2. On discovery of suspected plagiarism

1. A member of staff who suspects academic misconduct is required to report it to the Head of School. The report must be in writing and will include:

  • the referral form, fully completed. All questions needs to be answered;
  • the piece of work concerned, marked up to indicate the suspected plagiarism, collusion, or other issue;
  • a copy of the source(s) of the plagiarism/collusion/other issue also marked up and cross-referred to the work so that the reader can easily and quickly relate the marked-up problematic sections to their marked-up sources(1) (see the referral form instructions for guidance on marking up plagiarism) Please remember that the Senate Assessors are unlikely to have knowledge of the specific subject area because a Senate Assessor is not permitted to deal with a matter from their School;
  • the Turnitin report, if this is used. Note that submission of a Turnitin report alone is insufficient - the original work (including references, diagrams and appendices) and source material(s) must also be submitted with marking up;
  • information on any previous incidence of plagiarism or other academic misconduct involving the student.

2. School consideration of the work in question must be suspended (e.g. marking or confirmation/publication of marks), and the Head of School (or nominee) should advise the student that their marks are being withheld pending investigation of suspected misconduct.

3. The Head of School (or nominee) is expected to deal with suspected cases of plagiarism and collusion, including in online exams, by non-Honours students where these are first offences. Although normally only Honours and postgraduate cases should be referred to the Senate Assessors for Student Conduct, cases involving non-Honours students may be referred if the alleged misconduct is particularly severe. The Student Conduct Team(2) should be contacted for advice on whether the student has been reported in other Schools/subjects, and if it is not clear whether the School should deal with the case.

4. All Honours students, postgraduate students, suspected second offences and cases of very severe misconduct should be referred directly to the Senate Assessors for Student Conduct for investigation under the provisions of the Code of Student Conduct (See 8 below).

5. Within the parameters outlined above, it is the responsibility of the Head of School (or nominee) to assess the extent of the suspected misconduct taking into account:

  • the maturity of the student in terms of their level of study and length of exposure to the procedures, practices and regulations of the University;
  • the extent of the misconduct – a few lines, or a single short paragraph of plagiarised text would be considered minor whereas several paragraphs, or the use of AI to produce the work would be more serious;
  • attempts made by the student to reference the material correctly - e.g., whether the student has cited the source but omitted quotation marks, or whether the source has been omitted entirely from the work;
  • the percentage that the work in question contributes to the total assessment and the effect that a reduction in marks might have on the individual student’s degree or progression.

6. The Senior Senate Assessor for Student Conduct may be consulted at this stage. The Senior Senate Assessor for Student Conduct should be contacted through the Student Conduct Team. Helen Clegg & Jenny Beattie are the managers responsible for academic misconduct and can also provide advice.

7. Where it is determined that the alleged misconduct is not particularly severe and the student is not an Honours or postgraduate student, action should be taken by the School to deal with the case in accordance with the procedures set out in the Plagiarism Statement.

8. Where the Head of School determines the alleged misconduct is serious or that it would be inappropriate to deal with within the School for any reason, they should refer it to the Senate Assessors for Student Conduct by emailing student-conduct@glasgow.ac.uk. The report and all other relevant papers listed above must be appended, as the Student Conduct Team cannot carry out the investigation or marking up of work. Any case that is sent to the Student Conduct Team without the required documentation will be returned to the School. Clear instructions about what to submit are found on the referral form. Referrals will be logged by the Student Conduct Team and passed to the Senior Senate Assessor for Student Conduct for action under the Code of Student Conduct(3). Schools are also asked to supply background information on the course and programme regulations via the referral form. Please ensure all questions on the form are answered. Note that this form, together with all the other pieces of documentation, will be sent to the student so please do not include judgements, assumptions or recommendations about the student, the process, or any penalty.

3. School Procedure Before Interview 

1 If plagiarism is suspected staff should search as widely as possible to try and identify the plagiarised information. However if this is not successful, and there is strong suspicion of plagiarism or contract cheating, the student should be invited to attend a viva. Contact the Student Conduct Team for advice in these circumstances.

2 Contact student-conduct@glasgow.ac.uk.

3 The Code of Student Conduct is published in the Fees and General Information Section of the University Regulations.