Coursework

Referencing

Referencing refers to acknowledging the sources used in producing a piece of work. Referencing correctly allows you to:

• Demonstrate how widely you have researched the topic;
• Show the basis of your arguments and conclusions;
• Acknowledge the work of others, and
• Avoid plagiarism.

Referencing Style

For modules in Leeds University Business School students should use the official University of Leeds version of the Harvard referencing style.

Guidance on how to source citations within the text and how to reference different types of material is available on the referencing pages of the Library website. Marking of all submitted coursework will be informed by this guidance and will correspond to the style outlined on the Library’s referencing website pages.

Group Work

If you are working in a group but are expected to submit an individual piece of work, then the coursework you submit must be your own work, even if the group shares the data or ideas obtained as part of a team. Copying or paraphrasing another student’s work constitutes plagiarism.

Supporting information for Business school students can be found here:

Leeds University Business School - Forms Guidance & Coversheets

Coursework Deadlines

Deadline times are set to ensure that you can submit your work well within office hours. Your teaching School will avoid, wherever possible, setting deadlines on:

• Fridays, the last day of term and the first day of the formal assessment period

When you submit your work electronically, the time of submission is automatically logged.

It is your responsibility to ensure that work arrives by the deadline.

The deadline for submitting work is normally midday 12:00pm UK time on the specified day.

Declarations of Academic Integrity

You must complete a Declaration of Academic Integrity for all assessment submissions. The statement reminds you of the University’s definition of academic integrity and the consequences of academic misconduct.

Submission of Coursework

Students should check the work that they submit carefully and are responsible for ensuring the correct work is submitted . The School will only accept the coursework which is submitted by the deadline, regardless of whether a student accidentally submits the wrong coursework or an incomplete draft.

Students should ensure that their uploaded assignments have the standard front cover sheet, available from the Leeds University Business School Taught Student Guide webpages: https://students.business.leeds.ac.uk/forms-guidance-and-coversheets/. Detailed advice about how to submit can also be found on the Leeds University Business School online Taught Student Guide webpages: https://students.business.leeds.ac.uk/assessment/submitting-assignments/

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they leave sufficient time to complete the online submission process, as upload times can vary. Accessing the submission link before the deadline does NOT constitute completion of submission. Students MUST click the ‘CONFIRM’ button before 12 noon for the assignment to be classed as submitted on time. If the deadline is not met students must submit to the Late Area and the assignment will be marked as late.

Students must click the download icon to download a digital receipt. Students are advised to save the receipt in a safe place as this is the only accepted proof of submission.

From within the document viewer, click the “Download” icon to download your digital receipt.

Save your receipt in a safe place as this will be the only accepted proof of submission.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the correct file is uploaded to Minerva, and that it has been uploaded successfully.

Penalties for Exceeding Word Count

All coursework assignments that contribute to the assessment of a module are subject to a word limit, as specified in the online module handbook in the relevant module area of MINERVA.

The word limit is an extremely important aspect of good academic practice, and must be adhered to.  Unless stated specifically otherwise in the relevant module handbook, the word count includes everything that is included in the main body of the assignment including summaries, subtitles, contents pages, tables, and supportive material (whether this is in the form of footnotes or in-text references) It does not include the main title, the reference list and/or bibliography and any appendices.

It is not acceptable to present matters of substance, which should be included in the main body of the text, in the appendices as this is deemed appendix abuse. In addition, it is also not acceptable to attempt to hide words in graphs and diagrams; only text which is strictly necessary should be included in graphs and diagrams.

You are required to adhere to the word limit specified and state an accurate word count on the cover page of your assignment brief.

Your declared word count must be accurate and should not mislead.

Making a fraudulent statement concerning your submitted work could be considered as academic misconduct and investigated as such.

If the amount of work submitted is higher than that specified by the word limit or that declared on your word count, this may be reflected in the mark awarded and noted through individual feedback given to you.

Penalties for Late Submission of Coursework

If you submit your work past the deadline, penalties will be applied.

The penalty is deducted from the mark for the individual piece of work that has been submitted late. For every period of 24 hours or part thereof that your assessment is overdue, you will lose 5% of the total marks available for that assessment component. This includes weekends, Bank Holidays and University closed days.  The deduction is applied before any conflation with other marks (i.e. with other assessment components for the module) to give the overall result of the module. If your assessed work is over 14 days late, the submission will be deemed to have failed for non-submission (a day being a single 24-hour period).

Online Time Limited Assessments with a duration of 48 hours or less must be submitted within the time period stated. Late submissions will not be accepted in any circumstances.

If you have not left sufficient time to submit, you may have to submit your work to the Late Area in Minerva and you will incur a late penalty.

If you have not received a receipt for your coursework submission, this may be because your submission has not successfully uploaded. If this is not rectified before the deadline time, you will incur a late penalty.

If you fail to ensure that you have uploaded the correct file to Minerva, it will be deemed that you have not submitted and if this situation is not corrected before the deadline, you will incur a late penalty.

