Academic integrity
The term 'academic integrity' describes a way of working which is specific to universities. This involves committing to careful independent study (i.e. outside of class time). The results of this study should be accurately noted down, then formally acknowledged in writing. The principles of academic integrity are particularly important when submitting work for assessment or publication. They apply equally to staff and students.
How to study with academic integrity
As a student, most of your independent study will take the form of secondary research. This means reading other people’s work in order to develop your understanding of a subject.
It's important to choose reliable materials—often known as 'sources'—such as peer-reviewed journal articles and academic books. You can find these in module reading lists, subject-specific databases, and by using the library search site.
Academic integrity refers to the values and ethical principles that govern the conduct of students in the academic setting. When we say values, we mean honesty, trust, fairness and responsibility in all aspects of academic work. This would include concepts such as originality, which stresses the need to produce one's own work by citing the sources of information that is synthesised or used in informing one's own work.
Being diligent with your studying means that you are sort of committed to that independent study, learning outside the classroom and making sure that you're doing the research needed for your particular subject as well.
So when you're writing your academic assignments, ideally we want these to be research-led. So reading our source material and developing our thoughts and ideas and our arguments that we want to put into that assignment from what the source material is telling us. We want to make sure we're using good quality sources of evidence.
Note taking is really vital for helping you sort of process and learn information so you will probably want to be taking notes during classes and when you're doing your own independent study as well. Thinking about the theory behind referencing and the purpose, the real purpose behind referencing, helps to get over the fear a little bit more of, you know, "have I got the comma in the right place?" and, you know, "how do I reference this website?" It's more of a case of making sure that you're just acknowledging where you've got information from.
When students are honest, they're fair, they're just about what they do, it empowers them. That's my own thoughts about academic integrity.
Working with academic integrity in mind means making and keeping accurate and detailed notes as you study. It also means acknowledging your sources in any piece of work submitted for assessment, a practice known as 'referencing'. The general principles of referencing are described on our Referencing page, where you can also access school-specific referencing guidelines.
You may be expected to acknowledge and describe your research methods, too, such as databases consulted, search terms entered, or software used in the preparation of your work. Assessment guidelines should make clear whether this is required; contact module leaders if you’re uncertain. For advice on the use of artificial intelligence in your work, see our dedicated Artificial Intelligence page.
Students who aren’t sufficiently careful in their work can face disciplinary proceedings—when they don’t acknowledge their sources appropriately, for example. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you consult the university's academic integrity regulations.
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