INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROGRAMME

THE MALAY COLLEGE KUALA KANGSAR

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY
Introduction
1.0The Academic Honesty aims to create students who produce original work and
ideas while acknowledging the work and ideas of others when referred. Hence,
assignments submitted - written or oral - must be in the students own language
and expression. All reference sources, quoted or paraphrased, must be fully and
appropriately acknowledged. This is in the line with the IBO mission of producing
ethical students who are knowledgeable and with cultural understanding.
Students must be broad minded, have depth and principles. Hence, any
academic dishonesty act committed is deemed a serious offence and the failure
to observe the standard academic honesty constitutes malpractice or dishonesty.
The purpose of the next few sections is to highlight the various types of
malpractice that students must avoid, the procedures undertaken by MCKK in
any malpractice reported and the serious implications students face if alleged or
suspected.
1.1Academic Dishonesty occurs in any of the following ways:
(from IB DP Academic Honesty, July 2011)
(a) Plagiarism
Using the ideas or work of another person as the candidates own
work.
(b) Collaboration
Working together on a common aim with shared information is okay
but the work of that group must not be copied by other groups for
assessment purposes.
(c) Collusions
Supporting malpractice by other candidates, as in allowing ones own
work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.

(d) Duplication of work

The

presentation

of

the

same

work

for

different

assessment

components.
(e) Any other behavior that is in breach of regulations which may give
unfair advantage to others. The following are examples taken from IBO
(2009) of malpractice that occurs during examinations.

Bringing in unauthorized material (for example, own rough

paper, notes, mobile/cell phone or an electronic device other
than a permitted calculator) into the examination room. In open
book exams , however, books and notes are allowed

Leaving unauthorized material in a bathroom/toilet that may be

visited students during an examination

Misconduct during an examination, including any attempt to

disrupt the examination or distract another candidate

Exchanging information or in any way supporting the passing of

information to another candidate about the content of an
examination

Failing to comply with the instructions of the invigilator or other

members of the school staff responsible for the conduct of the
examination

Stealing examination papers

Using an unauthorized calculator during an examination

1.1.1 Legitimate Collaboration and Collusion: MCKK acknowledges that

under the IB MYP, group work / assignments are given to
students where students are encouraged to work together to
obtain raw data. However, students are expected to come up
with individual write-ups and the analysis of data.
1.1.2 Academic

infringements

occurs

when

student

has

acknowledged the source of another persons work but has not

shown it clearly in his part of written work or essay that referred
source. Academic infringement as such is not malpractice.

However, it is up to the discretion of the school to regard it as

malpractice if the amount of work copied is substantial.
1.2Consequences of Academic Dishonesty
Students will receive no credit or must redo the assignment or homework
or exam on their own.
1.3Prevention measures at MCKK
Violation of academic honesty policy may be rampant with the growth of
the internet. Hence, MCKK takes this matter seriously and so the following
measures are adopted to counter this.
The role of:
(a) Head of the school

Understands what constitutes academic honesty.

Understands the consequences of breaching the academic

honesty policy.

Promotes positive academic practices.

(b) Teacher

Will give talks to students to create awareness on the

importance of the Academic Honesty Policy. Students are
informed of the types of malpractices that they should avoid and
the consequences of any indiscretion on their studies.

The teacher too will give clear guidance and examples to help
the students in the APA referencing style which will build their
confidence and skills.

To reinforce good academic practice, teachers must insist that

students routinely acknowledge their sources correctly in all
their folios, projects and research work.

Teachers are the best people to detect malpractice since they

are very familiar with the students quality and style of work and

can subsequently use this fact to guide and monitor students

work.

Teachers can offer help to students in locating, accessing,

evaluating and using information available at the library or on
the internet.

Teachers should be able to advice students in research, reading

and writing skills.

(c) Students

In any school write-up (assignment, homework, report, project

and other related academic work in and out of the class) the
students need to refer closely to the examples and details of the
APA referencing style.

In case of doubt, the students need to seek guidance from or

consult their teacher.

Each student is solely responsible for his work and cannot use
negligence or ignorance to justify any malpractice.

(d) Parents

Parents need to respect the Academic Honesty Policy by

encouraging their children to be honest at all times in the given
tasks in school.

