What To Do When You Get Caught For Academic Misconduct?

Imagine you were running short on time, and you hired someone to write your assignment on your behalf. On submission of that assignment, your professor figured out that it was not your work. What will you do? Will you get deported for that? Will this fall under academic misconduct? Will you get another chance? What is the way out? What are the academic misconduct laws? There can also be cases when it is alleged academic misconduct and the student might not be guilty.

To answer all of such burning questions, we have shared an account of our experience being student’s preferred academic writing service. To quickly define academic misconduct; it is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. Most of the Universities deal with instances of academic misconduct very strictly and take stern actions. Such actions have consequences that affect academic integrity.

What Qualifies As Academic Misconduct?

Acts of fabrication, cheating, copying material, deviating data for your convenience etc., all come under the purview of academic misconduct. There is major and minor academic misconduct. Usually, each university has a process to identify the misconduct as either major or minor. This procedure is dependent on multiple factors. These factors are as follows:

Extent: What part of the assignment is questionable? Is the entire assignment or some sub-topics?
Level: Are you in the first or second semester? Is your degree on the verge of completion? The later the misconduct, the harsher the consequences.
Knowledge: How much are you aware of acceptable practices? There can be some unknown cultural differences, which can lead to academic misconduct unintentionally.
Recidivism: Were you academically dishonest in the past as well? More than once cannot be unintentional.

On the basis of these, if the misconduct falls under the minor category, the form of academic misconduct might be accidental plagiarism, copying short answers, verbatim mistake, paraphrasing issue, incorrect citation or referencing etc. On the other hand, if the misconduct is found to be major, it will include forms of academic dishonesty like plagiarism, falsifying data, collusion etc. Major breaches of academic honesty lead to severe actions on students. The type of misconduct is usually examined and decided during academic misconduct meeting. Sometimes, misconduct can be reported on grounds, other than academic ones and such instances are called non academic misconduct. For more information, refer to the image given below.

academic vs non academic misconduct

Examples Of Academic Misconduct

A student might unintentionally commit misconduct, and therefore, it is imperative to look at a few academic misconduct examples.

Plagiarism: This academic misconduct revolves around presenting someone else’s work as your own. Students try to hide the original source of information. In some cases, they do not provide proper reference to the original work. In some other cases, students paraphrase the relevant content and do not cite the source. The software can detect plagiarism in all forms of assessments.
Self-plagiarism: This fallacy is one of the common forms of academic misconduct. If a student wrote a paper and felt that the same paper could be submitted for another subject or in some other term, doing this will be a blunder. Copying your work is called self-plagiarism. Reuse of information, text, research data etc., will fall under its purview. It is a common academic misconduct csu and academic misconduct Deakin.
Collusion: Collaboration is promoted in universities, and often students tend to find classmates of similar intelligence or interests. Students tend to write their homework as a group activity or solve questions together. While all of this sounds very development pro, committing it can be considered major academic misconduct. It wouldn’t be academic misconduct if students were given a group activity with defined roles. Collusion academic misconduct mostly happens unknowingly. On the surface, it looks like simple help with assignment.
Falsifying experimental results: Often due to lack of time or lack of access to resources, students try to make do with the sources they have to write a paper. This practice leads to students deviating from the results or making up some relevant information to support their papers. This situation is one of the serious academic misconduct cases.
Taking unauthorised material into an examination: This practice is one of the major types of academic misconduct. This act includes students taking cheating material, information, support material to score high grades. Not just this, any smart electronic device, cellphone, or other ways of sneaking information inside the exam hall come under this category. Even if a student unintentionally took anything of this sort in the examination hall, he will have to face grave consequences.
Contracting someone else to write your assignment/homework: Usually, when students are running late on deadlines or have the assignment to submit but do not have enough practice to write it, they look for academic essay help online. Many websites work in the interest of students and make assignments on their behalf. These websites provide academic help.
Bribery: Any way to bribe any professional in the hope of good grades is academic misconduct. Very clearly it falls under, UW academic misconduct, Deakin academic misconduct and academic misconduct Curtin.

Students often write academic misconduct apology letter to mitigate tough situations like these. The situation becomes beyond control when students indulge in academic research misconduct, at researh level the penalties are quite stringent.

