The UEA's Academic Integrity policy defines academic integrity as: "a commitment to the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility to ensure that my work is a true expression of my own understanding and ideas, competencies and skills, giving credit to others where their work contributes to mine."

Put simply, this is about being honest, doing your own work, and showing appropriate recognition for other people's academic work and intellectual property. Demonstrating academic integrity shows what you understand, that you take responsibility for your work, and acknowledge other people's contributions if you use them.

Academic integrity is what adds value to your degree.

By doing your own work, you're learning valuable transferable skills including problem-solving, thinking for yourself and communicating your perspective, which are fundamental qualities you'll take into your career.

Your time at university is the ideal time to develop your personal working style and learn from experts in your field - plagiarism or cheating limits your ability to develop and grow.

You're paying for your degree - get as much value, learning and personal growth out of it as you can. This is the ideal space to challenge yourself and see what you're really capable of.

Ultimately, academic misconduct could cost your degree if you're expelled, which isn't what we want for you.

The University knows academic misconduct can happen, and Generative AI use is especially prevalent - checking work for potential misconduct is important for maintaining the value of academic spaces and learning. If your work is flagged as a potential concern, it's not a personal attack.

If the University receives evidence that indicates someone might have cheated, they will need to investigate this to understand what happened.

They do understand that there can be reasons for academic misconduct, like wellbeing concerns, not having enough time, or something difficult going on in your life. Flagging an issue with someone's work is also an opportunity to talk through any support options available.

UEA has published specific guidance for students on academic integrity and misconduct, with explanations about what is and isn't appropriate (Appendix A in the Academic Integrity policy, which can be found here)

We know it can feel a little dull to read a long policy document, but when something is this important throughout your time at UEA, it's worth taking some time to familiarise yourself.

Mistakes and accidents can happen to the best of us, and if you don't take care with your work, you might breach the Academic Integrity policy even if you didn't intend to cheat. The best way to avoid this is to stay as informed as possible, and make use all of resources and support available.

It's especially important to be careful when using AI tools, as universities have strict rules about what can and can't be used to support your work.

Top tips:

Make sure you understand what constitutes academic misconduct - this includes plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating and inappropriate use of Generative Ai. Not sure where to start? Scroll down for our summaries.

Always engage with any training and induction sessions provided by the University. If you've missed training and can't find it on Blackboard, speak to the Student Information Zone

Always check your assessment brief. It should outline what you can and cannot do when completing the assignment - including working with other people and sharing material, or using any form of Generative Ai tools.

Never assume what is allowed - rules can differ between Schools, so don't ever do something just because your friend on a different course is allowed to!

If you're taking a module outside of your main School, double check what their expectations are. They might expect you to reference in a different way, or have specific rules about Ai use.

Always keep track of what academic or online resources you use - it's important for proper referencing but is really helpful is there are any concerns about your work in the future - you have clear evidence of your study process.

Always ask for help if you need it. We know students have busy and complicated lives alongside their studies, and support is available. This could be personal wellbeing support if there's a lot going on outside of your work, or finding it tricky to settle into a new way of studying. It's always better to ask for help rather than risking your academic integrity.

If you have been invited to an Academic Integrity meeting, let us know as soon as possible by completing our enquiry form - you should also review the information available here.

The Library and Learning Enhancement Team offers a wide range of support, resources and 121 help for things like academic writing, referencing and other best practice for your academic work.

If you need personal wellbeing support for something that's happened, or if there are other circumstances impacting your ability to study, Student Journey and Support Services can offer support.

Assessment briefs should make it clear what level of Generative AI and AI-assisted tools can be used in the piece of work.

If it's unclear, make sure you check lecture slides, induction information and with the module lead - don't assume you're ok to use AI.

We recommend not using any AI assistive software or tools unless it's been explicitly allowed in the assessment brief.

This is the same for group work - unless the assessment brief specifically allows for group work, assume that it should be completed by you and you alone.

The university does take into account any relevant context that you share with them if there are concerns about your work. For instance, a lot of students don't know that Grammarly Premium is AI-assisted.

If you're not sure if a tool is ok to use in your assessment, ask! Speak to your module organiser or academic advisor.

Ultimately, an AI tool should never be used to complete any part of an assessment for you. It can sometimes be used to help you understand materials or reframe your own thinking on a piece of work, but anything that generates content as a replacement of your own time, ideas, thoughts or academic learning is considered an inappropriate use of AI.

The University's Academic Integrity policy defines academic misconduct as a failure to demonstrate academic integrity, either by failing to demonstrate that your work is your own, or the work submitted doesn't reflect your own understanding, ideas, competency and skills. In short, it's cheating. You should explain what your concerns relate to, the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. You should include any supporting evidence that shows the circumstances or your experience, and how it has impacted you.

Plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas without acknowledging and referencing it properly and appropriately. This can include self-plagiarism, where you present older work you've done as something brand new.

Collusion is working with someone else to produce work that will be submitted by one or both of you, outside of an authorised group-work assignment. It can also mean attempting to collude with someone even if the final work submitted is just your own work.

Contract cheating is when your work has been completed for you, partially or fully, by someone else. This could be a friend, another student, an academic or a third-party provider - these are called essay mills. It's contract cheating regardless of whether you've paid money for the work or not. It can also be uploading an assessment question to a website so that other people can answer it.

Inappropriate use of Generative AI or Ai-assisted tools is when AI is used to complete some, or all, of an assessment when it hasn't been specifically authorised in the assessment brief. It can also be not clearly acknowledging when AI has been used to help you formulate your argument, understand the assessment, moderate your work or generate academic ideas.

Serious cases of academic misconduct could result in suspension or expulsion from your course.

If you are found in breach of the academic integrity policy for one piece of work, previous submissions can be checked for similar concerns, which could impact your marks and final degree classification.

Evidence of academic cheating could be considered a Fitness to Practise concern for students on a professional course, as honesty and integrity are key factors of professional standards.