Acceptable Academic Cooperation

1.    There are various ways in which students can work together, and this can be an effective and enjoyable part of the learning process. St Andrew’s encourages the following types of cooperation:

a.    group discussion of essay topics before students sit down to write the assignment.  
b.    group revision of exam topics.
c.    asking somebody to read an essay or paper, to point out problems of language or presentation.

2.    Help or cooperation is not acceptable when it:

a.    gains a student a mark which his or her actual achievement does not justify.
b.    deceives other students, staff and the wider community (which has the right to expect that people with qualifications in a subject really do have the implied level of skill and knowledge). This deceit is exactly like cheating in exams.

3.    It is unacceptable for a student to get someone else to write an assessment task, or to copy out, wholly or in part, somebody else's work. Where something of the sort has happened, a mark of zero is given to all pieces of work concerned — even if one of the students has done the work but allowed another to copy it. The matter will also be reported to the Sub-Dean.

4.    Other forms of cheating are just as unacceptable, namely when:

a.    a student has work finished or corrected by somebody else, in such a way that it is no longer essentially his or her own work.
b.    several students work together and produce very similar pieces of work, which they submit as individual essays
c.    one student has worked from another's essay notes.
d.    one student has merely translated the work of another.

5.    Students are advised to ask the lecturer taking the course unit in question in regards to acceptable forms of cooperation.

6.    In order to ensure fair treatment for everyone, it may be necessary for a lecturer to ask about help received by a student on a given assessment task. It may also be essential for a lecturer to discover, by consulting with other members of the Faculty Board or questioning the student, whether they really have reached the level of achievement shown in the assessment task.