SJI International HS Policy Document 2013
St Joseph’s Institution International High School, Singapore
Academic Honesty
SJI International School students will be taught that being academically honest
means doing their own work in an honorable, honest manner, acknowledging any
sources of information used and avoiding malpractice.
Basic protocols
1. The SJI International academic honesty policy will be posted on the academic
honesty page of the library site, in the IB Diploma folder on the Google Drive
and on the school website. Currently the link to the library site is:
https://sites.google.com/site/sjiihslibrary/
2. All SJI International students will be expected to cite sources of information,
data, graphs, photographs and computer programs.
3. Research skills and referencing (and formatting) will be included in PSE in
Grades 7 to 10.
4. The IB Coordinator will give a presentation on academic honesty to all Grade
11 students as early as possible in Grade 11. Reminders will be given
throughout the programme.
5. The school librarian will take groups of students from PSE in Grades 7 to 10
and from tutor groups in Grades 11 and 12 for two sessions per group for
referencing and research skills.
6. The school will adopt the parenthetical insertions method for citing references.
7. All IB teachers are expected to read the IBO Academic Honesty booklet (IBO,
2007)
8. Inclusions will be made in Grade 7 to 10 homework diaries and Grade 11 to
12 planners about academic honesty which will include an outline of
sanctions, a link to the library academic honesty page and a declaration which
students must sign.
9. It will be expected that all IB extended essays and theory of knowledge
essays will be submitted to turnitin.com and recommended that other major
pieces of externally marked and moderated pieces of coursework are
submitted where appropriate.
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SJI International HS Policy Document 2013
What is considered academic dishonesty at SJI International?
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Copying (whether from a textbook, library book, the Internet, a journal or
newspaper, an academic or other document or another person)
Collusion (as opposed to collaboration)
Sharing (e.g. of experimental results, notes taken by one person in a groupwork situation). Please note – see below for Geography field work.
Other forms of malpractice (e.g. taking unauthorized notes into
examinations, trying to discover the content of examinations etc.)
What do SJI International students need to be aware of?
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Paraphrasing (students must be taught to understand how far they need to
go before they can call something their own work, rather than that taken from
another source)
Using quotation marks (students must understand when they need to use
these)
Referencing (students must understand what they need to cite and what they
don’t, including material they have paraphrased)
Bibliographies (students must understand what a bibliography is and what
should be in it)
Proper research (students must understand when ” research” is actually
research – and at which point it can become plagiarism)
Duplication of work (students need to be aware that it is academically
dishonest to offer up a piece of work in one subject or topic that is duplicated
or very similar to that in another subject or topic e.g. the same book studied in
two separate language courses; a Mathematical Studies project that is similar
to Geography coursework etc.)
Citation requirements
The following information, as far as possible, is required for citations taken from
books:
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Author(s) (surname then initials)
Date (in brackets - year when first published)
Title (underlined or in italics)
Publisher
City (where first published)
Example:
Allott, A. Mindorff, D. (2007) Biology Course Companion, Oxford University Press,
Oxford
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The following information, as far as possible, is required for citations taken from
journals:
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Author(s)
Date (if possible)
Title (in inverted commas)
Title of journal (in italics or underlined)
Issue number (the same way as it is given in the journal)
Example:
Cossins, D. “China – The Future’s Red”, Knowledge, Vol.3 Issue 1
The following information, as far as possible, is required for citations taken from
websites:
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Author (if possible)
Date (if possible)
Title of excerpt or page used (in inverted commas)
Name of website (in italics or underlined)
URL
Date accessed
Example:
McGrath, M., (2008) “Fossil fills out water-land leap”, on BBC NEWS Science &
Environment, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7473470.stm, accessed Monday
23rd April 2012
Collaboration versus collusion
Students at SJI International need to be aware of the distinction between legitimate
collaboration and unacceptable collusion and understand that the latter constitutes
plagiarism.
Students will be taught the general premise that collaboration, though this may mean
working in groups, means each student taking their own notes, results, data etc. then
retiring to their own workspace to write up and otherwise complete their own work.
Superimposed on this general premise may be requirements set by individual
departments depending on the type of group work which takes place in their subject
areas e.g. group work in science practical lessons.
Please note, that students may share results in the initial stages of Geography
fieldwork, according to this excerpt from the Geography Guide (first exams 2011):
"The fieldwork topic, fieldwork question and methods of information collection may
be chosen by the teacher, the whole class, small groups or individuals. In the early
stages of the investigation, students may collect fieldwork information in groups and
collaborate on these findings and suitable methods of presentation. Once the
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research is completed and the necessary fieldwork information and possible
methods of presentation exchanged, the emphasis must be on individual work".
Action to be taken by the school in cases of academic dishonesty
Preamble
1. All teachers need to be on the alert for plagiarism in every piece of work; this
way hopefully it can be nipped in the bud.
2. Initially plagiarism should be dealt with in departments. Faculties and
departments should set out a clear procedure so all teachers will know what
to do, based on the school policy, because specifics may differ slightly from
department to department, or some types of plagiarism may be more
prominent in some subject areas than others.
