"I Didn't Know the Rules!"

No

Obtaining information from published sources is desirable and even inevitable, but it is important to know how and when to cite sources. Referencing your sources allows interested readers to look them up and learn from them, just as you have. Taking direct text passages from secondary sources that explain or comment on methods, concepts and ideas and presenting them as your own is a serious offence and considered plagiarism.

An interview with the disciplinary officer will be required. See the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures in the Handbook on Student Rights and Responsibilities for more details.

Students need to learn how to use available materials effectively and how to reference properly, as it is not only ethical but required academically. If a student has not been referencing outside sources, the instance will be documented and brought to the instructor’s attention for forwarding to the disciplinary officer.

Everyone knows that the instructor of a particular course recycles exam questions. Students have collected old exams to study from. Is it an academic offence to possess these old exam?

If questions from a previous exam are available on the exam archive website, or were returned to previous students by the instructor, they are considered to be publically available in a general sense. If the exam questions were obtained in another way - taken from the exam room without permission, for example - or if the exam was reconstructed without the instructor's consent, there may be a problem. When in doubt, ask the instructor for clarification.