Cheating and plagiarism

The University may take disciplinary action against students who use unauthorised aids or otherwise attempt to deceive during an examination or when academic work is being assessed (SFS 1993:100, Chapter 10, Section 1).

This means that you must not use cheat sheets or other unauthorised aids. You must not collaborate with others unless your teacher has allowed it. This applies, for example, to laboratory reports, examinations, project assignments, tests, essays and degree projects. Your teacher will inform you about what is permitted.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s text, image or statistics and presenting the material as your own. Plagiarism is considered cheating.

What happens when you cheat

Your teachers know their subject and the sources available in the field. They can therefore often detect plagiarism and other forms of cheating when they read submitted work. The University also uses a plagiarism detection tool that can identify similarities between texts. Teachers are required to report every suspected case of cheating or plagiarism to the Vice-Chancellor for further investigation.

When you cheat, you miss out on your own learning, which is the main purpose of academic study. You may also face disciplinary action. The most common disciplinary measures are a warning or suspension. The Disciplinary Board investigates the report and decides whether to impose a disciplinary measure. Suspension from your studies is considered an interruption of studies, and you are not entitled to student finance during the suspension.

How to avoid cheating and plagiarism

Cheating may result from not knowing how to write academic texts or what is required when taking a scholarly approach. Here is some advice for students:

• Always follow your teacher’s instructions and ask if you are unsure about what is permitted.
• Be critical when interpreting sources so that you are not misled.
• Learn the formal rules for academic writing.
• If you quote text or copy images created by someone else, you must cite the source. When paraphrasing or summarising a source, use your own words and cite the source. Always provide references for ideas, information and material that are not your own.
• If you refer to a text that you have written previously, you must cite it. If you want to reuse parts of a take-home examination, essay or degree project that you have written and submitted to the University, you must clearly state that the material is being reused. If you reuse wording from your own material, place it within quotation marks and provide a reference. A useful rule is to treat your own previous work in the same way as the work of others.
• Include all sources in the reference list.
• Read the Guidelines for independent projects and degree projects with a scholarly approach.
• Learn how to use Word, spell-checking software and reference management software such as EndNote Fusion.

• Referencing
  The University Library’s pages on reference management and EndNote Fusion.
  
• Copyright and plagiarism
  The University Library’s pages on copyright, plagiarism and the use of images in your work. You can also find information about AI.