Academic integrity explained
What is Academic Integrity?
Academic integrity means being honest in academic work and taking responsibility for learning the conventions of scholarship.
La Trobe University promotes academic honesty and teaches the conventions of scholarship. Scholarship involves research which builds on the work of others and requires appropriate acknowledgment and referencing of this work.
If you are dishonest and cheat you will be penalised. You also need to learn how to reference properly.
Referencing resources- Acknowledgment and referencing terms and their definitions [PDF 231KB] (If you would like this information made available in an alternate format please contact Julianne East: j.east@latrobe.edu.au).
- The Library's Academic Referencing Tool
Academic integrity in action
Example 1: Copying from another student
Action: A first year student submits an essay which he has copied from another student.
Consequence: The lecturer recognises that the student had copied from someone else and the student receives zero for the essay. The student fails the unit.
Example 2: Failing to cite sources
Action: A second year student submits a piece of writing early in the semester. The writing has a number of sentences which the student has copied and pasted from different sources. There is no acknowledgment of these copied sentences in the essay, but there is a reference list at the end of the essay.
Consequence: The lecturer talks to the student and finds out that the student has only just started at La Trobe University and has received first year credits for studies elsewhere. The lecturer shows the student how to reference the quotes and explains that copying and pasting without acknowledgment is unacceptable. The student is able to resubmit the essay.
