PLEASE USE DEPARTMENT HEADER
Our Ref: SRN
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
Title, Initial, Surname
Address
Also by e mail to College email and any personal email
Date, Month, Year
Dear Title, Surname
Re: Allegation of an Assessment Offence
I am writing to inform you of the outcome of the investigation into the allegation of
plagiarism/collusion/duplication (delete as appropriate) made in relation to <insert details of the work in question
e.g: an essay on…> you submitted for the course <insert course code and title>.
Decision
It has been concluded that the piece(s) of work in question contain(s) plagiarised/duplicated (delete as appropriate)
material <insert details>/ that you colluded with another student/ third party, specifically ……...
Penalty to be applied
Select one of the following:
(1)The Panel has decided in line with Section 6 (3) (a) of the Regulations on Assessment Offences, that your work
contains sufficient evidence to satisfy the requirements to pass. It has therefore been decided:
(If the final mark is known then the appropriate decision can be given so choose on the basis of which ever has
the least impact between either)
i.
to cap the mark for <insert detail> at a minimum Pass
or
ii.
to subtract 10 percentage marks from the final mark for the course overall and return a mark for
the piece of work based on the portion which is deemed to be acceptable for assessment;
( If the final mark is NOT known then insert the following paragraph)
As the final mark for course <insert detail> will not be confirmed until the meeting of the Sub-board of Examiners
in June, the final decision on the penalty imposed will be communicated to you once it is clear which option will
have the least impact on your final grade.
(2) It has been decided to assign a mark of zero for the <insert detail> as you have not satisfied the requirements
to pass (Section 6 (3) (b) of the Regulations on Assessment Offences).
For (1) and (2) only add this paragraph: You have the right to appeal against the penalty imposed but only on the
grounds listed under Section 9 (1) of the Regulations on Assessment Offences. The appeal must be submitted on
an Appeal Form to the Head of Academic Quality and Policy Office, within 15 working days of the date of this
letter. The Appeal Form and guidance on the appeal process is available here:
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/ecampus/academicsupport/appeals/appealsagainstotheroutcomes.aspx
(3) A penalty has not yet been applied. As the implications of the offence are grave/as multiple instances of
plagiarism/collusion/other assessment offences have been identified more or less simultaneously across a number
of course units/as data has been falsified/as substantial parts of the assessment or entire assessment are not your
own work and have been copied and/or purchased (select as appropriate) it has been decided to refer the matter
to the Vice-Principal (Section 6 (3) (c) of the Regulations on Assessment Offences). An Assistant Registrar will be in
contact with you in due course.
Yours sincerely
Head of Department
cc. Assistant Registrar
Department/School Manager
Head of Student Administration (for central file)
<Other Department/ School where Joint or Minor – must send to Department/School Manager or PG
Administrator to pass onto the Academic Co-ordinator or Programme Director as appropriate>