Help CentrePREPARING FOR ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT MEETINGS
Introduction
As part of our service, we aim to assist students in preparing for meetings related to the academic misconduct process. We have compiled several points for students to consider supporting their case. When preparing your statement, we recommend approaching it from the perspective of how university staff are likely to interpret the information you provide. Providing honest and detailed explanations is preferable. We suggest that offering a comprehensive account of how any potential errors or circumstances contributed to the allegation may reflect better than a less detailed response. Although we have provided guidance on preparing a statement, we are unable to confirm if the university would agree with the information you provide and then close your case with no further concerns. As we are ultimately not the decision maker on this allegation.
To get started, we would suggest you have a look at your work alongside the highlighted sections of where the concerns of academic misconduct are.
If you have been invited to a Stage 1 meeting, ask the programme team for a copy of the highlighted work to help you prepare. If you have been invited to a Stage 2 panel this should be included in your panel papers.
Providing evidence of your original work
During all academic misconduct meetings staff are looking for evidence of your original work. If you have any of the following, please bring these to all meetings
- Draft versions of work
- If you do not have any draft versions, can you explain why, especially when the guidance from the university is to save draft
- If you did have drafts but no longer have them, can you explain why
- Any working documents that could show editing and development of work i.e. drafts
- Does your drafts demonstrate clear progression of work, including this progression being very similar to the final version submitted
- If your final version is different to draft versions, can you explain why?
- Any handwritten notes, do you have any notes planning your work e.g. a research plan or ideas on what you would like to do
- If you do have handwritten notes, can you match these to specific parts of your assessment
- Any metadata to evidence draft versions and/or version history demonstrating updates and time worked on the document
Demonstrating authorship of your own work
Staff will also be looking if you can explain the learning process and demonstrate authorship of your work
- Can you talk through the assessment and explain the process in creating, including how you understood the assessment briefing and then planned your work. Do you have any evidence of how you planned your work that you can share with staff
- Staff are looking for development of work, can you demonstrate this
- Can you explain how you decided on your research and where you found the sources
- Did you use any eBooks, if so which ones
- Could you share the journals used and what sections
- Do you have any records of research conducted
- How did you decide on what research
- What was your working process
- Do you have any evidence of search results and filtering
- Do you have any search history on your laptop that you can share
- Do you have any evidence of google scholar research
- Can you explain the structure of the assessment, why you used a particular source
- Can you articulate the full process of your work. Have you engaged with the classes and materials throughout the term
Overall, staff will be looking to see if you can confidently explain all the above
Do you have any recordings of meetings with your dissertation/project supervisor
Can you evidence you shared earlier drafts with your supervisor and there are similarities in the final submission where no concerns were raised at the time. If you did not share any draft versions with your supervisor prior to submission, can you explain why. If you did not attend any meetings with your supervisor, can you explain why
Ensure all your references are traceable
Check your references to ensure all links work
- Did you check all reference links were correct at the time
- If the links no longer exist, can you explain why? this can occur whena student has used AI in their original work
- For any issues with your links, can you find the original articles used and provide the correct/updated links
AI tools
If you used any AI tools in your work, always be honest and explain if you used them. Explain which ones you used and how, including any use of translation tools. You can find guidance on using AI tools on your student portal Understanding academic integrity and academic misconduct and Using AI responsibly and ethically
Academic misconduct allegation linked to submitting the incorrect file
At times this can be a completely different file submitted, a draft version without correct referencing or work you have already submitted where credit was gained for an earlier module (known as self-plagiarism) or someone else’s file. We would suggest you explain the process how this happened. Can you explain the situation of when you were submitting your work, including
- What was happening at the time and were there any circumstances in your life which may have had an impact on submitting the incorrect file
- If there were circumstances in your life that had an impact, did you submit a PEC and if not, can you explain why
- How was there an error made between the files
- Can you evidence the correct file and does this metadata correspond with the time you were working on this. Especially if this evidence can demonstrate this was created and last updated before the submission date and time of the incorrect file
- If you submitted a draft version in error that was missing references and/or citations, can you explain why you were working on an assessment without referencing immediately
- If you noticed the error immediately, can you evidence you told the university with an attempt to rectify the situation
- If you were using a friend’s laptop and you submitted their work in error, can you explain why you were using their laptop. Including why you were not using your OneDrive to save your work. Can you evidence the correct file with metadata demonstrating the work was completed before you submitted the incorrect file
- If you transferred your work from one device to another (including a friend’s) and you uploaded the text to a new document meaning the metadata demonstrates a very short editing time, can you evidence sending over this work i.e. do you have emails/messages to evidence this
Academic misconduct allegation linked to conduct in exams
Staff will be looking if you can explain how you prepared for your exam and how you approached the exam on the day.
· Can you talk through how you prepared for your exam? Think about the following:
o How did you plan your revision for the exam?
o What methods did you use to help you prepare e.g. past questions, flashcards, notes – can you provide evidence of this to show that you prepared for the exam before it took place?
· Were you aware of the exam rules e.g. timings, equipment, software allowed to be used?
· What materials did you take into the exam room with you?
· How did you tackle the exam questions during the exam?
o Did you make a rough plan?
o Did you choose to do the questions in a particular order?
o How did you use the allocated time in the exam – e.g. did you spend the same amount of time on each question?
· If the exam took place on a PC, you could think about the following:
o What applications/software did you access whilst in the exam room?
o Did you save your work regularly whilst in the exam? What did you save it on e.g. OneDrive? Could you provide any version histories that were saved during the exam?
o Did you use any AI or LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT) whilst in the exam?
· Can you articulate the full process of your preparation and your work – the university want to see that you understand the course content that you have been taught throughout the term.
Overall, the university will be looking to see if you can confidently explain all the above.
Additional guidance
If you feel you would be nervous in a meeting, prepare notes before and this will help you keep on track. Always prepare for meetings and take these seriously. Its normal to be nervous and most students are
Be prepared to answer questions about your work.
If any files mentioned above are missing, can you explain why? If the device you used at the time is now broken, can you explain why you were not using the OneDrive and why you didn’t back up any work elsewhere
If you had any circumstances in your life at the time that had an impact on your studies, please include this information, especially if you have an accepted PEC. For further information on the PEC process can be found on your Student Portal
The Advice Team are here to help you with your case. For personalised advice or to ask further questions please email su.advice@northumbria.ac.uk