Academic integrity
The academic community - including academics, postgraduate researchers, and students - depends on academic integrity - it's how we know our work is ethical and trustworthy.
These resources and tools will help you develop your academic practice.
The International Center for Academic Integrity has identified five key principles of academic integrity:
Honesty
You acknowledge what's your own work, and where ideas or contributions came from others.
Trust
Others can trust that your work is your own and your findings come from well-conducted research.
Fairness
You're fair by showing good academic practice, and are treated fairly by others doing the same.
Respect
Showing respect for diverse opinions and ideas across the academic community.
Responsibility
Understanding good academic integrity practice and applying it in your work.
Online integrity tutorials
All students and postgraduate researchers must complete a compulsory online integrity tutorial:
- Academic Integrity Tutorial - taught students (undergraduate and taught masters)
- Research Integrity Tutorial - postgraduate researchers (PhD and research masters)
- IPC Integrity Tutorial - students at the International Pathway College
You can find the appropriate integrity tutorial in your VLE module list. If you have more than one version, you only need to do the tutorial once.
If you do not have an Integrity Tutorial in your VLE module list, email integrity@york.ac.uk.
Referencing
A key aspect of academic integrity is using referencing to clearly identify information and ideas that come from source materials. It's essential to acknowledge other people's ideas in this way so that you can avoid committing plagiarism.
There are two components of referencing: citations to identify source information in the text and a final reference list with the full details of each source used. There are different referencing styles depending on the subject area, but most departments only use one.
Turnitin
Turnitin is ‘text matching’ software used to evaluate the integrity of writing.
It compares text to a database of papers, books, web pages and student work and identifies any matches. Large matches may suggest that source information hasn’t been appropriately paraphrased or summarised.
You can use Turnitin as part of your writing process to help you check your use of source information. To access the Turnitin submission points, complete the Online Turnitin Tutorial in your VLE module list.
Academic misconduct
Academic misconduct is any kind of cheating or attempt to gain an unfair advantage. Common types of academic misconduct:
- plagiarism: the presentation of ideas, material, or scholarship sourced from the work of another individual or group available in a public or private source without sufficient acknowledgement via appropriate referencing and citation
- cheating: failure to comply with the rules of a closed/oral examination eg unauthorised access to materials or support in a closed/oral examination, or personation.
- collusion: inappropriate collaboration with others.
- false authorship: the production or adaptation of academic work, in whole or part, whether or not a payment or other favour is involved, using unapproved, undeclared or falsely declared human (eg family members, friends, essay mills or other PGRs/students) or technological assistance (eg generative AI or software).
Learn more about academic misconduct and how to avoid it in your online integrity tutorial. Not being aware of the types of academic misconduct is not an acceptable defence.
For details on how academic misconduct will be treated see:
If you're accused of academic misconduct:
The University regards any form of academic misconduct as an extremely serious matter. If you're accused of academic misconduct, you will be able to explain your case in writing or in an interview.
Being accused of academic misconduct can be a very stressful experience and can have a significant impact on your studies. You can seek advice from your supervisor or the University of York Students' Union.