This discussion is locked.

You cannot post a reply to this discussion. If you have a question start a new discussion

Calvin Asks: Can an academic be deemed to plagiarise questions from an exam paper previously set by someone else?

In setting an exam paper, can an academic be deemed to ‘plagiarise’ (i.e. claiming attribution for a work they did not author OR using someone else’s work without prior attribution) questions from another exam paper previously set by someone else on the same subject;

If the answer is NO: If ‘plagiarism’ is not the right term to describe copying by academics in exam paper situations, should the fact that exam questions were copied to a significant degree render the exam void?

If the answer is YES: If an academic can be deemed to ‘plagiarise’ an exam paper in a significant and material way, would this render the exam void?

A bit of background:

A 2014/2015 Electronic Engineering exam paper was set by Academic A, and it was the last exam paper they set as a lecturer at University X before they left for another organisation.

The 2017/2018 Electronic Engineering exam was the exam that I sat for, and it was set by Academic B. The syllabus Academic B taught contained many differences to the syllabus taught by Academic A.

Each exam paper was set by one person only.

I and my classmates believe that Q5 of the 2017/2018 exam plagiarised Q4 of the 2014/2015 exam in its entirety. The only difference is section (a), a minor section. Besides this, the solutions are identical.

We also believe that Q2 of the 2017/2018 exam plagiarised Q5 of the 2014/2015 exam, besides section (a), a minor section, and the only difference is that Q2 was reformatted.

I appreciate that community members cannot review the specifics of these exam questions, but I would still appreciate it if you could analyse this situation generally.

So far, despite having access to both papers, University X has completely refused to answer the allegation of copying and/or plagiarism at both the initial informal level (when many of my classmates taking the module complained about the exam paper and the Faculty held a student feedback meeting), and also at the formal complaints level (though the University’s own complaints procedure). This is despite the fact that the University’s own Code of Practice for Assessment and Feedback (2017/18) requires lecturers to “Rewrite/modify the assessment task each time the course is taught.”

The university could technically argue (but has not done so yet) that as it owns the copyright to the exam papers, it cannot (through one of its employees) plagiarise itself. However, though copyright infringement and plagiarism are similar in some aspects, they are distinctly different. While plagiarism is an offence against the author, copyright infringement is an offence against the copyright holder.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any precedent on plagiarism by academics in examination contexts as opposed to students and your comment would help to us fairly apply academic integrity to all.

One might ask why a student would be unhappy about a past year exam question (which had published solutions available online) appearing in a current exam. The answer is that Academic B never referenced past exam papers not set by them, the syllabus was very different, and Q5 was completely unattemptable as it was not covered in the syllabus. Besides, it would be hypocrisy if students were penalised for plagiarism, but not academics setting exams.

If you are able to comment on this and allow me to quote your comment, particularly in a submission to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, I would be extremely grateful as it will go a significant way towards encouraging University X to face this issue, rather than dodging it as they have been doing at present. I and my classmates wish University X had been willing to face the issue internally, rather than claiming academic discretion and that 3 out of 5 questions in the exam were still answerable.

Thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this. I will be very appreciative of any insights.

Uni Student - UK

Need advice but too shy to ask? Have a question of a ‘sensitive’ nature and would prefer to remain anonymous? Need to get something off your chest but worried about the boss (or your colleagues) finding out? Then ‘Ask Calvin’ !

Submit your questions confidentially to AskCalvin@theiet.org and Calvin will ask the community on your behalf to give you the anonymity you want to find the advice you need.

Parents

0 Former Community Member over 5 years ago

I'd first like say that the "Reply" button is back and seems to work. Thank you.

I found the above responses interesting. Andy gives some very pertinent tips on what an engineering student's professional engineering life is going to be like. A remark I regularly make to younger engineers is, "If the problem was simple to solve, then you wouldn't need to pay an engineer to solve it." (don't quote me on that, as I am sure there are many engineers who do feel the need to be paid, even for solving simple problems.)

But back to the primary question:

"In setting an exam paper, can an academic be deemed to ‘plagiarise’ (i.e. claiming attribution for a work they did not author OR using someone else’s work without prior attribution) questions from another exam paper previously set by someone else on the same subject"

You seem to understand what would count as plagiarism, but mix up context in your question.

The university delegated Academic A to lead a specific course of study. Academic A may have been given a broad subject and requested to create and submit a syllabus, which among other things would normally include a bank of questions and worked answers. This would then be submitted as a piece of work by the Academic as the result of his efforts, and would be expected to include citations where necessary. The university would review the work and authorise its use (or request amendments or improvements etc.). Eventually Academic A retires and Academic B takes on the responsibility. There is nothing stopping Academic B using the work of his predecessor; this might even be encouraged (we are normally expected to add to others work, not totally replace it) but citations would be expected. This is the point at which any plagiarism could take place. If Academic B wrote and submitted a question/answer pair, claiming it to be his own original work, when in fact it was either copied directly or only slightly modified from the work of another, then they would be deemed to have committed plagiarism. Let us now presume the university missed this in their review. In any case the university having reviewed the questions decides they are relevant to the syllabus and eventually authorises the use of the work, including the bank of questions. The university authorises Academic B to set an exam for the course, which should have followed the authorised syllabus, with questions taken from the authorised question bank. The Academic does not have to provide any citations on who wrote the questions themselves, on the examination paper, as these are already held in the question bank. Academic B then has the right to claim that they have set the exam, or "written the exam paper"; as they selected the questions. If the questions set are from the authorised question bank, then they are valid, regardless of who actually wrote the original question. So now we have established that just setting the exam using questions from a previous paper written by somebody else is not on its own grounds for accusations of plagiarism. (Which is a rather serious accusation you do not want to throw about like a stuffed toy.)

Let us now presume the university becomes aware that Academic B did in fact plagiarise Academic A on a specific question, whether by mistake or on purpose. The university holds the copywrite on the bank of questions. It is also responsible for ensuring it has permission from other copyright owners to use their work. It also should have reviewed the questions to ensure they were relevant to the authorised syllabus. There are no reasonable grounds to void the question. A different story emerges, if it was found that the question originated from another source and the university either did not hold copyright or did not hold permission of the copyright owner to use the question in their question bank. The question was unintentionally published without permission. The university could choose to remove the question from the bank, making it an unauthorised question on the exam. An investigation would be needed to see what knock on effects this would have on the results of previous exams. Alternatively the university could choose to negotiate with the copyright owner and make permission retrospective. The benefits to the university are obvious. The question then does not need to be voided.

I find it refreshing that you are trying to find a solution to a problem you have, and have realised it is not something you seem to be able to do to your satisfaction on your own; seeking assistance is not a sign of weakness. Unfortunately I also find it disappointing that you seemed to have missed a primary principle in engineering, define and understand your problem space. Whether the question is valid or not depends on whether it is relevant to the authorised syllabus and at a level students at your level are expected to be able to at least make a reasonable attempt at. If you were told what the syllabus consists of and it included the topics of the question, then you don't have a leg to stand on, even if the lecturer never touched on the subject during their lectures. One of your duties and obligations to other students is to ensure you are being directed to relevant literature to help you learn the syllabus. During the course you should have noticed this discrepancy and brought it up with your lecturer, or at least discussed it with fellow students in a collegial manner. If you did not notice this shortcoming until too late, then that is unfortunate. I hope you learn from the experience this life lesson presented to you. I do hope (ever the optimist) that you are not just trying to blame somebody else for your own failings. It would be a more efficient use of your time and energy to reflect on what you could have done differently to produce a more welcome result, plan to do that, then execute the plan.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Cancel

Reply

0 Former Community Member over 5 years ago

I'd first like say that the "Reply" button is back and seems to work. Thank you.

I found the above responses interesting. Andy gives some very pertinent tips on what an engineering student's professional engineering life is going to be like. A remark I regularly make to younger engineers is, "If the problem was simple to solve, then you wouldn't need to pay an engineer to solve it." (don't quote me on that, as I am sure there are many engineers who do feel the need to be paid, even for solving simple problems.)

