Academic integrity, referencing and plagiarism
You are part of an academic community that shares and develops ideas. You need to work with others, interpret and present other people's ideas, and produce your own independent academic work. Academic integrity is learning how to interpret and present other people's ideas and combine them with your own to produce academic work.
Getting help with Academic Integrity
The University's Skills@Library Team supports students to develop academic skills through online resources, workshops, 1-2-1 consultations and drop-in sessions. You should take some time to read through their resources on academic integrity and plagiarism.
Module Advice
Your module leader will provide specific advice before an assessment. If you need further guidance, you should speak to your academic personal tutor.
Making Good Assessment Decisions
University assessments are designed to help you demonstrate your own learning, understanding and skills. While support, guidance and digital tools may help you prepare for assessments, you remain responsible for the work you submit.
How to evidence your work: a LUBS guide
We have prepared a guide that outlines the best process to follow when beginning any new assessment, including coursework, reports, and presentations. Choose your preferred viewing format from the list below:
Taking a few moments to think about how you are approaching your work can help you avoid common mistakes and ensure that your submission reflects your own academic achievement:
- Read your assessment brief carefully before you begin.
- Check any guidance provided by your module team.
- Make use of academic skills and learning resources where appropriate.
- Seek clarification if you are unsure about assessment requirements.
- Allow enough time to review and refine your work before the deadline.
- Keep records of drafts, notes and source materials used during the assessment process.
If you are uncertain about assessment expectations, support is available through your module team, academic personal tutor and the wider University support services.
Understanding the consequences of plagiarism
You should ensure that you understand that plagiarism is a very serious issue, and how the University deals with cases.
The University Student website has detailed information on plagiarism and Skills@Library has information on how to avoid plagiarism in your own work.
Referencing
Referencing is an important part of academic work. It puts your work in context, demonstrates the breadth and depth of your research, and acknowledges other people’s work. You should reference whenever you use someone else’s idea.
Again, Skills@Library have a very detailed series of pages with everything you need to know about referencing.
Referencing style at LUBS
The Business School uses the Leeds Harvard referencing style - in your assignments you should use this referencing style whenever you use someone else’s idea.
Download a detailed guide to referencing at LUBS using the button below:
Plagiarism
The University defines plagiarism as:
...presenting someone else's work, in whole or in part, as your own. Work means any intellectual output, and typically includes text, data, images, sound or performance.
This also includes lecture slides and written notes from your lecturer given for example as part of seminar support or an example answer - skills@library has a useful guide on how to use paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism when working with such materials.
How we detect plagiarism
The University uses an internet-based text-matching service called Turnitin to provide evidence of originality of electronic coursework submissions. The tool compares the text you submit with a wide range of electronic material and highlights if you have submitted the same or similar text.
Remember: The University defines plagiarism as presenting someone else’s work, in whole or in part, as your own.
Where plagiarism is suspected, the University Academic Misconduct processes will apply.
Declaring the integrity of your work
All submitted work including submissions in open book exams is subject to a declaration signed by you. Please take the time to read the Declarations of Academic Integrity.
It is your responsibility to be aware of the University’s regulations on plagiarism and their importance.
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of Wisdom.