How to avoid committing an academic offence

Most of us try to live our lives as fairly and honestly as possible. When we do the right thing, it gives us a sense of fulfilment and it encourages others to trust and respect us, which is something we can carry with us throughout our lives.

Living credibly and with integrity should be something we choose to do every day – including our time at university. In the run up to assessments and assignment deadlines, we know it’s easy to feel stressed about meeting your submission date; you might think about using an essay writing service or commit other forms of academic offence to deal with your assignment anxieties.  

However, committing an academic offence can leave you facing serious repercussions, including possibly being asked to leave your course. BU may even have to report this to a Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB), which can jeopardise your credibility and your career before it’s even begun.  

At BU, we take academic offences seriously, and it’s important you take steps to avoid committing them. In some instances, you could be committing an offence by accident – for example, not referencing someone’s work correctly, colluding with a course-mate if you didn’t realise an assignment was meant to be completed independently or incorrectly referencing work that was completed with support of Arificial Intelligence (AI). You can read more about the most common academic offences on the BU website or our useful infographic.  

We’ve also put together a number of useful articles that breaks the information down:

• Why is academic integrity important?
• How to avoid plagiarism – the most common form of academic offence
• How to use Artificial Intelligence to support assignments and assessments 
• Essay writing services: Think we won’t know? Think again!  
• Don’t take the risk: How to avoid the pitfalls that can lead to an academic offence
• Don’t take the risk: Selling lecture materials can lead to serious repercussions
• Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence at BU

Resources and advice

Our Library and Learning Support Service has lots of resources on Brightspace, in addition to a wealth of information on our website to help you avoid committing an offence during your studies.

If you’ve committed – or are suspected of having committed an offence – SUBU Advice is on hand to provide further guidance and support. We also encourage you to reach out to your programme tutor or academic advisor if you need guidance around the assessment criteria or to find out what should be delivered for an assignment.