Top Reasons Why Students Engage In Academic Misconduct

Our decisions are usually a product of various factors and reasoning. Similarly, students’ life also has some adverse circumstances which lead to academic misconduct. These are

Peer pressure
Immoral self-justification habits
Procrastination Issues
Lagging behind in the demands of student life
Issues of Performance anxiety
Lack of awareness about various actions come under academic dishonesty
No knowledge about the consequences of academic misconduct

How Can I File An Academic Misconduct Appeal?

If you a student has been penalised for academic misconduct, he has the right to appeal the decision. The one condition to be kept in mind is that it must be done within ten working days of the date of letter delineating the outcome.

The student has to send the appeal to the Appeals Committee of the University Academic Board. It must include as much information for your case as possible. Here is what you can include as supporting material:

Drafts of your assignment
Study logs
List of websites used in the assignment
Research papers used in the assignment
Character testimonials
Testimonials from peers who were there when you were working on the assignment.
Any notes
List of all citations and references along with accessed dates.

The Appeals Committee then takes all of such material into consideration and revise the decision accordingly.

Tips To Avoid Academic Dishonesty

Students get academic misconduct policy as primary documents after joining any university. Despite the policy, students indulge in academic misconduct, and there are ways to avoid it:

In-depth knowledge of syllabus: Each student should be aware of the syllabus and seek clarification from professors and facilitators only for any issues. The syllabus also outlines the expectations about various assignments and modules. Students must operate under the boundaries of such expectations only.
One safe assumption for students is that they have to complete the assignments independently if nothing is mentioned. If it is a group project, clearly define your boundaries and understand the goal of a group project. In such cases, students accuse other students of collusion, so be wary of that. There is a channel for reporting academic misconduct.
Time management is crucial in students’ life, and if they keep on procrastinating, they seek shortcuts or quick ways to get things done. Starting early and trying to meet the deadlines is one of the ways to avoid any type of academic misconduct.
Often students find themselves in a challenging situation where they wish to help their classmates by sharing their assignment so that they can understand its gist. Sometimes, this can backfire if the other student decided to copy the assignment. Both the students will come under the radar of academic misconduct.
Paraphrasing someone else’s material does not mean it is your content now. Therefore, keep track of sources and learn the correct ways to cite and write references.
Don’t be afraid to ask for an extension for an assignment. If you are failing to complete the assignment in time, it is better to get a bad grade instead of getting marked for academic misconduct.

Common Queries Of Students Related To Academic Misconduct Procedures

1. What Can You Do If You Are Falsely Accused Of Academic Dishonesty?

If there is a false allegation of academic misconduct on you, first and foremost, contact a student representative association in your country. You should take this step even before meeting the Educational Integrity Coordinator (EIC). Then, collect your paperwork. It can include emails, letters, documents of your early drafts etc. Do not forget to ask for documents like your marked assessment and Turnitin report for the same. Be cooperative and polite during the procedure but make sure not to give away any information which can be used against you even remotely. Maintain the decorum of the process. It will take some time as it will be a formal process. After the final decision, if you believe you are not happy with it, you have the right to academic appeal. There are multiple false academic misconduct cases each year, and students need to fight these with all their willpower to avoid devastating consequences.

2. What Is The Difference Between Academic Misconduct And Plagiarism?

Academic misconduct is an umbrella term which deals with all the deviations which can infringe academic integrity. This phenomenon has multiple examples, and plagiarism is one of those. Plagiarism is the act of citing someone else’s work as your own work. It can be done by paraphrasing, recycling content, improper citations, incomplete referencing etc.

3. How Serious Is Academic Misconduct?

Charges of academic misconduct on a student can lead to devastating consequences if not handled properly. It depends on the gravity of the charges. The actions taken against a student can range from a written reprimand to expulsion from the university. It can adversely affect the career of a student. Therefore, academic misconduct consequences can be challenging to cater to, and such instances should be dealt with using proper channels.

About Author

Edward

I am subject matter expert in assignment writing and have been work with social activist and a lawyer in making. I feel happy by helping people who seek justice but can’t hire big lawyers. I also love meeting new people and spend my free time reading.