What happens when I overstep the mark?

A student suspected of plagiarism must be informed in writing by the marker and given a chance to deny the allegation in person.

If the student admits the plagiarism, the marker must suggest a penalty in line with the Plagiarism Penalty Scale, and a note of the incident must be made on the student’s record.

If the student does not admit the plagiarism, or disputes the degree of seriousness he/she must go the disciplinary hearing route.

Important information:

• The Penalty Scale applies to all work submitted for assessment.
• An important criterion for judging seriousness is “quantity”; however, the general principle is that the penalty should be appropriate to the seriousness of the incident.
• The quantity is the independent professional judgement of the lecturer and not the Turnitin percentage.
• When investigating an incident, the following is important:
  • the significance of the plagiarised content on the assessment of the submitted work
  • the extent or amount of the plagiarism in the submitted work
  • the year and level of the student
  • the background of the student
  • whether the student has taken up any of the opportunities provided by the University to enhance students’ understanding of plagiarism
  • whether the student has previous incidents of plagiarism (see Plagiarism Register)
  • any apparent intention by the student to deceive

• The Plagiarism Register