Academic Misconduct

Please note that this page provides information regarding the academic misconduct policy for non-HYMS (Hull York Medical School) Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of York.

The academic misconduct processes for Postgraduate Research students and HYMS students may differ from the policy for other students. If you are a Postgraduate Research or HYMS student, we’d suggest contacting YUSU’s Advice and Support Centre at asc@yusu.org or the GSA Advice Service at advice@yorkgsa.org (for Postgraduates) for advice and guidance regarding your specific situation.

Hull York Medical School students can also find details of the school’s Code of Practice on Academic Misconduct on the HYMS website.

What is academic misconduct?

While at University, you are held to the principles of academic integrity, which is an expectation that students will behave with honesty, respect, trust, fairness and be responsible in the way they carry out and present academic work. Any behaviour or activity by a student that undermines academic integrity and gives them an unfair advantage over others in assessments is considered as academic misconduct, whether carried out intentionally or unintentionally.

Plagiarism, collusion, using generative AI, cheating in exams, commissioning essays, and fabrication are some types of academic misconduct. In addition to this, there are forms of academic misconduct that could also be treated as disciplinary offences, including personation, deception and unethical research behaviour, to name a few.

You can find definitions of the different forms of academic misconduct at 1.2 in the University’s Academic Misconduct Policy.

How can I avoid academic misconduct?

YUSU and the GSA’s advice services have produced a briefing sheet on avoiding academic misconduct. In order to avoid academic misconduct, we would also strongly encourage you to complete the University’s academic integrity tutorial, which you should be able to find in your VLE, and is often a requirement to complete the first term or year of your course.

There are web pages, software and apps, as well as individuals and services both internal and external to the University, that could help you with your assessments. However, when
writing and submitting an assessment at the University of York, you must ensure that you have produced the work ‘independently’ and in English (unless otherwise directed in the
assessment criteria, e.g. group work, language modules). It’s important to read the University’s student guidance on using AI and translation tools.

When working ‘independently’ on an assessment you may still use help and support, but you need to make sure that you are the author of your assessments, and that if you seek support
with an assessment, you do so within the University’s assessment rules. If your use of technology (e.g. generative AI, translation tools, language-enhancement applications) or
support from people (e.g. friends, family, proofreaders) in an assessment means that you can no longer be considered the author for a part or the whole of the assessment, this is
called ‘false authorship’. It is taken very seriously by the University and can lead to you being investigated for academic misconduct and penalised in the form of a marks cap or a failure
grade for the assessment, or even expulsion from the University for repeated offences.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the University’s Academic Integrity webpage which includes information and guidance on academic integrity, including in particular referencing and referencing/note-taking management. Additionally, the University’s Writing Centre provides academic writing advice, including guidance on in-text citations and referencing.

When are academic misconduct procedures initiated?

Academic misconduct procedures start when it has been identified that a student may have committed academic misconduct in an assessment. In the case of an open assessment, this would usually be when the assessment is being marked. In the case of a closed assessment, this could be during the exam itself (for example, if an invigilator suspects that you have been referring to notes during an exam in which this is not permitted).

What happens if I’m suspected of academic misconduct?

The processes followed if you are suspected of academic misconduct can vary depending on the form of misconduct you are suspected of.

Generally,  if your marker suspects that you may have committed academic misconduct, this will be reported to the University’s central academic misconduct team, along with evidence of the suspected offence. At this point, a Standing Academic Misconduct Panel (StAMP) will be formed. The StAMP usually consists of three members of academic staff from your faculty. The Chair of the StAMP will be a member of academic staff from your department.

The StAMP will review your assessment and the evidence that the marker has put together of the suspected academic misconduct and will then decide if there is a “case to answer” (i.e. if they think that it is possible that academic misconduct has occurred).

If they do think that there is a case to answer, then you will be notified by email. The email will explain which assessment the case relates to and the nature of the academic misconduct that is suspected. The relevant evidence will be attached (e.g. a Turnitin report highlighting possible issues or plagiarism, marker’s notes or comments, or a redacted copy of yours and another student’s work in regards to collusion). In most cases, the email will also give you the opportunity to respond to the suspected misconduct either in writing or by attending an interview. In some cases, you will only be asked to attend an interview.

The email sent to you will give you a deadline by which you would need to submit a written response, or request an interview – this is usually 7 days from the date the letter has been sent to you. At this point, you are strongly encouraged to contact the YUSU Advice and Support Centre or the GSA Advice Service (for postgraduates) for guidance on the academic misconduct process (e.g. understanding the evidence that has been presented to you, and preparing your written response or notes for a meeting).

If you are invited to respond to the suspected misconduct, we would strongly encourage you to do so. This is your opportunity to tell the StAMP your account of the situation, and how any issues may have occurred in your assessments. The information you give will be used by the StAMP when determining if misconduct took place and, if so, the penalty which should be applied to the assessment.

What penalties can be applied if I’m found to have committed academic misconduct?

The penalty imposed if a student is found to have committed academic misconduct may depend upon the academic misconduct offence they are suspected of having committed, as well as on the extent of the misconduct in the assessment. Penalties also may depend on if a module is probationary or non-probationary. However, if academic misconduct is found to have taken place, for first offences such as plagiarism or collusion, the worst case would be a marks cap of between 0-59.

Full details of the penalties which may be applied if a student is found to have committed academic misconduct are described in AM3 of the University’s Academic Misconduct Policy.

I’ve received a letter/email stating that my work has been referred to a StAMP and I need to submit a statement or attend an interview – what do I do now?

If you don’t respond with your statement or request for an interview by the given deadline, your case will be considered by the StAMP without your statement or information given during an interview. This is why engaging in the process and providing a response is important: the information you provide helps the StAMP to understand what’s happened, why issues with your work may have occurred and (if relevant) what you would do differently next time.

You’ll first need to decide if you’d rather provide further information to the StAMP by attending an interview or submitting a written statement. The letter or email which has been sent to you will tell you the deadline by which you need to submit your statement or request an interview.

Regarding which way you choose to respond, there is no right or wrong approach to this, it is very much down to how you would prefer to present your case. Just have a think about how you would feel most confident in putting your points across – if you’re someone who likes to get all of their thoughts down on paper and present things in the written form, then submitting a statement might be best; if, on the other hand, you like to meet with people and talk issues through in person, having some notes to hand, but being able to respond to questions in the moment as well, then perhaps a meeting would be your preferred option. It is completely your decision.

What information should I include in my statement or response?

It’s really important that you are open and honest in your statement or interview. This is your opportunity to give your account of how you worked on your assessment/s, and to address any issues raised by the StAMP.

The information it’s helpful to include in your statement will vary according to the form of suspected academic misconduct. However, we would recommend that you address the answers to the following questions in any statement, or in your preparatory notes for an interview:

  • What is the form of academic misconduct you are suspected of?
  • Why is this form of academic misconduct a problem?
  • For example, what impact could it have on you and other students, why does the University have to investigate such issues of academic misconduct, and why is following good academic practice/upholding academic integrity so important?
  • Are you able to identify and acknowledge any issues which have occurred within your assessment (such as unclear referencing, lack of citation or poor paraphrasing)?
  • Why do you think these problems have occurred? What is your explanation for what has happened?
    For example, can you identify any issues with your note-taking practices, or your use of sources, which you feel may have contributed to the issues present within your assessment?
  • Were you experiencing any particular difficulties which prevented you from being able to follow your usual practice when completing this assessment?
  • How will you prevent this problem from happening again?
  • Were you experiencing any personal difficulties or illnesses when you were writing this assessment?

When writing your statement, it is also helpful to consider the evidence which has been sent to you by the StAMP. If you understand how the evidence provided could imply that you had committed a form of academic misconduct, it is helpful to acknowledge this, and to explain why you feel this problem has occurred in your work.

If you have been sent a Turnitin Report, we have included information below about how to read this, and the questions you may wish to answer in your statement. If you have been sent another form of evidence, and don’t know how to respond to this, you are welcome to contact the YUSU Advice and Support Centre (for undergraduates) or GSA Advice Service (for postgraduates) for advice and guidance.

You can also contact the YUSU or GSA Advice Services (for postgraduates) for guidance on key information which it may be helpful for you to provide in your statement, or for help preparing for an interview with the StAMP. We are also happy to take a look at your statement and let you know if any changes might be helpful.

What happens during an academic misconduct investigation meeting?

The interview will be conducted by members of the StAMP, and at least two members of the Panel need to attend the interview.

Generally, the interview will start with the StAMP introducing themselves. The Chair will also outline the purpose and structure of the meeting.

You will then be asked questions by the StAMP about how you prepared for and undertook your assessment, and you may be invited to give your account of how you worked on the assessment and how issues may have arisen with it. You can find more information about the sorts of questions which might be asked of you during the interview below. You have the right to be accompanied to your interview by a member of staff from the advice services at either YUSU or the GSA, subject to availability of staff. Or you have the right to be accompanied to your interview by any one of the following:

  • A registered student at the University
  • A staff member at the University (e.g. your academic supervisor)
  • A YUSU or GSA sabbatical officer.

What questions will I be asked in a StAMP meeting?

The questions you might be asked in your interview can vary, depending on the form of the suspected misconduct, as well as on the members of the StAMP. However, the general themes of the questions asked are very likely to be similar to those you would answer in a written statement, such as:

  • What do you think the problems are with your assessment?
  • Why do you think these problems have occurred?
  • How will you prevent this problem from happening again?
  • Were you experiencing any personal difficulties or illnesses when you were writing this assessment?

The Panel may also ask you to provide a general description of your working practices whilst completing the assessment in which you have been suspected of academic misconduct. This may include, for example:

  • How you chose your assessment topic
  • How you had identified sources for use within the assessment, and
  • How you had taken notes for the assessment.

The Panel may wish to ask you about specific problems they have found with your work and the evidence which has been sent to you.

The Panel may also ask you questions regarding your understanding of referencing and academic integrity generally.

If you have been sent a Turnitin Report, we have included information below about how to read this, and the questions you may be asked in your interview. If you have been sent another form of evidence, and don’t know how to respond to this, you are welcome to contact the YUSU Advice and Support Centre (for undergraduates) or GSA Advice Service (for postgraduates) for advice and guidance.

As when writing a statement, it’s really important that your answers in the interview are open and honest, since this will help both the StAMP and yourself understand what the problems were, how they occurred and how to prevent them occurring again in the future (e.g. changes in note taking practices, allowing yourself more time to complete assessments and/or accessing support from the University’s Writing Centre).

I’ve been asked to attend a meeting  or submit a statement regarding suspected academic misconduct, but I haven’t been sent any evidence of the misconduct. What do I do?

It’s really important that you have access to all of the evidence which the StAMP will be considering in regards to your case, so that you are given a fair chance to respond. In fact, the University’s Academic Misconduct policy states that you should have access to any and all of the evidence that the Stamp will be considering.

If you haven’t been sent any evidence of the suspected misconduct, we would advise responding to the email which has been sent to you, and requesting that a copy of any evidence considered by the StAMP be sent to you.

I was experiencing exceptional circumstances when completing the work which is suspected of misconduct. Can this be taken into consideration?

The University does not consider exceptional circumstances to be a defence for academic misconduct. However, under some, limited circumstances a student’s exceptional circumstances can be taken into account as a mitigation when considering the penalty applied to their work. Students would need to disclose their circumstances, and supporting evidence, to the academic misconduct panel, and potential mitigation in relation to any penalty would then be considered by a separate ‘Penalty Mitigation Panel’.

This is only possible if a student is able to provide compelling evidence that:

  1. They were experiencing severe personal circumstances which impacted their judgement, or
  2. They have a specific disability or other chronic condition which impacted their judgement or ability to comply with academic standards and, for no fault of their own, the disability or condition has not been mitigated through reasonable adjustment of the assessment (such as through an SSP).

You are welcome to contact the YUSU or GSA (for postgraduates) Advice Services for further information about exceptional circumstances and academic misconduct.

I’ve been sent a Turnitin report as evidence of suspected misconduct – what does it mean?

When work is submitted through Turnitin, Turnitin will compare the work with a database of other student’s papers, journals and sources available on the internet. If it detects a match between the work submitted and sources or other work in its database, it will highlight the match in a colour, and place a number above the matching text (a different colour and number is used for each source the assessment text is matched with).

At the bottom of the Turnitin report, you’ll find a list of sources and student papers. Each paper will be highlighted in a colour, and will have a number next to it in the matching colour – these indicate the sources with which Turnitin has found a match throughout your work. The sources are listed in descending order, with those which your work has the highest similarity with listed first.

At the end of the Turnitin Report, you will also see a “Similarity index” – this tells you the percentage similarity Turnitin has detected between your work and the papers and sources in its database.

Have a look through your work and find the parts which are highlighted, and which have a significant percentage match with another source. Did you use this source when writing your work? Have you tried to paraphrase, or is it a direct quote? Have you directly quoted without using quotation marks? Have you included in-text citations each time you have used a source (including page numbers for direct quotations) as well as full reference information for each source at the end of the assessment (including secondary sources, where appropriate)?

If you haven’t used this source, have a think about how the similarity could have occurred. For example, are the words highlighted very commonly used in your field?

It is also helpful to check through the work for any examples where there may be extended text matches i.e. large parts of sentences or paragraphs. Even where the overall text match with a source may be relatively low, examples of exact or very close text matches like this may be deemed significant and require an explanation.

This is the second time I have been contacted regarding academic misconduct – what will be different this time?

Where a student has had two assessments investigated for the same type of academic misconduct on two separate occasions (e.g. in two separate assessment periods), and where the outcome of the academic misconduct investigation in each case was a marks cap resulting in an outright/non-compensatable fail (i.e. 29 or less for an undergraduate, and 39 or less for a postgraduate), the student would then be referred to the Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Procedure.

In this process, a panel of three senior members of the University (e.g. your Head of Department, a senior academic, and an academic services manager), who have had no prior input or connection to your previous academic misconduct cases, will be sent all of the materials relating to your previous cases and will be asked to determine if your repeated offences represent either an unintentional repetition of errors in your academic work, or a wilful and intentional repeated effort to gain unfair advantage in your assessments. If the latter is found to be the case, then further sanctions could be applied, the most severe of which is suspension or expulsion from the University.

If such an Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Procedure is to take place, you will be emailed to inform you of this. You will be told the names of the Disciplinary Panel members and what evidence will be considered (and you should be given access to all of this). You will be required to attend a meeting with the Disciplinary Panel and will be invited to provide a written response, and any relevant evidence, for consideration by them prior to your meeting.

Please also note: the ‘disciplinary offences’ of personation, deception and unethical research behaviour will be referred directly into the Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Procedure.

If you do find yourself in this situation, please get in touch with either the YUSU Advice and Support Centre or the GSA Advice Service (for postgraduates) for advice and guidance on understanding the evidence, writing a response, gathering your own relevant evidence and preparing for your meeting.

I’m a Social Work or Nursing student – will academic misconduct be referred to the Fitness to Practise procedure?

If, following investigation, the StAMP determines that a Nursing or Social Work student has committed academic misconduct, this may be referred to the Fitness to Practise proceedings.

If you are notified of this, you are strongly encouraged to contact YUSU’s Advice and Support Centre (for Undergraduates) at asc@yusu.org or the GSA Advice Service (for Postgraduates) at advice@yorkgsa.org.

I’ve been found to have committed academic misconduct and I want to appeal or complain. What do I do?

You can find information about the appeal process on the University’s Academic Appeals webpage, as well as GSA’s ‘Appealing an Academic decision’ webpage.

You can find information about the complaints process on the University’s Student Complaints webpage, as well as the GSA’s Complaints webpage.

You are welcome to contact the YUSU or GSA (for postgraduates) Advice Services for further information on the above process and for support with submitting an appeal and/or a complaint.

What support is available to me from the Students’ Unions?

The YUSU Advice and Support Centre (for Undergraduates) and the GSA Advice Service (for Postgraduates) are here to help you. We provide independent, confidential and non-judgemental advice to students on a range of issues, including academic misconduct.

We are able to help you to understand the issues that have been identified with your work, to decide if you would rather submit a written statement or attend an interview regarding misconduct, and can advise you on the sort of information you may wish to include in your statement and the questions which might be asked by the academic misconduct panel. We are also happy to take a look at your statement for you.

If you do choose to attend an interview, we are usually able to accompany you to this, but we aren’t able to make representations for you, or speak on your behalf. We would be able to clarify terms you might not understand, as well as any procedural questions. We would also take notes of the meeting, and would be there to support you.

YUSU Advice and Support Centre (ASC)

YUSU Advice and Support website

email: asc@yusu.org

GSA advice service(for postgraduates)

GSA website

email: advice@yorkgsa.org

Links to further information

If you have further questions about academic misconduct or academic integrity, you may find the following links helpful: