Academic integrity
LUSEM is working actively to put a stop to plagiarism and other forms of prohibited working methods. This work is carried out through information to our students via a number of channels, such as Canvas, the self-study Teaching and Learning platform, introduction meetings, course curriculum, and in the pre-exam information. We also use Ouriginal – a system for detecting plagiarism.
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the equivalent of copying someone else's written text (including your own previously-submitted work) and using the copy as original work, without citations or references to the original source. To plagiarise books, journals, web pages or other sources without the consent of the copyright holder is an illegal act.
When a student is assigned to write papers, home exams, theses and other written texts, these are expected to be original works. The assignment is not only a matter of writing a text, but also through which means this text has been produced.
The academic work code requires that you give an honest account of your source by stating references and in-text citations.
If there are no references, it will be assumed that the text is your own original work.
To plagiarise texts means that you take the credit for someone else's work and thoughts and claim it as your own; that is, plagiarism is a violation of someone else's intellectual property rights.
While plagiarism is tempting because it decreases the workload for the student, it also creates unjust working relations between those students who write their own original texts and those who steal texts from others. It is, therefore, in the interest of the student body to work against plagiarism and to create equal opportunities for all by putting an end to free riding.
Credits and degrees that have been achieved through dishonest means can result in cheating students securing positions for which they do not have sufficient merit.
Moreover, plagiarism undermines the credibility of the university system as such, Lund University, and your own degree.
Examples of plagiarism
Individual assignments
At LUSEM, home exams are used as a form of assessment. This means that although students are encouraged to discuss the course literature, the content of lectures, etc., the actual writing of the assignment has to be done separately.
Reuse of one’s own texts
Every assignment should be an original contribution. This means that students are not allowed to reuse old texts that they have handed in on other courses, at LUSEM or elsewhere. If a student reuses previous texts, this will be considered as plagiarism.
Written classroom exams
When there is a written classroom exam, no other aids are allowed than the ones that have been authorised by the teacher or the exam coordinator. The exam coordinator provides the general rules for the exam.
What happens in the event of plagiarism and other forms of prohibited working methods?
The teacher and the department are required to report any case of suspected plagiarism and other forms of prohibited working methods to the Disciplinary Board at Lund University.
The report includes the information about plagiarism and other forms of prohibited working methods that has been handed to the students, the text written by the student and information about the original works that have been plagiarised or that indicate that the text is not an individual assignment.
It is the responsibility of the Disciplinary Board and not of the teacher or the department to give a verdict in cases of plagiarism and other forms of prohibited working methods. A conviction by the Disciplinary Board may result in suspension from the university for a set period of time.
What is Ouriginal?
Lund University uses a software system called Ouriginal (former Urkund) that is used to detect plagiarised passages in your writing assignments. This means that lecturers at LUSEM can use Ouriginal to check your work.
Ouriginal is an email-based system, which automatically checks your work against existing texts from three central areas: the Internet, certain published material and Ouriginal's own archive. Ouriginal is used at many Swedish and international higher education institutions in the context of prevention and detection of cheating and plagiarism.