Academic Integrity
Learn what academic integrity means and how to maintain it in your studies.
Quick links
- What is academic integrity?
- Reference and acknowledge your sources
- Use AI appropriately
- Follow copyright requirements
- Understand academic misconduct
What is academic integrity?
Academic integrity means being honest in your academic work. This means following the rules of scholarship, acknowledging sources, avoiding plagiarism and acting ethically in all of your studies.
As a student you must reference your sources, use AI appropriately and follow copyright requirements to avoid academic misconduct.
The Academic Integrity Statute and Student Academic Misconduct Policy set out the requirements for academic integrity at La Trobe.
If you’re a graduate research student, see academic integrity for researchers for more specific guidance.
You can demonstrate academic integrity by:
- using information appropriately, according to copyright and privacy laws
- acknowledging the sources of the information you use
- 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
- using AI tools appropriately and in line with your assessment requirements
- acting ethically in all your academic work.
How to maintain academic integrity
Reference and acknowledge your sources
You need to acknowledge where the information and ideas in your work come from, whether you quote, paraphrase or summarise them. Acknowledging your sources is an important part of academic integrity and helps make it clear which ideas are your own and which come from other people’s work.
Use AI appropriately
AI can be useful for your studies, but you need to use it in a way that supports your learning, meets your assessment requirements and maintains academic integrity.
Before using AI for an assessment, check that AI use is allowed. You can find this information on your Assignment Task Sheet or the LMS. If you’re unsure, ask your subject coordinator.
You’re responsible for the work you submit, so check AI-generated information carefully and make sure your final work reflects your own understanding.
You also need to be transparent about your use of AI. Follow the AI acknowledgement requirements for your assessment and keep a record of your AI use, such as your prompts and outputs.
Follow copyright requirements
Copyright is a legal protection that applies automatically to original works and gives copyright owners rights over how their work is used and shared. As a student, you need to follow copyright requirements when using, copying or sharing material in your studies.
What and how much can you copy?
The Copyright Act states that you may copy a ‘reasonable portion’ of a work for your study purposes.
This can include:
- 10% of the number of pages, one chapter of a book, or journal articles (print or digital)
- pictures, graphics, diagrams and audiovisual items, where it doesn’t unduly impact the owner’s commercial interests
Make sure the material you use comes from an authorised source.
Understand academic misconduct
Academic misconduct occurs when academic integrity requirements aren't followed.
If a concern is raised about your academic work, there is a formal process to consider what happened and give you an opportunity to respond.
Academic misconduct can result in penalties, as outlined in the Schedule of penalties and actions.
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. This includes 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 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. This also includes accessing a file-sharing website with a view to finding documents that may or may not provide you with an academic advantage. |
| Fabrication | Fabricating any information or references in an assessment. This may include references fabricated because of the use of AI. |
| Falsification | Tampering with any documents or misrepresenting information related to an assessment or an application to the University that leads to academic advantage. |
| Self-plagiarism | Recycling a piece of work or sections of a piece of work that were 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 you with an unfair advantage. |
Complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM)
AIM is compulsory for all La Trobe students (except graduate research candidates) and must be completed in your first study period. It helps you understand why academic integrity is important, what’s expected of you and how to avoid academic misconduct.