Academic work

Academic work and assessment

Written work may take a wide variety of forms, such as class papers, written exercises, projects, take home exams and essays. Subject coordinators have wide latitude in determining forms of assessment and these are listed, individually for each subject, in the online Handbook For details of Assessment please see the How am I assessed? web page.

Attendance

You should attend all scheduled tutorials, seminars or workshops. Please note the attendance hurdle requirement for your subjects and understand that you can only miss classes up to what is allowable by the attendance hurdle without applying for special consideration. If there are exceptional circumstances that require you to miss more than the allowable number of your classes, you will need to apply for special consideration. If you miss more than 50% of classes in total, you will be required to withdraw from the subject.

Please note that the 50% minimum attendance requirement does not apply to you if you have an AAP that allows for flexible attendance. In this case, the subject coordinator can work out a plan with you, to ensure that learning outcomes for the subject are still met if this is possible.

There is an expectation that you attend lectures. No particular level of attendance is required for most of the lectures and many lectures are recorded and made available through LMS/Canvas.

Written work

This may take a wide variety of forms, such as class papers, written exercises, projects, take home exams and essays. Subject coordinators have wide latitude in determining forms of assessment and these are listed, individually for each subject, in the online Handbook.

Submission and return of written work

ALL written assignments by SHAPS students must be submitted electronically through the "Turnitin" function on LMS.

In addition to electronic submission, you may also be required to submit assessment in hard copy. This will be indicated by the subject coordinator on the LMS. If this is required a signed Essay cover sheet (90kb Word doc) must be attached to all work.

Any hard copy Essays due during the teaching period must be submitted in classes. Outside of the teaching period, the subject coordinator will nominate a place for essay submissions.

Both electronic and hardcopy submission must be made by the due date specified for each piece of assessment.

Essays and Assignments submitted during the teaching period will be returned by the lecturer in charge who will inform how this will be done. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss your work and progress with your lecturer and tutor and you can make an appointment when you get your work back.

Final hard copy essays will be returned to students only if a stamped self-addressed envelope is provided unless the lecturer has made arrangements to return work on-line.

In accordance with Faculty policy all written work must be submitted in order to pass a subject.

In line with University policy, hard copies of work submitted for assessment will only be kept for six months.

If you think you qualify for an extension please consult the section on extensions on the What happens if you get into difficulties? web page. If you do not have an extension you must get your work in on time.

Penalty for late work and hurdle requirement

Assessments submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at five per cent (5%) of the possible marks available for the assessment task per day or part thereof. All pieces of assessment must be submitted to pass the subject.

Each submitted assessment must be complete, constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task and will not be accepted after 20 University business days from the original assessment due date without written approval.

Academic integrity and plagiarism

The maintenance of academic integrity involves high quality scholarly practices, the use of reputable sources of information and the full acknowledgement of the authors and creators of ideas and materials that have informed one's work.

Ensuring academic integrity is vital to protecting the standards and esteem of the University of Melbourne's degrees. Every student has an interest in protecting and supporting the good reputation of the University. Ethical practice in scholarly work and professional behaviour are recognised as important graduate attributes, and are an essential criterion of workplace professionalism. Academic integrity goes beyond the policing of university assessment and is part of a graduate's formation as a professional, underpinning their behaviour in the workplace, and reflecting on their personal honesty and integrity in all aspects of life.

It is important that all University of Melbourne students understand their responsibility to conduct themselves in an ethical manner in all aspects of their studies.

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's work, either copied or paraphrased, which you pass off as your own by failing to cite its true source. Any phrases and sentences taken from any other work (including any other student essay) must be set out as a quotation by being enclosed in inverted commas. The work from which it is taken must be acknowledged in a footnote. When you need to set out the argument of an authority (which should not happen often), paraphrasing is preferable to quotation at length. In either case, the authority must be properly cited. It is usual also to mention the name of the authority in the text, often with an indication of why you consider it important.

Students should be aware that plagiarism, particularly from the web, is usually easily detected by academic staff and the consequences for students are severe.

Plagiarism in any form is unethical and unacceptable. A paper of which any portion is plagiarised may well be failed and even receive no mark at all. This also applies to unauthorised collaboration between students and essays you have already submitted for another subject.

All assessment will be submitted through the "Turnitin" function on LMS.

For more information please see the Academic integrity at the University of Melbourne website.