The risks of working with other students
 

Some assessment tasks are explicitly designed for group work, and it will be made clear that a group answer is expected from you. All other tasks are intended as an assessment of your individual comprehension and performance, and group answers are not permitted. In individually assessed forms of assessment your work must be different from that of every other student. Plagiarism can occur in assignments and any examination where the questions are issued to students in advance. In both cases it is possible for you to ask other people about how best to answer the questions or complete the necessary tasks

You should be aware that different modules and subjects may have different requirements. In some subjects, answers to questions may, for example, require every student on a module to employ or refer to the same diagram(s), concepts and the like in order to construct an acceptable answer. You should note, however, that even in these circumstances your explanations of what the diagrams mean, and any other writing referring to any common diagrams and concepts should all be in your own words. Moreover, the situation may be very different on other modules, where the submission of work that has a very similar structure, or the use of very similar materials such as concepts, diagrams, quotations and the like, to that of another student, may lead to you being accused of plagiarism.

The picture is complicated and, unfortunately, it is not possible to give advice that is directly relevant to every module you study. If you are unsure about how to avoid plagiarism in any specific module, then rather than hoping and guessing, you should ask for guidance from the member of staff who delivers that module.

Our overall advice is straightforward; by all means discuss how best to answer questions or complete tasks with your colleagues, but when it comes to actually writing your answers - DO IT ALONE!

What happens if you get caught?