When working on assessments, it’s essential to know your academic integrity responsibilities. In practical terms, academic integrity means developing and submitting for assessment your own academic work. Breaches of academic integrity include plagiarism, collusion, and contract cheating, which all have serious consequences.
Academic integrity has been more formally defined as ‘the expectation that teachers, students, researchers and all members of the academic community act with: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.’
Be confident that you understand your responsibilities - find out more about academic integrity, what happens if you breach it and where to get help if you're unsure.
Examples of academic integrity breaches include:
Plagiarism means using someone else’s work or ideas without giving them proper credit. It's considered a form of theft, because the work doesn't belong to you. It's also fraud, because it means you are claiming someone else’s work or ideas as your own.
The best way to avoid the risk of plagiarism is to reference your work correctly. The RMIT Library has plenty of supports available to help you reference. Visit Referencing or book a one-on-one study consultation.
Collaborating is an essential part of studying. However, there are times when helping or getting help from others isn’t allowed. If you’re doing an individual assignment and get help completing it, or help another student complete their individual assignment, that is collusion, which is a breach of academic integrity.
Collusion can include:
There are still circumstances where working with others is allowed. You can collaborate with your peers without breaching academic integrity by:
If you’re unsure, ask your educator about what kind of collaboration is permitted in your course.
Ghostwriting is when someone else completes an assignment for you without payment, like having someone else write your essay.
Your instructor might permit you to use artificial intelligence tools that generate text, such as Val or ChatGPT, in your assessments. Make sure that you are following your assessment instructions carefully. For example, when you do use an AI tool, it must be properly cited. Using an AI tool when it’s not permitted could be considered ghostwriting and a breach of academic integrity. Find out more about how to use AI appropriately below.
Illegal commercial (or contract) cheating services are targeting RMIT students on and around campus, and online.
These services offer to complete an assessment for you, sometimes asking for payment. Using these services is called contract cheating and is a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy. These services have also been known to blackmail Australian students.
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) advises that you should always avoid any service that:
Source: Identifying, avoiding and reporting illegal cheating services.
To report a contract cheating service, or if you have any concerns or questions about contract cheating, please email student.conduct@rmit.edu.au.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are likely to be an integral part of future life and work. RMIT is committed to preparing our students to know how to engage and work appropriately with AI.
You may be guided by your educators to use AI tools in your learning, so that you can better understand possibilities and limitations and how they may be used ethically and appropriately in your future work.
The use of AI tools in your studies will be guided by your program and course requirements. Inappropriate use of AI in your learning and assessment could result in a breach of academic integrity. It’s always best to check with your Program Manager or Program/Course Coordinators for more information.
RMIT may use tools to detect the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in assessments where AI tools are not permitted.
You are permitted to use AI tools like Val (RMIT's GenAI Chatbot), ChatGPT, Midjourney and GrammarlyGO as a study aid to supplement your learning.
For example, you may ask questions of an AI tool to help clarify your reading interpretation or to help confirm your understanding of a topic, noting however that AI responses can be out of date, biased, not always correct, or not to be relied upon.
AI may or may not be permitted in coursework or assessments, depending on your course requirements.
Check the information in the course guides and assessment task instructions to understand how AI tools can be used. If you’re unsure or if it’s not specified, ask your Program or Course Coordinator.
Any ideas or outputs generated by AI must be referenced accurately in your academic work, otherwise it is considered plagiarism.
This means you must use citations crediting the tool/s where appropriate, as well as including it in your reference list – just like you would any other resource. See the Library's AI referencing guide for specific AI referencing information.
You should always think critically about any content provided to you, whether from an AI tool or other sources.
It’s important to remember that you should always verify the content provided by AI tools. You are advised to conduct further research beyond simply asking questions of an AI tool, generating computer code, or creating images. Be sure to consult with your course materials, library resources or educator if you don't understand something or require further assistance.
You cannot use AI to:
Using AI in these ways is a breach of Academic Integrity Policy and may have serious consequences.
To help prove the authenticity and originality of your work, you should keep all draft versions of your work to show how your assessments were developed. These can be requested at any time during your program.
We want to support you to use AI tools legitimately and in a way that maintains your integrity and that of our academic community. If you have questions or if you are ever unsure, please speak with your teacher or Course Coordinator.
RMIT Library has developed a guide to show you how to reference content generated by AI tools.
If you breach academic integrity (even if accidental), this means that you are breaching RMIT’s Academic Integrity policy. This can lead to serious consequences, including:
The consequences for breaching academic integrity requirements are serious, but, if you’re not sure or need help, there are lots of resources and support services to help you.
These are real stories of RMIT students who were penalised for plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. Their stories are anonymous, read by former or current student volunteers.
This is a mandatory module for all new students. We strongly recommend all students complete it to understand what academic integrity is, how to maintain it, your responsibilities as a student, and how to protect yourself from accidental breaches.
To refresh your understanding of academic integrity, you can take the Acting with Academic Integrity online tutorial.
Are you an RMIT UP student? You can also test your knowledge with this Academic Misconduct quiz.
In addition to completing the Academic Integrity Awareness module, there are plenty of resources and support services available to help you better understand your responsibilities as a student and how to avoid academic integrity breaches.
Our study support resources can help with academic integrity, assignment writing and lots more. They include:
RMIT Vietnam students: Go to the Library study support and Student Academic Success pages for study support and resources.
RMIT UP students: For help improving your study skills, ask the Academic Support team via academic.support@rmit.edu.au.
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia’s independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education. TEQSA has developed the following resources for use by students, academics and teachers to promote understanding of academic integrity.
RMIT’s Academic Integrity Policy outlines the behaviours required in an academic community: acting with honesty, fairness, respect and responsibility.
Our support services are here to help you achieve your study and personal goals. If you're feeling stressed about study, we can help.
RUSU offers free and confidential support for students who have been charged with academic misconduct.
If you'd like to talk to someone about academic integrity or misconduct, contact the Student Conduct Secretariat for a confidential discussion.
Email: student.conduct@rmit.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 9925 8965
If you're an RMIT Vietnam student, contact: studentconduct@rmit.edu.vn
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
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