Referencing and academic integrity

Being able to reference correctly not only acknowledges the originator of the information but also adds integrity to your argument, thought or reasoning. Being able to reference correctly is also a key skill of studying and as such you’ll find lots of resources to help you to master these skills and to understand your obligations in terms of academic integrity.  

You should always reference within your writing. This shows that you acknowledge and give credit to the writers from whom you’ve borrowed the idea, research or words. If you don’t acknowledge the originators of the work, you’ll be in breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and may be penalised. Head to the AIB Style Guide and  Assessment Policy and Procedure for more information.
 

Key resources to help you with referencing:   

• AIB Style Guide - contains a comprehensive overview along with examples of how to structure references from various sources. In short, the Harvard, author-date referencing system, is the preferred system we use at AIB.   

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1. Are there any additional resources to develop critical thinking and academic writing skills?  
2. How do I avoid plagiarism?
3. Contract cheating; don’t risk it!

We do not recommend re-using content that you’ve already included in a submitted assessment, even if this is for assessments within the same subject or between different subjects. As all AIB assessments are submitted to Turnitin, our text-matching software, any work that you’ve already used will be reported as a direct match. This will be considered as Double submission and you may be in breach of the Academic Integrity Policy. 

What about re-using data in different assessments? 

We acknowledge that you may want to use specific data (such as company information) for multiple assessments; this is perfectly acceptable. However, your discussion and analysis should be uniquely written for this assessment or subject. 

To be on the safe side, it is important to speak to your Subject Coordinator if you intend to re-use any proportion of a previously submitted assessment, so that you avoid any unintentional breach of this policy. 

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1. Turnitin; what is this? 
2. How do I avoid plagiarism? 

The key to avoiding plagiarising is referencing, referencing, referencing!  

You’ll need to ensure you paraphrase (rephrase someone else’s words) or cite if you’re using their exact wording. It is essential that you limit the number of direct quotes used; no more than 10% of your word count should be direct quotes – this should be reserved for only the best (crème-da-le-crème) wording where you just can’t say it any better!  

Key resources 

• The AIB Style Guide explains how to develop different types of academic arguments (e.g. descriptive, evaluative, analytical and critical) and how to reference and paraphrase. You’ll also find some handy examples and tips on how to reference common sources.  
• The Tools for Study section also contains a section on how to interpret TurnItIn similarity reports
• The Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure outlines the various types of academic misconduct, and the implications should you breach this policy.  

You might also be interested in… 

1. Can I re-use information from a previous subject’s assignment? How do I avoid self-plagiarism or double submission? 
2. Turnitin; what is this?
3. Contract cheating; don’t risk it.

The education sector is becoming increasingly cognisant of an integrity risk relating to websites that may promote, enable or supply academic cheating services (also known as contract cheating). Under Australia’s anti-cheating laws, the promotion or sale of academic cheating services is illegal and subject to penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment and/or fines of up to AU$100,000. People who provide cheating services for free may also face civil prosecution. These laws do not penalise students who use these services to engage in cheating but AIB’s Academic Integrity Policy will continue to apply.

These illegal operators aggressively market their services, often demanding that students upload a sample of work before providing a quote (which they’re likely to use for another assignment), which puts our students at risk of inadvertently sharing company knowledge. On face value, they appear credible by offering study support or editing services and even claim to work with higher education institutions globally. To put it simply, never share your work online, as it may be sold by cheating services to other students, never buy assignments online, which is a breach of academic integrity, and never sell an assignment online, which is illegal under Australian Law.

Utilise the extensive support available to you as an AIB student

At AIB, we understand that sometimes you may want additional support (beyond what can be offered by your OLF) in completing your assessments. For academic skills support, your first point of reference should be the Study Support section found at the top of your learning portal dashboard. Here, you’ll find the AIB Style Guide and link to the Study Skills platform that offers everything from generating ideas to editing your drafts. If you feel that ‘hands on’ guidance would enhance your confidence, you can:

1. attend any of our academic skills webinars,
2. book a 1-1 with AIB’s Academic Skills Advisors or Librarian. You’ll find a link to book an appointment with these team members on the Help & Support pages of the learning portal.

We are all responsible for developing a culture of academic integrity. Head to the Academic integrity section of the Study Support site for more detail, videos and hints and tips on avoiding academic misconduct

You might also be interested in…

1. Can I submit an assessment for feedback before submitting the final version?
2. Am I required to reference and what type of referencing does AIB use?
3. Turnitin; what is this?

AIB uses a text-matching software called Turnitin. All assessments submitted to AIB are uploaded to Turnitin, and you’ll be provided with a similarity report. This report indicates the proportion of text which matches work within the Turnitin database – the higher the originality score, the more your text matches that submitted by someone else, existing literature or online sources. We recommend that you keep your similarity score as low as possible – you should check all highlighted areas of text from your Turnitin report and decide if you need any additional paraphrasing.

When you’ve uploaded your assessment within the student learning portal, your assignment will automatically be submitted to Turnitin. If this is the first time you’re submitting your assessment, then you will normally receive this score within 15 minutes, however any subsequent submission can take up to 24 hours to generate a similarity percentage, so please don’t leave your submission to the last minute. Be sure to refresh your browser to view your report.  You will be able to view your similarity report by clicking on the score below your uploaded assessment.  

Key resources 

• The AIB Style Guide explains how to develop different types of academic arguments (e.g. descriptive, evaluative, analytical and critical) and how to reference and paraphrase. You’ll also find some handy examples and tips on how to reference common sources.  
• The Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure outlines the various types of academic misconduct, and the implications should you breach this policy.  

You might also be interested in…. 

1. How do I avoid plagiarism? 
2. Can I re-use information from a previous subject’s assignment? How do I avoid self-plagiarism or double submission? 
3. Can I submit an assessment for feedback before submitting the final version?

The first time you upload your assessment to Turnitin, your similarity report will be created within 15 minutes. We recommend that you refresh your browser after this time to view your report. You will be able to view your similarity report by clicking on the score below your uploaded assessment. Subsequent reports may take up to 24 hours to be generated after you have uploaded the assessment, so please don’t leave your submission to the last minute.

You might also be interested in… 

1. Turnitin; what is this? 
2. How do I avoid plagiarism?

Verbal summaries are an important facet of AIB’s approach to academic integrity and as such, attendance is mandatory. If you don’t attend a verbal summary when requested to do so, you will receive a zero for the assignment. Verbal summaries are used in two scenarios:

a. A random selection of final assignments in each term will require students to verbally demonstrate knowledge of their submitted work, by answering questions posed by the Subject Coordinator.
b. In situations where our Academic Team suspect a breach of academic integrity has taken place, students will be required to attend a verbal summary with the Subject Coordinator to answer questions about their work. This session assists with the investigation of the alleged breach and may lead to further consequences if a breach is confirmed.