BU Policies and Procedures

Plagiarism is the most common academic offence committed by university students. Often, students plagiarise accidently because they are unaware of how to reference properly. You will be penalised for plagiarism regardless of whether you did it deliberately or not, so you must make sure you understand how to reference correctly. You can find out more about plagiarism and referencing in the How to Avoid Plagiarism Guide

You are not allowed to submit the same or substantially similar work for more than one assessment (this does not include resubmission of work for the same assignment)For example, you are not allowed to cut and paste a section of a previous essay into an essay you are writing on a similar topic. You can find out more about self-plagiarism or duplication by completing the following activity - Self-Plagiarism Webcast Series

'Collusion' means working with other students to complete assessments when you are supposed to do the work alone. You are not allowed to work with other students on individual assignments. For example, you are not allowed to work with a friend to select quotes for an essay you are both working on and both use those quotes in your essays

You are not allowed to pay another person to complete an assignment which is then submited as your own work. Such activity impacts on the values of intellectual and personal honesty, trust and fairness and therefore any deliberate attempt to deceive will likely be judged as academic misconduct

For example, you are not allowed to purchase an essay form an online "essay bank" and submit it as your own work or pay an essay writing company to produce an assignment for you. Beware of companies posting adverts to BU Facebook and social media channels

Any behaviour aimed at gaining an unfair advantage in an exam or test may be considered cheating, such as trying to communicate with another student, copy another student or access unauthorised materials. For example you are not allowed to copy from another student, consult hidden notes or take unauthorised material into the exam

You are not allowed to forge signatures or documents related to certification or assessment.For example, you are not allowed to forge a practice supervisor's signature on a timesheet for a clinical placement

Arranging for another person to take your place in an exam or test or taking the place of someone else. For example you are not allowed to borrow your friend's student id and attempt to sit an exam for them

Helping a student in any form of dishonest practice. For example you are not allowed to steal a student's work for your friend to copy or sign a placement completion form for a friend who has not completed their placement, instead of the placement company director. Example: You are not allowed to sign a placement completion form for a friend who has not completed their placement, instead of the placement company director

Paying or offering inducements to another person to obtain or to attempt to obtain an unfair advantage. For example, you are not allowed to offer your lecturer money to alter the grade of your assignment or offer a friend money to write or help you write an assignment

Making a false declaration to receive special consideration by an assessment board or to obtain extensions to deadlines or exemption from work. For example, you are not allowed to falsify a doctor's certificate to gain an extension for an essay deadline or suggest to your tutor that there has been a bereavement in your family when there has not been, to get you out of sitting an exam

You are not allowed to create false research data. For example you are not allowed to pretend to carry out a survey by filling in all of the responses yourself or make up statistical data and produce false charts and graphs

For example, you are not allowed to use computer code created by a friend

Looking at another person's assignment or notes and using the information to your advantage. For example, you are not allowed to take a friend's assignment, or assignment notes, and use the information within it to write your own, even with their knowledge and permission

Taking another person's work without their consent and using the information to your advantage. For example, you are not allowed take a friend's assignment, or assignment notes, and use the information within it to write your own