Tips for your upcoming assessments: extensions, special consideration and academic integrity
Here are the steps to follow if you're submitting or looking to extend your assessments
Academic pressures can be overwhelming at times and it can be tempting to seek shortcuts or quick fixes when faced with demanding assessments. We've all been there.
But whatever you do, don't take risks that undermine academic integrity or wait too late to ask for an extension. There will be consequences if you make poor decisions.
Below, we'll take you through the steps to ensure that your work meets the University's academic standards, and the right way to get an extension or adjustment for a deadline.
Academic integrity: Dos and Don'ts
When submitting your assessments, here's a list of what you should and should not do:
✔️Things to do:
- Acknowledge your sources: even when you're paraphrasing ✔️
- Be accurate with your information ✔️
- Always submit your own work ✔️
- When working in groups, check that other students are also adhering to academic integrity guidelines ✔️
- Use the referencing style as required by the assignment's instructions ✔️
❌Things not to do:
- Don't reuse work you did from a previous unit ❌
- Don't copy another person's idea or data without appropriate attribution ❌
- Don't make up information or alter a data-set or document ❌
- Don't add references you have not used in your work ❌
- Don't pay someone else to do your assessment ❌
- Don't work with others for individually marked assessments ❌
- Don't allow others to copy your notes or your dataset ❌
If you are unsure if you have maintained academic integrity in your assignments, use this academic integrity checklist to help you confirm your approach and carefully check that you have addressed all the relevant aspects in your work. You can also find many useful resources to understand academic integrity through Student Academic Success.
Extensions and special consideration
Every now and then, something outside your control might prevent you from submitting an assessment or sitting an exam on time. The University understands this and there are options available if you need to adjust a deadline for an assessment.
The following options may be available to you, depending on your circumstances:
Short extensions
You can apply for a short extension of two days, and don’t need to give a reason for your first application in a unit. If an extension isn’t available, you might be offered an alternative assessment or be exempted from the assessment. However, this is only available for specific types of assignments, so make sure to double check that your assessment qualifies. Note that late applications for short extensions will not be accepted.
Special consideration
If you need longer than two days or other arrangements, such as deferring a final exam, you will need to apply for special consideration. You must provide evidence of why you can’t complete the assessment on time, and very strict criteria apply. If you don’t give the correct evidence, or miss the deadline, your request may not be approved. You must apply by 11:55pm of the day your assessment is due, or provide evidence explaining why the application is late.
Towards the end of semester, other options like withdrawing from your unit may be explored. You can learn more about the University's special consideration policies here.
Do you have more questions?
Our advocates are here to guide you through all of the options above. If you are unsure about anything else to do with academic integrity or special consideration, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at mga-advocacy@monash.edu.