Academic integrity (or academic honesty) refers to a code of conduct based on approaching your academic studies in a manner that is honest, truthful, responsible, fair and respectful. It is a set of guiding principles regarding intellectual property rights. It is a core trait of any academic institution and an expectation of all IB World Schools.

By contrast, academic dishonesty is any action that results in a student gaining an unfair advantage for a piece of assessed work, such as the Extended Essay or Internal Assessment.

Academic integrity is the philosophy of approaching your IB studies honestly, truthfully, responsibly, fairly and respectfully. Watch this 10-minute YouTube video from the IB about academic honesty:

Academic integrity in an integral part of all IB World Schools, and is reflected in a school's assessment policy and/or academic honesty policy. Both teachers and students need to comply with the expectations of the IB’s academic honesty guidelines. The IB views academic honesty as a philosophy and set of skills that promote the academic integrity of teachers and learners. Academic dishonesty is deemed to be any act, deliberate or otherwise, that gives a candidate an unfair advantage. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to:

• Plagiarism – This happens when a student presents the words, ideas or opinions of another person as though it was their own. Plagiarism is an infringement of copyrights belonging to others.
• Collusion – This is the act of a student supporting the academic dishonesty of another student, such as a student allowing a friend or classmate to copy his or her work submitted for formal assessment.
• Fabrication of research – Dishonest construction and presentation of research and data in the Extended Essay is academic malpractice, such as falsifying research data, such as interviews or questionnaires. It also includes fabricating the use of textbooks or academic journals that have been referred to in the bibliography. A final example is citing sources that don’t actually exist. Supervisors will find it difficult to authentic such essays.
• Double dipping – This happens when a student duplicates and submits the same work (in part or in entirety) for different components of IB assessment, such as a student who submits their Extended Essay using part of their work from an Internal Assessment. Click the icon below to see what the IB says about double-dipping.

• Gaining an unfair advantage – Any act that enables a student to gain an unfair advantage is considered academic dishonesty. Examples include:

1. Using a commercial service provider or any third party provider to write the EE on behalf of the student
2. Submitting the work of another person as your own
3. Using another person’s ideas, words, photos (images) or examples without using any citation
4. Missing the internal deadline for submitting the first (and only) draft of the EE
5. Dishonesty by under-declaring the word count of the Extended Essay.

Note that all schools are profiled for academic integrity and all cases of suspected malpractice are logged by the IB.

Academic honesty requires students to meet internal deadlines, i.e. the assessment deadlines set by your school. This means that you cannot gain an unfair advantage by missing the school’s deadlines. If you need to request an extension for the internal deadline, this must be administered by your school’s IB Diploma Coordinator along with all necessary supporting documents.

Since May 2016, all Extended Essays are checked by the IB using sophisticated text matching software for possible collusion and/or plagiarism. The use of online tools such as Turnitin can help students and teachers to identify potential problems before the final draft is handed in.

Any potential breach of the rules and regulations will be investigated by the IB. In the case of suspected academic malpractice, the IB may request a full written report from your school. The IB will then take up the case, with the Final Award Committee (FAC) in Cardiff making a decision whether to disqualify the candidate.

This could result in the candidate not receiving a grade for the subject. In the worst case scenario, the IB can disqualify the candidate for proven plagiarism, collusion, double dipping or any other form of academic dishonesty. Retaking the IB Diploma is then at the discretion of the IB.

Academic integrity applies to the word limits for all assessment work, including the 4,000-word limit for Extended Essays. Examiners are instructed not to read beyond the word limit. So, a candidate who submits an essay in excess of 4,000 words potentially loses marks for all five assessment criteria. For example, if the conclusion appears after the 4,000th word, then the candidate would lose marks in Criterion C (critical thinking) and Criterion D (presentation). Any knowledge and understanding (Criterion B) shown in the essay but after the 4,000th word would not be read by the examiner. As all Extended Essays are electronically uploaded, it is quite simple for examiners to identify where the 4,000 word-limit has been reached. This becomes the cut-off point for forma assessment of the EE.

