On this page you will find important information about the School's assessment misconduct process including guidance on best practice for investigating cases and separate guidance for investigating suspected use of Artificial Intelligience (AI) software.
In all instances, Departments must report cases to the Student Regulations Team before any formal allegation is made. This is to ensure equity of treatment across the School.
The Student Regulations Team can advise on possible penalties and must confirm any proposed penalty before an allegation is made.
It is important to note that no agreed marks can be adjusted in any way as a result of suspicions of assessment misconduct. The only way marks can be adjusted as a result of assessment misconduct is through making a formal allegation and applying a formal penalty.
Assessment Misconduct Regulations and Guidance:
The School's Regulations on Assessment Offences
Guidance for considering assessment misconduct allegations - Detailed guidance notes for investigating allegations, raising formal allegations, applying penalties or dealing with cases that must be referred to an Assessment Misconduct Panel
AI Assessment Misconduct Guidance Notes - the process for making an allegation regarding the suspected use of AI is the same as any other type of assessment misconduct allegation though we have provided guidance for investigating cases of suspected AI use here.
The School’s Turnitin Policy can be found here.
It is recommended best practice Departments/Institutes provide their students with detailed information about local and School level rules/policies around ensuring the academic integrity of their work such as:
- how to correctly reference the work of others/published sources
- avoiding plagiarism
- the extent of permittable use or limitations around expanding upon previously submitted work to the School
- Whether the use of AI tools is permissible (and within what limitations) or strictly prohibited
- referring your students to the School's student-facing guidance on Academic Discipline.
- Requiring students to read and complete the following assessment coversheet here (or that you use this content in your own Departmental coversheets), that students should upload with their assessment to confirm they have read and understood the School’s Academic Integrity Statement (updated to include reference to AI tools). You should provide Department specific guidance around the assessment rules in the space provided in the Annex.
Conducting a Randomised or Selective Interview
The below guidance is for use where students have been notified in advance of the submission that their work may be subject to randomised interviews. You will have chosen their submission at random and the intention is to check the originality of their work.
Randomised interviews
The below guidance is for use where, after marking, one or more examiners have some concerns about the originality of the work. These principals should be applied regardless of the type of allegation (e.g. plagiarism, falsifying data, collusion, contract cheating, the use of Artificial Intelligence software etc). The type of allegation will frame the type of questions you ask. See the Guidance Notes for more details. Conducting an interview is part of the evidence gathering stage and can be conducted before any formal allegation is made. It is an opportunity for the student to clarify any issues with their work.
Selective interviews
Before inviting a student for interview please check whether they have any MyAdjustments and whether any adjustments need to be made to the process. Being invited to interview can cause distress and anxiety so please try to avoid sending requests for interviews (or making any formal allegations) before non-working days so that you may respond as soon as possible to any queries and to ensure other support services are available.
Contacts:
Questions relating to concerns about MPhil/PhD and post-upgrade MRes/PhD work should be referred directly to the PhD Academy via phdacademy@lse.ac.uk.
For questions about these processes when applied to taught students' submissions, please contact the Student Regulations Team via: