Policy and Guidelines

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is academic theft and is severely penalized in academic institutions, including the University of Hong Kong.  You are reminded to read the booklet What is plagiarism? to learn what is plagiarism and what is proper acknowledgement when preparing a written assignments/research paper.  You are also required to use the standard Assignment Cover Page (form >> assignment cover sheet) as the first page of your submission.  Before you submit your written assignment/research paper, you must read the Assignment Cover Page carefully and ensure that you have acknowledged other’s academic work properly.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is plagiarism to copy your own work or re-submit part or all of your own work for another assignment, and to reproduce substantial parts of another’s work without putting them in quotation, even if you have made editing changes and cited the source.

Work containing plagiarism will be given a mark of zero. On top of that, the matter may be treated as a disciplinary offence (just like the case of cheating during an examination) and referred to the University’s Disciplinary Committee under Statute XXXI of the University’s Statutes and the Disciplinary Committee Regulations.  In this regard, your attention is drawn to section 4 of Statute XXXI, which provides that a student found guilty by the Disciplinary Committee of a disciplinary offence may be subject to several kinds of sanctions, including a published reprimand, suspension from classes or expulsion from the University.

To deter plagiarism, teaching staff have been instructed to take an active role in spotting plagiarism and to refer the matter for disciplinary action where it occurs. For further information, please do not hesitate to consult your course teacher or the Department Anti-Plagiarism Coordinator.

Other useful links:
HKU Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricula
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism and How To Avoid It, by David Gardner
Important policy on copyright and plagiarism, Postgraduate Handbook for Coursework Programmes

Late Penalty (take-home assessments only)

Unless otherwise indicated by the course teacher, if a candidate submits an item of assessable coursework after the required completion date, the examiner(s) shall award a grade for such coursework but subject to the imposition of a penalty (unless late submission was due to illness or other acceptable reason).

Examinations

In-hall exam timetables are released in early November (first semester’s exams) and mid-March (second semester’s exams) each year. The exam timetable (in-hall exams only) and university’s exam procedure can be found from the website of the University’s Exams Section: www.exam.hku.hk