Source: Adapted from Extended Essay Guide, page 85

* The inappropriate use of footnotes or endnotes should also be avoided. Examiners will not entertain any attempts to use footnotes or endnotes to circumvent the word count; in fact, doing so is considered to be academic malpractice.

A similar approach is taken by examiners for the use of headings and sub-headings. Most examiners will not regard the main headings (like "Introduction" and "Conclusion") as part of the word count limit (otherwise, every candidate would have no more than 3,998 words to complete their actual essay). In any case, the execessive use of sub-headings should be avoided.

As an IB World School, your school or college should have a formal Deadlines Policy. This should be shared with teachers, students and parents. A candidate cannot gain an unfair advantage by missing official school (internal) deadlines. If the assessment work is submitted after the internal deadline, the EE supervisor might not be able to authenticate the work to be entirely the student’s own. In cases of suspected academic dishonesty, the essay can be submitted to the IBO as an atypical piece of assessment.

Be aware that the IB rules state (in the Handbook of Procedures) that short-term illness is not a valid reason for submitting an incomplete piece of work for assessment (other than for missing an actual IB examination). This is because the Extended Essay, for example, will have been written over a certain length of time, with sufficient time for the candidate to complete the work. After all, the EE is completed in a 40-hour period, with 3 to 5 hours of supervision including time for the three mandatory reflection sessions. This means there is plenty of scope and opportunity for candidates to complete and submit their essay by the deadline.

The Handbook of Procedures clearly states that situations deemed to be reasonably within the control of a candidate would be unacceptable reasons for submitting incomplete assessment work. These manageable situations include missing the EE deadline due to:

• misreading and/or misunderstanding the deadline for final submission

• oversleeping and therefore being late in submitting the essay

• a family holiday (vacation)

• moving house

• participation in a social engagement, such as a graduation ceremony

• participation in a competition, concert, field trip or sporting event

• attendance at an interview.

Source: Adapted from the IB Handbook of Procedures - Candidates with incomplete work for assessment

The first submission of the Extended Essay should be a complete draft. This is important for academic honesty reasons as a complete submission enables your supervisor to provide written feedback in a holistic way. It also makes it easier to authenticate the final version of the essay.

In circumstances that are beyond your control, such as a serious family or medical emergency, you must contact your IB Diploma Programme Coordinator to request an extension of the deadline. The Coordinator must submit the application with the necessary supporting documents, such as medical certificates, a certified doctor’s note or a hospital admission letter. If the request for an extension is authorized by the IB Assessment Centre, this decision will be formally communicated to your DP Coordinator via email.

The 2018 EE Subject Guide states that it is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure that students are familiar with the requirements of the extended essay. Supervisors and students must discuss:

• the nature of the extended essay
• their chosen subject, topic and research question
• the most appropriate research methods to be used given the subject for which the student is submitting their essay
• the formal requirements for the completion of the task.

Academic honesty is integral to an IB World School’s values. As such, all supervisors have an obligation to follow the guidelines set in your school’s Academic Honesty Policy. Academic honesty should be integral to all aspects of feedback, marking and moderation of assessed work.

For example, supervisors should be aware that only one draft of the Extended Essay is allowed. Drafting and redrafting of the EE is deemed to be in breach of academic honesty. This is because doing so would give candidates an unfair advantage. Supervisors must ensure the fair and transparent treatment of all deadlines so that there is consistency in their approach to academic honesty and internal school deadlines.

In many schools, formal assessments such as the EE are submitted to plagiarism-detection software, such as turnitin.com. A high text match may require further investigation by your school’s IB Diploma Programme Coordinator.

The supervisor is likely to communicate with parents or guardians if there are any concerns about a particular student’s academic honesty, such as suspected cases of malpractice, missed deadlines or incomplete work. They should also notify the IB Diploma Programme Coordinator in such cases.

