How to avoid collusion

Use this page to find out more about collusion and how you can avoid it.

What is collusion?

Collusion is a form of academic misconduct that occurs when two or more people work together to produce a piece of work which they then submit as their own.

All work that you submit for assessment must be produced independently, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the module handbook and assessment criteria.

Collaboration or collusion?

The ability to collaborate, or work together, is an important skill both at university and in the world of work. Being able to adapt the ideas of others, divide tasks equally and help others to understand key concepts are all valuable attributes that will help to secure your success.

You may be encouraged to discuss and debate concepts relating to your assessment and even to provide feedback to one another on your draft work. You may also be set a group assignment. If this is the case, it will be made clear that you are encouraged to work together with other students to produce the assessment output.

However, the majority of assessment at university is individual with the expectation that you will not share your work with others or receive third-party input into your own work. Working with others to produce an individual assignment is considered academic misconduct.

For further information, visit the StudySkills@Sheffield Academic misconduct overview:

Visit StudySkills@Sheffield Academic integrity overview

How Can I avoid collusion?

The following points will help you to avoid the risk of collusion in the production of your academic work:

If you’re unsure, ask!

It is likely that your tutor will clarify any specific requirements of an assessment regarding working with others, peer feedback or collaboratively produced outputs. Check your assessment guidance and if there is anything that is unclear, you should ask the module tutor for confirmation.

Be careful with your work

It is your responsibility to ensure that your work is not replicated or reproduced. For this reason, it’s important that you do not lend or share your work with your coursemates, even if it is small sections or individual paragraphs that make up a larger piece of writing. You may have shared your work in good faith, but it could still be construed as academic misconduct if your work is duplicated or reused in any way.

Look for other sources of support

Peers can be a great source of support at university, as they will be exploring the same modules and learning alongside you. However, you may wish to talk to someone about questions or issues relating to your work. 301 Academic Skills offers 1:1 study skills appointments where you can discuss your work with a trained study skills tutor. Please note: tutors are not able to proofread your work, but can offer general advice and guidance.

Book a 1:1 Study Skills Appointment

Proofreading and collusion

Proofreading is a vital stage of the academic writing process that can help to improve the quality of your work before submission. Whenever possible, you are encouraged to proofread your own work to help develop your skills and maintain the academic integrity of your work.

However, seeking feedback on your writing with a focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar is usually considered to be acceptable academic practice. Follow these principles to ensure that your approach to proofreading is consistent with the principles of academic integrity:

Do not seek feedback from or offer feedback to another student who is taking, or who has previously taken the same module. There is a likelihood that you will influence one another’s thinking, which could result in unintentional collusion.
Make sure that feedback focuses on spelling, punctuation, grammar and overall structure, rather than on any of the specific content or ideas within your work.
If you are using a GenerativeAI tool to provide feedback on your writing, make sure that you consider the value of the feedback and use it selectively to refine your work. You should also Acknowledge, Describe and Evidence your use of GenAI.

The University of Sheffield does not endorse any third-party proofreading services. If you use them, you do so at your own risk.

For more information on proofreading, visit the StudySkills@Sheffield How to proofread page:

Visit StudySkills@Sheffield How to proofread your work

Peer learning and group work

Working with other students is a fundamental aspect of the University learning environment and one that should allow you to develop and enrich your thinking. This will be encouraged on your course through peer discussion in seminars, opportunities to provide peer feedback to one another and group-based assessment tasks.

You may also choose to work with your peers outside of your classes to improve your motivation and to support one another in your learning. This may be as formal as a study group or PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) session, or it may just involve getting together with one another in the Library.

Follow these principles to make sure that you are making the most of peer learning without the potential for collusion:

Discussing and debating key issues relating to your course can help you to develop your own thinking. However, you should make sure that you follow this process up by finding traditional academic sources to support any ideas generated.
Do not show other students on your course examples of your work as there is a chance that (even unintentionally) they will be influenced by your ideas and even borrow content directly.
Some modules specifically prohibit discussing assessment content with others. If this is the case you should avoid doing so to maintain the academic integrity of your work.

To explore the boundaries between acceptable peer learning and collusion more fully, you can access our Peer Support or Plagiarism guide:

Access the Peer Support or Plagiarism guide

To find out more about different strategies to support group work and collaboration on projects, you can access our How to get the most out of group work guide:

Access the How to get the most out of group work guide

StudySkills@Sheffield