This definition of plagiarism applies equally to essays, dissertations and examinations. The automatic mark for any work found to show plagiarism is zero, and further penalties may also be involved. The University has asked us to draw students' attention to its views on this important topic. They are enclosed on the following pages. Very few students indeed commit such offences, but the University believes that it is important that all students understand why academic honesty is a matter of such concern to the University, and why such severe penalties are imposed.
Universities are places of learning in two senses.
For students on taught courses, learning takes place through listening and talking to academic staff, discussion with peers, reading primary and secondary texts, researching topics for dissertations and project work, undertaking scientific experiments under supervision and so on. For PhD students and academic staff, learning takes the form of original research, where the outcome will be a contribution to the sum of human knowledge. At whatever level this learning takes place, however, a common factor is the search for truth, and this is why an over-riding concern for intellectual honesty pervades all the University's activities, including the means by which it assesses students' abilities. Throughout your time at the University you will legitimately gather information from many sources, but when you present yourself for any examination or assessment, you are asking the markers to judge what you have made as an individual of the studies you have undertaken. This judgement will then be carried forward into the outside world as a means of telling future employers, other universities, financial sponsors, and others who have an interest in your capabilities that you have undertaken the academic work required of you by course regulations, that you are capable of performing at a certain intellectual level, and that you have the skills and attributes consistent with your range of marks and the level of your award.