With the above in mind, EE supervisors are reminded that they are required to:

• Encourage and support students throughout the research and writing of the extended essay
• Provide advice regarding (a) the research process, (b) writing an extended academic text using an appropriate structure, style and format, and (c) interpretation of subject-specific assessment criteria.
• Monitor and record progress, including overseeing the completion of the RPPF
• Discuss the choice of topic with each student and, in particular, help to formulate a well-focused research question which is suitable to the subject of registration and ensure that the chosen research question satisfies appropriate legal and ethical standards with regard to health and safety, confidentiality, human rights, animal welfare and environmental issues
• Be familiar with the regulations governing the extended essay and the assessment criteria
• Ensure that the research and the essay are the student’s own work. i.e. that academic integrity is adhered to
• Respond accordingly when responsibilities are not met by a student
• Undertake three mandatory reflection sessions with each student being supervised
• Read the final version of the essay and conduct the viva voce to confirm its authenticity
• Complete the uploading processes of the essay on IBIS
• Spend approximately 3 to 5 hours supervising each student, including the time spent to complete the three mandatory reflection sessions.

Being principled is a core trait of the IB Learner Profile. In completing your Extended Essay (or any assessment work), it is vital that you:

• Cite and reference your work appropriately (see section below)

• Conduct and present research findings truthfully

• Attend all three reflection sessions with your supervisor

• Follow all internal deadlines set by your school

• Submit a complete draft of the essay, as written feedback cannot be provided if you miss a deadline without prior authorisation from your IB Coordinator

• Declare the actual (exact) word count.

Whist collaboration is an important approach to learning for many people, there is a major difference between collusion and collaboration. During the collaborative process, you share ideas with other learners; this is not malpractice. However, collusion is academic malpractice as it is not about preparing or presenting your own work. You should focus on preparing, writing and presenting your individual and personal essay. The ideas of other people should always be referred to.

The standard format and presentation of the Extended Essay includes the requirement of proper citation and referencing (C&R). Many students find this important task to be challenging. Although C&R can be quite tedious and time-consuming, it is not difficult. There are plenty of freely available software available on the Internet to help students with this task, such as http://www.easybib.com – students just need to get into the habit of citing and referencing the materials and ideas that are not their own. This includes the proper C&R of images, graphs, charts, tables and diagrams.

Students must use a single referencing style (such as MLA, APA or Chicago) consistently throughout their work. If students conduct primary research, such as interviews or questionnaires (to supplement their secondary data sources), they must cite these too. Do not rely purely on IB Business Management textbooks or online sources.

Examiners often check C&R and must be able to trace the source by following the referencing system presented. Improper citation and referencing can, in the worst case scenario, results in the candidate being disqualified due to academic misconduct (malpractice). It is important that students understand the importance of academic honesty as a basic virtue, which is essential for success in their IB studies, at university and later in life.

Note: the extensive use of footnotes should be avoided in the Extended Essay.

Academic honesty is aligned with being principled (part of the IB Learner Profile). So, make sure you do the morally correct thing when it comes to all aspects of your Extended Essay, be it the research, the word count, citations and referencing or meeting deadlines. Not only will this avoid unnecessary sanctions, but puts you in good stead as a lifelong learner, way beyond your IB years of schooling.

Summary points

1. Academic honesty is an important trait of students and teachers in IB World Schools.

2. It requires you to plan, write and submit your Extended Essay in a fair and honest manner.

3. Only one complete draft of the essay is allowed to be looked at by your supervisor.

4. In suspected cases of academic malpractice, the school is required to conduct an investigation and the DP Coordinator must provide a written report to the IBO, with relevant supporting documentation.

5. Your supervisor will need to authenticate your work at the time of uploading the essay.

6. In the worst case scenario, a candidate may be withdrawn from the IB Diploma Programme on the grounds of academic malpractice.