Academic Integrity
I’ve received a Notice of Allegations email or Suspected Breach of Academic Integrity email. What should I do now?
Fill out the Advocacy contact form, including a copy of your 'Notice of Suspected Breach'/'Notice of Allegation' and any evidence files. Please attach the original files (you can 'print' the email as a .pdf). Don't use screenshots - these can be hard to follow and delay us being able to help you.
The earlier you reach out, the better. We can help you understand the process and prepare your response within the timelines you are given in the Notice. We will review your documents, review your draft response and give you feedback to improve it. If you need additional help after this, or are called to a misconduct hearing, we will book you an appointment.
The university takes academic integrity extremely seriously. When responding to an allegation of academic misconduct it is very important that you are honest, upfront and reflective. If your conduct was dishonest, and your response to the allegations is also dishonest, this is likely to increase the severity of the penalty that is applied as you have not demonstrated that you have reflected on how your conduct fits within the academic integrity rules at the university. Again, we strongly recommend that you seek our advice prior to responding to the university.
Steps to write your draft response
- Re-do the Academic Integrity Module. You should mention in your response that you have done this, and provide a screenshot of completion in the ‘supporting evidence’ section.
- Have a read of: "What happens if I breach Academic Integrity?
- Email through your first draft response (or include it when you complete the Advocacy contact form) so we can review it for you. Honesty results in the best outcome for students. Being dishonest may result in a harsher penalty.
Points to include in your response
- Remorse: apologise and show that you are sorry that these standards have been breached (if you believe you have breached the standards). Be specific in your apology, say what the breach is. Avoid vague language like 'may have'/'might have'.
- Record: Honestly detail how you completed your assessment, in chronological order. Keep this simple and factual.
- Responsibility: Focus on what you have learnt from this experience, what you now realise that you didn't before, give specific examples of what you will do differently next time.
- Recognition: demonstrate that you are aware of why it is so important for the Uni to maintain standards of Academic Integrity. Acknowledge the importance of students producing and submitting original work in their own words, so their knowledge level can be assessed, and properly referencing words where they are not a student's own. Show understanding that maintaining standards of Academic Integrity is crucially important for Monash or any learning institution.
- Rehabilitation: finally, what are you doing to ensure this never happens again? Such actions are re-doing the Academic Integrity Module and reading through Learn HQ. Learn HQ has some great modules on citation and referencing, paraphrasing, and AI use which we strongly recommend you complete. You can also book with the Student Academic Success team for 1:1 study skills support.
This page gives a good overview of the Academic Integrity/Misconduct procedure in case you still have questions. Furthermore the penalty guidelines are outlined here.
What penalty am I going to get?
If you are found guilty of breaching the university’s academic integrity rules, you could receive one or some of the following penalties:
- your name may go on the confidential Academic Integrity Warnings Register
- deduction of marks
- zero for assessment task
- zero for unit
- suspension
- exclusion
What is academic integrity?
You need to understand what the term ‘plagiarism’ means and what is included (e.g. passing someone else’s work off as if it were your own, as well as re-using your own work). You also need to know what ‘collusion’ is, and what constitutes ‘cheating’.
Every time you submit a piece of work you sign a cover-sheet to confirm that you understand and are following the academic integrity rules at the university. Do you really know what these rules are? Complete the module on academic integrity, and check out these other academic integrity resources on LearnHQ.
I’ve received a Notice of Decision, and I am not happy. Can I appeal?
Appeal processes do exist, depending on the grounds for an appeal. Book an appointment and we can discuss further.
