Academic misconduct: plagiarism and use of AI

On this page:

• Policy on the use of generative AI
• Policy on plagiarism
• Further information

Policy on the use of generative AI

• Summary: In line with the University's policies on plagiarism and academic misconduct, the Department of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) broadly prohibits submitting work generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as if it was your own work.

We know that most students in our department are highly motivated and excited to challenge themselves academically – and didn't come to HPS to avoid learning. This policy is intended to support you in getting the most out of your studies by making it clear where the line is between plagiarism and permissible use, and when use of generative AI (from here, AI) is an impediment to challenging yourself academically.

1. HPS prohibits students from presenting text, ideas and other material generated by AI tools as their own work (for any type of assessment, summative or formative).

2. HPS will not distinguish between the input of AI and the input of another human being in drawing the line between permissible help and plagiarism. A level of assistance that would be inappropriate if received from a person will also be inappropriate if received from AI.

3. HPS prohibits using AI as a source or quoting directly from the output of AI. Instead, students should attempt to identify and read the original source material. The exception to this is when the outputs of AI are themselves the object of study, such as when writing on the philosophy of technology.

4. HPS prohibits students from feeding any materials provided to them by the Department (scans of books, articles, lecture slides, audio recordings of lectures and so on) into any AI tool. This is for data protection reasons, and to protect the copyright of reference works and teaching materials.

5. HPS prohibits the use of AI tools in lecture or seminar settings without explicit approval from the lecturer for a legitimate purpose.

6. HPS permits the use of AI tools to aid your research and learning in ways that do not fall under 1–5 (in other words, in any ways that are not plagiarism or impermissible use).

   For example, you may use AI to search for academic papers to read (similar to a search engine), to check for spelling mistakes (like spellcheck) or you may use prompts like 'quiz me on the philosophy of the mind-body problem' or 'explain the difference between validity and reliability' (like a tutor or study buddy).

   Be mindful, however, that permissible use does not tip into impermissible use, for example by copy and pasting sections of AI generated text or by paraphrasing AI outputs. Also, be mindful that permissible use is not necessarily advisable use. Even when used permissibly, students should endeavour to use AI tools judiciously in a way that enhances, rather than undermines, learning and quality of scholarship.

7. HPS requires students to submit a cover sheet with any written take-home summative work confirming that you have read our policy, declaring that you have not used AI tools in impermissible ways, and declaring how (if at all) you have used AI tools in permissible ways.

8. HPS considers the submission of falsified information (such as fake references, quotes or grossly misrepresented source material) to be academic misconduct whether it results from AI use or not, and it is the responsibility of each student to ensure that they do not submit falsified material in their written work.

9. Suspected violations of this policy may be pursued as academic misconduct, and you may be required to attend an in-person investigative meeting.

Policy on plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the unacknowledged use of the work of others as if this were your own original work..

A student may be found guilty of an act of plagiarism irrespective of intent to deceive.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated by the University; if detected, the penalty may be severe and may lead to failure to obtain your degree.

The scope of plagiarism

a) Plagiarism may be due to:

• copying (using another person's language and/or ideas as if they are your own);
• collusion (unauthorized collaboration).

b) Methods include:

• quoting directly another person's language, data or illustrations without clear indication that the authorship is not your own and due acknowledgement of the source;
• paraphrasing the critical work of others without due acknowledgement – even if you change some words or the order of the words, this is still plagiarism if you are using someone else's original ideas and are not properly acknowledging it;
• using ideas taken from someone else without reference to the originator;
• cutting and pasting from the Internet to make a 'pastiche' of online sources;
• colluding with another person, including another candidate (other than as might be permitted for joint project work);
• submitting as part of your own report or dissertation someone else's work without identifying clearly who did the work (for example, where research has been contributed by others to a joint project).

c) Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and all media:

• not just text, but also illustrations, musical quotations, computer code etc;
• not just text published in books and journals, but also downloaded from websites or drawn from other media;
• not just published material but also unpublished works, including lecture handouts and the work of other students.

Self-plagiarism

If an essay or dissertation builds on previous work, it is essential that this is clearly identified in the text and is appropriately referenced, as if it were written by a different person. The assessors should be in no doubt as to what work the student has completed in their current degree course and it is this that will be assessed.

When submitting coursework, students will be asked to declare that no part of their work has already been submitted, or is being submitted, for any other qualification.

How to avoid plagiarism

The stylistic conventions for different subjects vary and you should consult your supervisor about the conventions pertaining in a particular subject area. However, the main points are:

• When presenting the views and work of others, include in the text an indication of the source of the material
          e.g. ...as Sharpe (1993) has shown,...
  and give the full details of the work quoted in your bibliography.
• If you quote text verbatim, place the sentence in inverted commas and give the appropriate reference
          e.g. 'The elk is of necessity less graceful than the gazelle' (Thompson, 1942, p 46)
  and give the full details in your bibliography as above.
• If you wish to set out the work of another at length so that you can produce a counter-argument, set the quoted text apart from your own text (e.g. by indenting a paragraph) and identify it by using inverted commas and adding a reference as above.
• If you are copying text, keep a note of the author and the reference as you go along, with the copied text, so that you will not mistakenly think the material to be your own work when you come back to it in a few weeks' time.
• If you reproduce an illustration or include someone else's data in a graph include the reference to the original work in the legend:
          e.g. (figure redrawn from Webb, 1976)
          or (triangles = data from Webb, 1976)
• If you wish to collaborate with another person on your project, you should check with your supervisor whether this might be allowed and then seek permission. (For research degrees, the permission of the Student Registry must be sought.)
• If you have been authorised to work together with another candidate or other researchers, you must acknowledge their contribution fully in your introductory section. If there is likely to be any doubt as to who contributed which parts of the work, you should make this clear in the text wherever necessary.
          e.g. I am grateful to A. Smith for analysing the sodium content of these samples
• Be especially careful if cutting and pasting work from electronic media; do not fail to attribute the work to its source. If authorship of the electronic source is not given, ask yourself whether it is worth copying.

The golden rule

The examiners must be in no doubt as to which parts of your work are your own original work and which are the rightful property of someone else.

Screening submitted work

The Department uses the text-matching software Turnitin UK to blanket screen all student work submitted in Moodle.

Use of Turnitin UK

Further information

The University has issued guidance for candidates, examiners and supervisors:

Education Quality and Policy Office: Plagiarism and academic misconduct

It has also provided specific guidance on AI and assessment:

Blended Learning Service: Generative AI and assessment

Examiners and assessors should also see:

Operation of the HPS plagiarism policy