1. Not properly crediting the ideas and work of others in your references.
2. Passing other peoples’ ideas, words and research off as your own.

As well as deliberate acts of plagiarism, charges of plagiarism may be down to poor referencing. This is where 1st years and non-UK based students might need to get themselves up to speed quickly. How you credit and reference your sources for a piece of work is very important. Seek guidance from the programme handbook and your programme leader on this from the outset and you shouldn’t go wrong.

Conspiring or working together with (an)other(s) on a piece of work that you are expected to produce independently.

If a marker gets essays or assignments that are remarkably similar in argument and content, or suspects that you have worked with others when you should not have, s/he may ask you in to answer questions about suspected collusion. Often the issue comes down to “when does discussion of work with a colleague constitute unfair collusion within the context of the assessment?” and you and your colleague(s) will be asked to explain yourselves. So, even in group work, be clear about guidelines and ask your programme leader what is and what is not acceptable beforehand.

1. Taking unauthorised materials into the exam room.
2. Using unauthorised materials in an exam.
3. Impersonating someone or allowing yourself to be impersonated in an exam.

Obviously 2 is an offence – referring to crib notes, information stored in calculators, mobiles , personal organisers – on paper, your hand, on equipment, in the toilet cistern, or in electronic formats. It’s all cheating, in the same way as looking at the paper of the person next to you, or communicating about the exam answers with anyone inside or outside of the exam room during the exam.

But 1 is also an offence. If you take the materials into the exam room, it is assumed that it is your intention to use them, even if you personally know you didn’t intend to do so, or you are not actually caught using them. So, if you’re in the habit of reading crib notes just before an exam, don’t just fold them up and stick them in your pocket and go into the exam room with them. Make sure you clearly don’t have access to them for the duration of the exam. Put them in a bag or folder at the door or well away from yourself and other students for the duration of the exam.

And as for number 3 – in the unlikely event that you would sit an exam for someone else, or allow (pay big money) for someone to sit an exam for you – you’ll get the book thrown at you if you’re caught.