Legal issues
Copyright
The central idea underlying the concept of copyright, and framing copyright law, is that creative and intellectual effort should be encouraged, rewarded and protected. The Copyright Act gives writers, artists and other producers of material certain exclusive rights over how, when and under what circumstances their work can be used by others.
Although copyright law recognises the special needs of students, your right to copy material from books, magazines, journals and electronic resources is still limited by various copyright laws.
As a student at UNE, you are allowed to copy up to one chapter or 10% of a printed book (whichever is the greater). You are also allowed to copy one article from an issue of a periodical publication. A periodical is something that is published at regularly recurring intervals, including journals, magazines, newspapers or annual reviews.
The restriction to one article per periodical does not apply when you are accessing full-text journal indexes such as ProQuest or SpringerLink.
Although most of the information on the Internet is copyright, you are able to copy a 'reasonable portion' of online material for private study. If you copy less than 10% of the words in an electronic document, you are safely within the law. It is also usually acceptable to incorporate individual images from the Web in a class presentation, but you must acknowledge your source.
Intellectual property
Consider, if you, or anyone else in your class, discovers the cure for cancer, develops an anti-gravity device or writes a bestselling novel or blockbuster movie script. You do not want others to steal your work and pass it off as their own, and make a profit and build their reputations from what is your intellectual property.
As your studies continue, it is likely that you might participate in research projects that have potential economic implications. In these circumstances, you need to ensure that you do not violate the intellectual property rights of others by disclosing confidential information or by claiming the results of their research as your own.
Plagiarism
A related issue is plagiarism, the practice of taking, and passing off as your own, the thoughts or writings of another without acknowledgment. This practice is not acceptable and is a violation of the rights of others. In plain language, it is stealing, and attracts serious penalties.
UNE has clear and detailed policies on plagiarism which you should familiarise yourself with. Please read the University's policies on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct.
As a student, it is your right and your responsibility to know about plagiarism and protect yourself from this serious charge. If you are found guilty of plagiarism, you may suffer serious penalties, including being expelled from the University, so make it your business to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Make sure you read carefully the handbooks and other materials provided to you in your units that include information on plagiarism in your discipline area(s).
The UNE Academic Skills Office produces a range of clear, easy to understand material on plagiarism and how to avoid it: Avoiding Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct.
For further information on plagiarism, have a look at You Note It, You Quote It! from the Vaughan Memorial Library, Acadia University in Canada.
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Plagiarism, the Internet, and Student Learning : Improving Academic Integrity For an in depth analysis of the issues surrounding plagiarism and universities in Australia, look at this title. |
Information technology
UNE has obligations to provide fair and equitable access to the services and information controlled by the Information Technology Directorate. In meeting these obligations, the University requires students and staff to abide by rules regarding the non-commercial use of UNE facilities, data privacy and security. When at UNE, you must abide by the Computing Rules.
