8 Common Traps to Look Out For - Keeping you out of trouble!

First year units often have assessment tasks that ask you to produce a poster, a video, a brochure or an audio recording, these types of assessments should be considered the same as an academic essay/report. 

You should check with your unit coordinator and if required include with your assignment a full Reference List that clearly indicates the sources of information you used in the production of the poster, video, brochure or audio recording. 

 

Be very careful if you are working with other students (in study groups etc) and never show or share your work (see Trap 8).

In some instances, a Unit Coordinator may indicate in a question or task set that cooperative preparation for that question/task is acceptable. 

In such instances the usual expectation is that each individual student will submit their own answer/response, using the jointly prepared material, and not just a common copy used by all those cooperating.

In some circumstances, joint submission of work for all or part of an assignment may be acceptable but if so this will be clearly indicated in the assignment description.

If a group of students think that cooperative preparation is the appropriate way to answer or respond to a question or task, the group should approach the Unit Coordinator concerned who will either allow or disallow such cooperation.

Where cooperative work has been allowed the names of all those cooperating must be listed on the assignment/task for which the cooperation occurred.

 

If you directly quote or copy something, always use quotation marks.

Lots of students get caught up on this one, especially in assessment tasks that require the production of posters or brochures. So check with your lecturer if you are unsure.

 

Don’t have more than 3 direct quotations in an assessment task, if you have too many your lecturer might flag that you are not paraphrasing correctly. 

This can happen even if you have properly cited and referenced the quotations. 

So, paraphrase ideas/concepts rather than use direct quotations. Check with your lecturer if you have any doubts. 

Not paraphrasing properly can be considered to be academic misconduct.

 

I use Turn-It-In Self-Check - So I won’t have any Issues! ..

Will I?

A fact about Turn-It-In Self-Check that can catch you out - BIG TIME!

The Turn-It-In Self-Check reports you receive do not identify to you (the student) similarities between the text in your assignment submission and any other student assignments (including your own work) which previously have been submitted to Turn-It-In for analysis.  

The reasons for this are to maintain confidentiality, and to ensure that self-checking reports are not used by plagiarists as a means to evade detection. 

Your lecturers, by contrast, have access to a much more comprehensive Turn-It-In analysis of your assignment submission.

MAJOR CONSEQUENCE - So if another student copied a paragraph from a book or journal - and you did the same - then it won't be reported to you when you use the Turn-It-In Self Check. So you will think you are OK - But ... unfortunately you won't - so always manually check that you have properly paraphrased all your source materials!

 

So, as you can see, if you copy someone else’s work, what you see in Turn-It-In Self-Check report won’t indicate you have copied another student’s work (especially when you think you have cleverly reordered the ideas and changed some of the words). 

Unfortunately Turn-It-In is pretty effective at reporting to your lecturer that you have sham paraphrased another student’s work.

 

You have previously completed a similar assignment. This could be work you did in a different unit OR work you did in a withdrawn or failed unit. 

It is your work so that should be OK as it is not plagiarism?

Submitting this work is not plagiarism BUT reusing or recycling an assessment task is considered academic misconduct. 

What can really trap you here is that the Turn-It-In Self-Check report won’t indicate you have copied/recycled your own work. 

 

Have you ever shared your assignment with another student?

Have you ever asked via social media if someone would let you have a copy of their assignment? 

Have you ever traded assignments with other students? 

Have you ever scaffolded your assignment on another student’s work? 

Have you worked closely with another student?

All sounds harmless enough . . . ? 

Just a little heads up . . .  It is NOT appropriate behaviour! 

Both the provider and the receiver end up under investigation. 

This type of behaviour more than often attracts the maximum penalties for both parties. So don’t share your work except if it is part of a unit activity or requirement.

Ensure that the work you submit is your own original work which has been properly referenced.