Are you using your teaching materials and study notes fairly? Don’t breach our academic integrity policy
As Trimester 1 kicks off, we want to make sure that you understand your responsibility for upholding academic integrity – which is about studying in an honest and fair way. Read on to learn about how we expect you to meet the expectations of Deakin’s Student Code of Conduct and Student Academic Integrity Policy.
Protect your teaching materials and study notes
One of the most important things to consider is how you use any teaching materials and study notes from your classes. ‘Study notes’ are any handwritten or typed summaries you take while studying. ‘Teaching materials’ means the following resources:
- material marked with the Deakin logo
- material created by a Deakin staff member
- Deakin exam papers or assignment guides
- lecture recordings or transcripts of lecture recordings
- lecture slides, class handouts or unit guides
- textbooks or library resources.
You need to know that all Deakin’s teaching materials are protected by copyright. So while you may come across websites that offer to buy and sell these resources, you are not permitted to distribute, post online, sell or encourage other students to access illegal copies of any of these materials.
Any student who breaches our policies or copyright by buying or selling Deakin’s teaching materials will face disciplinary action. This may mean being excluded from the University permanently.
While your study notes are your own property, you also need to consider how you use them. We encourage you to study with your peers – it’s always helpful to get a different perspective or interpretation through thinking and talking about ideas. However, remember that the most reliable source of information about your unit content is from the subject experts who teach it – your Unit Chair or teaching team.
Also make sure that any assignments you produce and submit are entirely your own – don’t cross the line between collaboration (encouraged) and collusion (prohibited). Accessing other students’ study notes may increase your risk of breaching Deakin’s Student Academic Integrity Policy in your own assessment, and this can have serious consequences.
Don’t get caught out by contract cheating
Contract cheating involves a student asking a third party (friend, family member or stranger) to complete their University work.
You should be on guard against any offers of ‘help’ to do your assignments – whether you see posters on campus, in emails or on social media. Some of these services say they just want to help you with your work. Others are more explicit and tell you that they can do your assignments for you, with high grades ‘guaranteed’.
This is not ‘help’; it is cheating. Using these services is a breach of academic integrity and may lead to you being excluded from the University.
There’s a whole lot more to academic integrity
Academic integrity is one of the foundations of our University culture. Make sure you are across all the various aspects by visiting our academic integrity website, which explains how to uphold these standards and gives you helpful advice and resources.
If you’re a commencing student, you’ll be automatically enrolled in a compulsory unit on academic integrity, which will help you develop knowledge, skills and good practice principles during your study, so that you avoid allegations such as plagiarism, collusion and cheating in your assessments. The course will take about two hours to complete and you’ll find it in the My Units tab of DeakinSync.
Remember that genuine help is available
We know that you’ve come to uni to learn and we want all our students to succeed in their studies. If you need help with your assignments, use the help that is provided by Deakin – this way, you know it’s legitimate.
Check out the full range of study support available at Deakin and remember that the best source of help is your Unit Chair or teaching team. They’re here to answer your questions and point you in the right direction.