But back to the primary question:

"In setting an exam paper, can an academic be deemed to ‘plagiarise’ (i.e. claiming attribution for a work they did not author OR using someone else’s work without prior attribution) questions from another exam paper previously set by someone else on the same subject"

You seem to understand what would count as plagiarism, but mix up context in your question.

The university delegated Academic A to lead a specific course of study. Academic A may have been given a broad subject and requested to create and submit a syllabus, which among other things would normally include a bank of questions and worked answers. This would then be submitted as a piece of work by the Academic as the result of his efforts, and would be expected to include citations where necessary. The university would review the work and authorise its use (or request amendments or improvements etc.). Eventually Academic A retires and Academic B takes on the responsibility. There is nothing stopping Academic B using the work of his predecessor; this might even be encouraged (we are normally expected to add to others work, not totally replace it) but citations would be expected. This is the point at which any plagiarism could take place. If Academic B wrote and submitted a question/answer pair, claiming it to be his own original work, when in fact it was either copied directly or only slightly modified from the work of another, then they would be deemed to have committed plagiarism. Let us now presume the university missed this in their review. In any case the university having reviewed the questions decides they are relevant to the syllabus and eventually authorises the use of the work, including the bank of questions. The university authorises Academic B to set an exam for the course, which should have followed the authorised syllabus, with questions taken from the authorised question bank. The Academic does not have to provide any citations on who wrote the questions themselves, on the examination paper, as these are already held in the question bank. Academic B then has the right to claim that they have set the exam, or "written the exam paper"; as they selected the questions. If the questions set are from the authorised question bank, then they are valid, regardless of who actually wrote the original question. So now we have established that just setting the exam using questions from a previous paper written by somebody else is not on its own grounds for accusations of plagiarism. (Which is a rather serious accusation you do not want to throw about like a stuffed toy.)

Let us now presume the university becomes aware that Academic B did in fact plagiarise Academic A on a specific question, whether by mistake or on purpose. The university holds the copywrite on the bank of questions. It is also responsible for ensuring it has permission from other copyright owners to use their work. It also should have reviewed the questions to ensure they were relevant to the authorised syllabus. There are no reasonable grounds to void the question. A different story emerges, if it was found that the question originated from another source and the university either did not hold copyright or did not hold permission of the copyright owner to use the question in their question bank. The question was unintentionally published without permission. The university could choose to remove the question from the bank, making it an unauthorised question on the exam. An investigation would be needed to see what knock on effects this would have on the results of previous exams. Alternatively the university could choose to negotiate with the copyright owner and make permission retrospective. The benefits to the university are obvious. The question then does not need to be voided.

I find it refreshing that you are trying to find a solution to a problem you have, and have realised it is not something you seem to be able to do to your satisfaction on your own; seeking assistance is not a sign of weakness. Unfortunately I also find it disappointing that you seemed to have missed a primary principle in engineering, define and understand your problem space. Whether the question is valid or not depends on whether it is relevant to the authorised syllabus and at a level students at your level are expected to be able to at least make a reasonable attempt at. If you were told what the syllabus consists of and it included the topics of the question, then you don't have a leg to stand on, even if the lecturer never touched on the subject during their lectures. One of your duties and obligations to other students is to ensure you are being directed to relevant literature to help you learn the syllabus. During the course you should have noticed this discrepancy and brought it up with your lecturer, or at least discussed it with fellow students in a collegial manner. If you did not notice this shortcoming until too late, then that is unfortunate. I hope you learn from the experience this life lesson presented to you. I do hope (ever the optimist) that you are not just trying to blame somebody else for your own failings. It would be a more efficient use of your time and energy to reflect on what you could have done differently to produce a more welcome result, plan to do that, then execute the plan.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Cancel

Children

No Data

Calvin Asks: Can an academic be deemed to plagiarise questions from an exam paper previously set by someone else?

Join us to get the best from IET EngX.

Community Rules & Guidelines