Parents play an active role in molding the childs character and

therefore should cooperate with the school authorities in
handling any dishonesty case where his/her child is involved.

1.4Investigating Malpractice at MCKK

Students suspected of malpractice will face penalties with the hope that
students caught will learn from their mistake and stop such practices in
the future.
The following are the penalties:

Receive no credit for the work copied

Redo the assignment/ research paper

Multiple Violations:
1) Warning to the students
2) Inform the students parents of malpractice
3) Send the students for counseling
4) Do community service up to the discretion of the coordinator
The role of a grade award meeting

If a suspected malpractice is proven otherwise, all allegations

against the candidate will be dropped and the candidate will get
the credit he deserves.

The

Academic

Honesty

Policy

can

only

succeed

with

the

implementation of the above and with full cooperation from all

parties who are involved directly and indirectly in the IBMYP
Programme.

As stated, students need to be informed of the necessary skills

such as research, writing and reading skills and shown how to
quote sources. The next session will show some examples of the
sources

students

might

come

across

acknowledging them in bibliography.

1.5Referencing and Bibliography

and

the

manner

of

MCKK uses the American Psychological Associations (APA) system of

reference and bibliography.
There are many sources of information that one can quote. However,
students must ensure that they use different types of sources and are not
dependent only on one source for example online source. Students too
are reminded to ascertain that their sources are reliable. This is especially
if they are online sources.
Sources of information:
A) JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS IN PRINT FORMAT
General Form
Author, A.A, Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article.
Title of Journal, xx, xxx-xxx.
Note: The journal title and the volume number are in
italics. Issue numbers are not required if the journal is
continuously paged. If paged individually, the issue
number is required and its in regular type in parentheses
adjacent to the volume number.
One Author
Williams, J. H. (2008). Employee engagement: Improving participation
in safety. Profesional Safety, 53(12), 40-45.

Two to seven Authors (List all authors)

Keller, T.E, Cusick, G. R., & Courtney, M. E. (2007). Approaching the
transition to adulthood: Distinctive profiles of adolescents aging
out of the child welfare system. Sosial Services Review, 81, 453484.
Magazine article

Fletcher, D. (2010, May 31). Friends without borders. Time magazine,

175 (21), 16 22.
NOTE: The journal title and the volume number are in
italics. Issue numbers are not required if the journal is
continuously paged. If paged individually, the issue
number is required and is in regular type in parentheses
adjacent to the volume number.
One Author
Wiliams, J.H.(2008), Employee engagement: Improving participation in
safety. Professional Safety, 53(12), 40 45.
B) BOOKS, CHAPTERS IN A BOOK, REPORT
General Form
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Location: Publisher.
Haddon, M. (2003). The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime, Londaon: Vantage Books.
Chapter in a book
Donnelly, J. (1987). Sunken Treasure. In Casssidy, J Roettger, D and
Wixson, K.K, Scibner Reading Series: Find your Way (pp251
257). New York. Scibner Educational Publishers.
C) ONLINE JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS
General Format Databases
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of
article.
Name of Journal, xx, xxx-xxx. doi:xxxxxxxxxx
Article Retrieved from an Online Database
NOTE: Use the articles DOI (Digital Object Identifier), the
unique code given by the publisher to a specific article.

Senior, B., & Swailes, S. (2007). Inside management teams: Developing

a teamwork survey instrument. British Journal of Management,
18, 138 153. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2006.00507.x
NOTE: Use the journals home page URL (or web address)
if there is no DOI. This may require a web search to
locate the jouranls home page. There is no period at the
end of web address. Break a long URL before the
punctuation.
Koo, D. J., Chitwoode, D.D., & Sanchez, J. (2008). Violent victimization
and the routine activities/lifestyle of active drug users. Journal of
Drug Issues, 38 1105 -1137.
Retrieved from http://www2.criminology.fsu.edu/jdi/
Article from Online Magazine
Lodewi jxx, H. F. M. (2001, May 23). Individual group continuity in
cooperation and competition under varying communication
conditions. Current Issues in Sosial Psychology, 6(12), 166 182.
Retrieved

from

grpproc/crisp/crisp.6.12.htm

http://www.uiowa.edu/-