What is Academic Misconduct?

Copying or falsifying

Academic misconduct includes "presenting and/or submitting documents or data that are copied, falsified, or in any way obtained improperly" (University of South Australia, 2023, p. 2).


The information and/or data you collect and use in your assignments must be presented accurately, and honestly represent your research. It is academic misconduct when what you present or submit is:

  • copied - if the assignment asks for your research findings, it is your findings that must be presented, not data copied from another student or source
  • falsified - the information and data presented in your assignment must be what you collected, and must not be modified; In some cases you may need to adapt the format of your data (e.g. put it into a table) to suit the task requirements
  • obtained improperly - your information and data must be collected ethically.
To avoid presenting false or copied information and data in your work, ensure that your data is collected ethically and presented accurately. If using data from other sources, present and reference it correctly.