Cheating and plagiarism

What is cheating?

There are several types of cheating, for example plagiarism, crib sheets and other prohibited aids, prohibited cooperation between students, and fabrication or falsification of documents.

SLU has a policy and action plan with regard to cheating and plagiarism within higher education with which you are required to be familiar as a student at SLU. You are also required to sign a liability statement that you are aware of the information in this policy.

SLU’s “policy and action plan with regard to cheating and plagiarism within higher education” says the followings about cheating:

”...prohibited aids during a written test, altering a retuned document, unauthorized collaboration between students on individual assignments, copying other students’ work, copying without correct attribution of the source, incorrect recording of attendance at mandatory instruction, incorrect information about previous academic performance relevant to the assessment of credits to be awarded, etc.”    

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when someone uses the work or text of another without clearly marking that it is someone else’s work.

Plagiarism is always wrong, but if it’s committed with the intention of misleading the reader or instructor, for instance during a test or in a student paper, then it can be considered a form of cheating and result in disciplinary measures, for instance a warning or even suspension from studies for up to six months.

To avoid this, it’s important to be very precise when referencing sources. Academic text often refer to the work of others and it must be clear to the reader what pieces of text or ideas in a paper are yours and which are the work of another author or researcher. Otherwise you run the risk of being suspected of plagiarism. If you are unsure about how to reference a source, ask you instructor or us at the library.

When writing an academic paper, you are expected to digest the information you read in other sources, to analyze it and then draw your own conclusions. This reduces the risk of plagiarism. But remember: always refer to a source that is the basis for what might be your own analysis and conclusions.

It is also considered plagiarism if you submit the same text for two different assignments. This is called self-plagiarism. Naturally, you can also reference works you have written yourself, and the same rules apply as when you refer to works by another author. Read more in the anti-plagiarism guide Refero.

Urkund has produced a good introduction on the subject with some concrete examples and tips: Urkund’s plagiarism handbook - tips and suggestions to students (only in Swedish).

For more information on cheating and plagiarism, visit SLU's Student web .