Academic Offences

Academic Offences

Last Updated (Tuesday, 05 January 2010 08:19)

Guidelines on the Application of Penalties for Academic Offences

School report form [WORD]

Student statement form [WORD]

See also: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/assessment/offences.htm. In particular, penalties that can be imposed by the school must be consistent with paragraph 3.3.4 of http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/assessment/offences.htm#proced

Below are some guidelines, though they are not meant to be exhaustive and intermediate penalties might also be suitable.

Penalty - No marks awarded in relation to the specific material which is the subject of the academic offence

This penalty is appropriate in those plagiarism cases where the amount of plagiarised material amounts to 5% or less of the overall piece of work.

Penalty - A mark of zero for the piece of course work, dissertation, examination question or examination script in which the academic offence has occurred

This penalty is appropriate in one of the following circumstances:

• Cheating in an examination where the deception does not appear to have involved much planning or forethought.
• The offence affected only a minority (but more than 5%), rather than the majority, of a piece of coursework, examination, or other assessment element.
• The offence affected the majority or the whole of a piece of coursework, examination, or other assessment element; and that element makes up less than 50% of the module mark.

Penalty - A mark of zero for the entire module in which the academic offence has occurred

This penalty is appropriate in one of the following circumstances:

• Cheating in an examination when the offence was clearly planned in advance and where the student went to considerable lengths to perpetrate deception.
• Cheating in a coursework when the offence was clearly planned in advance and where the student went to considerable lengths to perpetrate deception: E.g. purchasing answers over the internet.
• The offence affected the majority or the whole of a piece of coursework, examination, or other assessment element; and that element makes up at least 50% of the module mark.

Penalty - Refer the case to the Academic Offences Committee

Referral to the Academic Offences Committee is appropriate in the following circumstances:

• The student had previously cheated in an examination and is believed to have done so again.
• The student had previously committed an act of plagiarism, a penalty was imposed by the School, and is believed to have plagiarised again.
• The student has previously been referred to the Academic Offences Committee.
• The student pleads "not guilty" to a first offence or does not wish to accept the penalty imposed by the School