3. Once a faculty/departmental procedure has been established, it should be
made clear to the students what constitutes plagiarism in each subject and
what will happen to them if they plagiarise.
4. Serious issues should be reported to the Principal, IB Coordinator, IGCSE
Examinations Officer and Heads of Grade.
Faculty and Departmental guidelines
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In first instances, the student should be interviewed, given a stern warning and
either have to repeat the work, OR complete a similar piece, OR receive zero
marks, depending on faculty/departmental policy.
If plagiarism persists then the work could be automatically discounted and the
student disciplined according to faculty/departmental policy (tutor informed, letter
home, detention etc.).
The above two steps could be taken in the case of “ordinary” assignments or for
pieces of coursework in subject areas where many, smaller items of work
constitute the coursework; for example, in sciences at IB level. In this latter case
no plagiarized work should be included in the portfolio of assignments.
Repeated plagiarism could be mentioned in the subject report to parents.
If the plagiarism is discovered in a first draft of a major piece of IGCSE or IB
coursework, extended essay, languages written task or TOK essay then the issue
is serious and deserves suspension. The student should be interviewed and the
course of disciplinary action outlined to him/her. The work should be returned to
him/her and the student told to repeat it without plagiarism and hand in the final
draft by deadline along with the others. This may mean the student would have
to do without the benefit of teacher’s comments. The issue should be reported to
the IB Coordinator/IGCSE examinations officer and the Head of Senior
School/Head of Grade (who will refer it to the Principal if necessary), with details
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of the investigation carried out and the findings. The tutor and parents should be
informed.
If the plagiarism is discovered in a final draft of a major piece of IGCSE or IB
coursework, extended essay or TOK essay then the issue is serious and
deserves suspension. The issue should be reported to the IB Coordinator/IGCSE
examinations officer and the Head of Senior School/Head of Grade (who will refer
it to the Principal if necessary), with details of the investigation carried out and the
findings. If the plagiarism is discovered after the student has signed the
declaration that it is their own work, it will need to be reported to IB. IB will carry
out an investigation and if the student is found guilty of plagiarism the diploma will
be withheld.
In all cases, teachers should keep records of any investigations and a copy of the
plagiarized work with the plagiarised sections highlighted or indicated.
Appendix: Extracts from examining body regulations regarding malpractice
Cambridge International examinations
Regulations governing malpractice at IB are also applicable to Cambridge IGCSE
(see below), apart from the fact that IGCSE does not result in the award of a diploma
as such.
International Baccalaureate
The following is an extract from the IB publication “General Regulations: Diploma
Programme” © International Baccalaureate Organization 2011.
Article 27: Definition of malpractice
The IB Organization defines malpractice as behaviour that results in, or may result
in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage in one or more
assessment components. Malpractice includes the following.
a. Plagiarism: this is defined as the representation of the ideas or work of another
person as the candidate’s own.
b. Collusion: this is defined as supporting malpractice by another candidate, as in
allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.
c. Duplication of work: this is defined as the presentation of the same work for
different assessment components and/or IB diploma requirements.
d. Any other behaviour that gains an unfair advantage for a candidate or that affects
the results of another candidate (for example taking unauthorized material into an
examination, misconduct during an examination, falsifying a CAS record, disclosure
of information to and receipt of information from candidates about the content of an
examination paper within 24 hours after a written examination).
Article 28: Applicable procedure for malpractice
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28.1 The school’s Diploma Programme coordinator must inform the IB Organization
if he or she identifies any malpractice (for example, plagiarism) in relation to a
candidate’s work after the candidate has signed the cover sheet to the effect that it is
his or her own work and constitutes the final version of that work. In such cases, or
when an examiner or the IB Organization suspects malpractice, the school will be
required to conduct an investigation and provide the IB Organization with relevant
documentation concerning the case. If questions arise about the authenticity of a
candidate’s work before the cover sheet has been signed, that is, before the work
has reached its final stage, the situation must be resolved within the school.
28.2 Candidates suspected of malpractice will be invited, through the school’s
Diploma Programme coordinator, to present a written explanation or defence.
28.3 Cases of suspected of malpractice will be presented to the final award
committee, or a sub-committee of the final award committee. After reviewing all
evidence collected during the investigation, the committee will decide whether to
dismiss the allegation, uphold it or ask for further investigations to be made.
28.4 If the final award committee deems evidence of malpractice insufficient, the
allegation will be dismissed and a grade will be awarded in the normal way.
28.5 If the final award committee decides that a case of malpractice has been
established, no grade will be awarded in the subject(s) concerned. No IB diploma will
be awarded to the candidate, but a certificate will be awarded for other subject(s) in
which no malpractice has occurred. The candidate will normally be permitted to
register for future examination sessions, which may include the session that follows
six months later if the relevant registration deadlines are met.
28.6 If a case of malpractice is very serious, the final award committee is entitled to
decide that the candidate will not be permitted to register for any future examination
session.
28.7 If the candidate has already been found guilty of malpractice in a previous
session, this will normally lead to disqualification from participation in any future
examination session.
28.8 An IB diploma, or a certificate, may be withdrawn from a candidate at any time if
malpractice is subsequently established.
Reviewed May 2013