Academic Integrity
What is Academic Integrity?
The University and wider academic community is built on shared values and norms of behaviour, including honesty, fairness and responsibility. Academic integrity means putting those values into practice by being honest in the academic work you do at university, being fair to others, and taking responsibility for learning, and following the conventions of scholarship. It is the University's responsibility to award credit for honestly conducted work, and it is your responsibility to ensure that you demonstrate academic integrity.
You can demonstrate academic integrity by:
- using information appropriately, according to copyright and privacy laws
- acknowledging where the information you use comes from
- not presenting other people's work as your own
- conducting research ethically, in line with relevant legislation and the University's policies and procedures
reporting truthfully on your research - acting in an ethical manner in all your academic endeavours
Types of academic misconduct include:
Supervised assessment (including exams)
| Academic Misconduct Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Cheating | Failing to comply with any reasonable direction relating to conduct in supervised assessments (which may or may not include inappropriate use of AI). |
Any assessment type (supervised or unsupervised)
| Academic Misconduct Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Plagiarism | Copying other people's work or concepts without proper acknowledgement of the source (even if the source is AI). |
| Collusion | Working together on an assessment task that is supposed to be completed individually, either deliberately or by not taking reasonable care to protect your work. |
| Contract cheating | Procuring a third party to complete an assessment (which may or may not include AI). |
| Contract cheating - File Sharing Websites | Uploading any student work or copyright material to a file-sharing website that allows anyone to download the documents, or accessing such a website with a view to gain access to any documents that may or may not provide academic advantage to the student. |
| Fabrication | Forging, falsifying or misusing information in an assessment (which may or may not include references fabricated because of the use of AI). |
| Falsification | Tampering with any documents or misrepresenting information related to any assessment or the application to the University that leads to academic advantage. |
| Self-plagiarism | Recycling a piece of work - or sections of a piece of work – that was previously submitted, without explicit permission from the subject coordinator. |
Cheating - Other | Any other academic misconduct not specifically defined by one of the above terms that provides a student with an unfair advantage. |
Please visit Achieve@Uni for more detailed information about academic misconduct and how to avoid it.
For more information on how to appropriately use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in assessments, please visit the 7-page Library Guide on Artificial Intelligence.
Academic Integrity Module (AIM)
The Academic Integrity Module is compulsory for all La Trobe students (except for graduate research candidates). It is designed to help you to understand why academic integrity is important and how to avoid academic misconduct.
Acknowledgement and referencing help
The right ways to reference your sources.
Help for academic misconduct
What to do if you suspect academic misconduct or have received notification of suspected academic misconduct.
Penalties for academic misconduct
There are serious penalties for Academic Misconduct.
Academic integrity for graduate research candidates
Information and resources about academic integrity for graduate research students (PhD, professional doctorate and Masters by Research).