Academic conduct and practice
Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity is fundamental to the values promoted by the University.
Academic integrity refers to the ethical and moral standards that govern academic work. It is the practice of honest and responsible conduct in all aspects of academic work, including research, writing, teaching, and learning. This means always giving full credit for the contributions of others to our own achievements (i.e. by full and correct referencing of borrowed words or ideas) and never falsifying the results of any research.
All students are expected to behave in a manner that upholds these values, the University regulations state that "no student should be allowed to obtain for themselves, or for someone else, an unfair advantage." The University defines Academic Offences as " an act or failure to act that if undetected gives, or aims to give, an advantage over other students, or any behaviour which may deceive those setting, administering and marking a piece of work.
We realise that in some cases a breach in Academic Integrity can occur unintentionally or unknowingly and may be caused by a student taking shortcuts to rush to complete an assignment or from a lack of understanding of the academic conventions for their academic discipline. However these mistakes will have an impact on the quality of your work and can lead to your work being considered in an Academic Misconduct Investigation. It is therefore really important to ensure that you understand what is meant by Academic Integrity and how you can ensure it is upheld in your own work.
Sources of Support
The University provides a range of support services to help you with your academic skills.
LibGuides
LibGuides is a collection of online resources and guides to aid students with their academic practices. LibGuides also contains full guides on referencing conventions for reference systems used by the University.
You can find the full catalogue here.
Additionally, the Students' Guild has produced a Reference Right Website for all students to use: Reference Right (exeterguild.com).
Study Zone (Streatham Campus)
Study Zone advisers can help students to develop personal learning strategies and discuss specific questions relating to students work. Students can develop their skills as critical thinkers and writers, learn new tips, and improve their academic performance.
For more information on the Study Zone please visit their website.
ASK: Academic Skills Study Guides (Penryn Campus)
The ASK team of teachers and advisors support student learning at the University of Exeter Cornwall Campuses by:
- running workshops on writing, referencing and study skills
- providing study guides and learning resources
- offering individual advice through one-to-one appointments
For more information, please visit their webpage.
English Language Skills Development programme (Insessional Support)
English Language Skills Development (The Insessional programme) is a university-funded programme open to all students who are non-native speakers of English. They provide an extensive range of workshops, courses, online resources and one-to-one tutorials in English for academic purposes and social and cultural English. They can give guidance and advice on the many language factors associated with good academic practice, including: strategies for reading, paraphrase and summary, incorporating sources into writing, and referencing. You can find out more about the programme by visiting the website https://www.exeter.ac.uk/into/englishlanguage/about/.
In order to participate you should register with the programme here. If you are not sure which type of support is most appropriate, please email insessional@exeter.ac.uk. If you are a tutor and would like to refer a student for specific support, please email Emma Sweeney in the first instance.
Workshops on Avoiding Plagiarism and Practical Skills for Paraphrasing
This class will offer opportunities to develop your skills for incorporating sources more effectively and responsibly. You will:
- Review academic honesty rules and what they mean for writing.
- Explore what effective paraphrase looks like.
- Complete a guided practical paraphrase task.
You will leave with a toolkit of practical strategies to use in future assignment writing.
If you feel you would benefit from a one-to-one appointment to discuss Avoiding Plagiarism and Practical Skills for Paraphrasing, you can email insessional@exeter.ac.uk.
ELE Module on Academic Honesty
Each Discipline has its own Academic Honesty module on ELE, which explains academic honesty in detail and also provides the academic conventions followed the Discipline. Students are expected to take this module when they begin their studies and are strongly encouraged to retake the module at the start of each year.
Please find a link to module for your Discipline in the table below:
| Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy |
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences |
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Science |
| Earth and Environmental Sciences (including the Cambourne School of Mines) |
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| University of Exeter Medical School |
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| University of Exeter Business School |
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For those on a Flexible Combined Honours programme, a bespoke module for the programme is available here.