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Repeating years
52.
Students who fail to obtain sufficient credits during the Autumn, Spring and Summer Resit Period to
progress but who are carrying no more than 100 failed credits are normally given the opportunity to
repeat any failed modules as an external or internal student in the coming academic year.
53.
Students cannot literally “repeat the year”; marks from passed modules stand and any repeat
assessments are capped at 40%.
54.
The time-limit for a student to complete his/her Programme shall be no more than two years beyond
the normal duration of the degree programme.
55.
A student shall only be permitted to continue to pursue a programme providing it remains possible for
him/her to complete within the above time limit.
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A
PPENDIX
2
–
S
OME
A
DVICE ON THE
A
VOIDANCE OF
P
LAGIARISM
The following notes, reproduced from the Keele University Physics Handbook, give clear guidance on the
avoidance of plagiarism.
Submission of Written Work and the Avoidance of Plagiarism
It is implicitly assumed that all written work submitted for assessment is the individual work of the student
submitting it. This important principle applies to all coursework, for example solutions to problems sheets,
tutorial essays, laboratory reports, interim and final project reports, dissertations, and posters. It makes no
difference whether the work is handwritten or printed or submitted electronically. A student who includes in
their submitted work another person’s work as if it is their own is guilty of plagiarism. The University, as do all
Universities, treats plagiarism as CHEATING. Examiners will always penalise cases of plagiarism, and serious
cases must be reported to the University for disciplinary action. Plagiarism can result in failed modules and
suspension or expulsion from the University.
It should be very clearly understood that direct copying of one student’s work by another student, one of the
more blatant examples of plagiarism, is completely unacceptable and both parties may be subject to penalty or
even to disciplinary action.
However, it is also true that some instances of plagiarism are unintended examples of poor practice in which
the students concerned have no intention to cheat but do not realise the extent to which sources must be
declared and do not know the appropriate forms such declarations may take. Such situations can arise in the
context of assessed problem sheets where the underlying Physics has been discussed with other students,
laboratory reports where pairs of students have worked together in the laboratory in collecting data, in reports
and presentations on team projects, and in laboratory and project work in which the student has been
supervised by academic staff. You should be particularly careful about compiling and adapting information
from web sites. The following guidelines are intended to illustrate the kind of acknowledgements that may be
required in written coursework.
Acknowledgement of Sources and Avoidance of Plagiarism
The golden rule is that AUTHORS MUST ACKNOWLEDGE ALL SOURCES AND INPUTS TO THEIR WORK. This rule
is both a matter of good professional practice and of fairness in the context of an assessed piece of academic
work. Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
(Reference 1). So even great scientists must use the work of predecessor and contemporary scientists.
The full disclosure of sources is a positive attribute in scientific writing because it demonstrates knowledge of
the context, and because the selection, use and presentation of appropriate theory and data is itself a creative
process. Above all, the proper use of sources and references is helpful to the reader of the work and is an
important aspect of good working relationships with professional colleagues.
Sadly, there are known cases of scientists who have plagiarised the work of others or who have “invented”
data; where the discovery occurred after they had become famous, their reputation suffered grievously.
Scientific plagiarism is viewed as deeply unfair and unprofessional.
Plagiarism is often unintended, and some care and judgement must be exercised. Matters which require
citation are anything (text, data or illustrations) reproduced directly as the originator will own the copyright in
this, ideas or analyses that are being followed or modified, and anything which inspires or supports or
contradicts the work being reported. If in doubt, the author should err on the side of caution and cite the
source. The relationship between the student’s work and the cited source is indicated by the words used to
cite the source; “reproduced from”, “following”, “from”, etc., all give a different sense.
Reference 2 lists some types of plagiarism. Four of these are reproduced below in (the subheadings) and
advice on how to proceed is given in each case.