Penalties for Academic Misconduct

The University takes all forms of academic misconduct very seriously. You may be excluded from the University without award if you present coursework in breach of the University’s rules on academic integrity. Guidance on the Academic Misconduct Procedure is available through the Student Cases website page.

Proofreading

The University policy on proofreading provides definitions of proofreading in the University of Leeds context, and guidance to help avoid contravening the policy, and possible consequences of doing so.

You are required by the University to proofread your own work. Guidance on proofreading is available from the University Library website.

Guidance on Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct can be found on the For Students website page and definitions can be found in the Academic Misconduct Procedure.

Academic Integrity Tutorial and Test

There is a compulsory online academic integrity tutorial and test for all students. You must complete the tutorial and answer all questions correctly when you first register. Further details are available on the Minerva Support website page.

Academic Integrity Education

All taught programmes include specific advice regarding academic integrity and good practice in academic writing as well as the consequences of academic misconduct, such as plagiarism. The Library provides detailed guidance and training materials related to academic integrity in the Academic Skills section of the Library website.

Leeds University Business School has an Academic Integrity Lead who is a nominated member of academic staff responsible for ensuring consistency within the Faculty in relation to the implementation of plagiarism procedures and practice and the investigation of suspected cases of plagiarism.

The role of the Business School’s Academic Integrity Lead is to ensure equity of treatment of all students. The role holder is also responsible for plagiarism education, including raising staff and student awareness of plagiarism issues.

Leeds University Business School takes plagiarism education very seriously. Good academic practice advice is embedded into induction sessions for all students. Students are directed towards the Academic Integrity Tutorial and Test (see above) and are provided with a copy of the LUBS Referencing & Presentation Guidance document at the start of their programme. All students have access to study skills sessions directly via skills@library (https://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills).

Guidance on academic referencing is integrated into selected modules on every taught programme.

Further information about referencing can be found in the LUBS Referencing and Presentation Guidance (Little red book) provided at induction, and also available on the LUBS Taught Student Guide web pages https://students.business.leeds.ac.uk/).

Re-using Your Own Work

Submitting or re-submitting the same work or part of the same work to satisfy the requirements of more than one assessment is considered misconduct, even if the work is for a different module or qualification. If there are specific reasons to make an exception, you must have specific written permission from the University staff concerned.

Advice from Staff

It is your responsibility to work with academic integrity. Where the School agrees that you can submit a draft for initial advice and feedback, if evidence of academic misconduct is found in the draft, staff will advise you on academic integrity, but it is not their responsibility to identify and highlight academic misconduct in draft work.

Whether or not you have submitted a draft, and whether or not the School has identified academic misconduct in the draft, you remain responsible for the submissions you make.

Draft or Erroneous Submissions

You are responsible for assessment submissions. If, after making a submission, you claim that you mistakenly submitted a draft or the wrong version, your original version will be treated as the submission. If the School finds that it contains academic misconduct, it will attract penalties.

Cheating

Cheating in University examinations is taken very seriously by the University. If you are found to have breached the University’s rules governing the conduct of examinations, you are likely to be permanently excluded from the University with no award.

The School uses a number of ways to check for academic misconduct, including manual checks from the staff marking your work as well as electronic tools.

Explanation of Turnitin

The University uses an internet-based text-matching service called Turnitin to provide evidence of originality of electronic coursework submissions. The tool compares text submitted with a wide range of electronic material, including journals, websites and student work from current and previous years, from Leeds and other UK universities. The software highlights if you have submitted the same or similar text as another student, or published material, or if you have submitted the same or similar text for more than one assessment.

Use of Turnitin

Your School will provide you with an introduction to Turnitin during your first semester of study to support your understanding of academic integrity.

In your first year as a Level 1 Undergraduate or Taught Postgraduate you may be allowed one opportunity to see a part of a Turnitin originality report, based on an example assignment. You may also be allowed one opportunity to see an originality report for a draft assignment you have written, as long as this is under academic supervision. At level 2 and above, you will not be provided with an originality report.

Turnitin and Academic Misconduct

Whether or not the School has used Turnitin routinely for a particular assessment, if the person marking your work is suspicious of academic misconduct, that piece of work will be submitted to Turnitin.

Originality Reports

The originality reports created by Turnitin are considered for possible academic misconduct as part of a review of a submission. However, it is your School, and not the software tool, that will decide whether or not academic misconduct has taken place; Turnitin is just one element of the evidence used to make this decision.

Your School will check all originality reports for work submitted electronically through Turnitin for plagiarism, regardless of the percentage match indicated by the similarity index.

Leeds University Business School checks all assessed coursework for plagiarism using the Turnitin software. Where this process identifies sufficient concerns about the originality of content within a piece of work, an investigation will be initiated to explore the academic integrity of the work.  The mark and feedback will be withheld until the investigation is complete.  In cases where the outcome of that investigation is suspicion of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the student will be required to attend a meeting with the Plagiarism Panel.

You are expected to submit all coursework associated with modules, including formative assessment. If you persistently neglect your studies or repeatedly fail to submit coursework within a reasonable time, the School may begin disciplinary proceedings which could result in you being excluded from assessments and/or required to withdraw from the University. The School will follow the University’s formal procedures for this.