

• actual or attempted bribery: you must not offer or give any member of academic, technical or professional services staff money, gifts or any other advantage which is intended to induce or reward impropriety in the marking and/or processing of your assessments.
• gaining access to, and using, unauthorised tools (such as algebra and maths solutions products), or any unauthorised material relating to an assessment prior to the release date of such information.
• Fraudulent placement activities, such as paying an agency to provide details of a placement to the University which are false; providing false certification for attendance at a placement setting; gaining false signatures for placement attendance etc.