We know that you've worked hard to gain a place to study at Bath, and that you appreciate the value of your degree in your future career and personal development. When materials from our academics and courses are shared on study sites and are available to people who aren't Bath students, this devalues the degree that you're working towards and is an academic misconduct offence. The University takes such offences very seriously and the penalties reflect this.
Unless the copyright in a document belongs exclusively to you, you must not upload it to study or 'cheat' sites such as (but not limited to) Chegg, Quillbot, and StuDocU. If you upload a document with any content that has been created, owned or shared by someone else at the University, whether they are a lecturer, other member of staff, or a student, you are:
- in violation of the contract that you signed with the University
- breaking the laws governing copyright and intellectual property.
Please note that uploading research articles belonging to people outside the University is also a violation of your contract and against those laws.
You should be aware of the importance of copyright and academic honesty from your academic integrity training, and know that copying and pasting chunks of text into your own document does not transfer copyright of the content to you.
Material uploaded to these online sites is not anonymous. These sites may disclose your personal information, if the University takes action to remove illicitly uploaded content belonging to our staff or students. If you are found to have been uploading content to these sites, the University may take action against you in the form of a disciplinary investigation.
Use of study sites during assessments
Under assessment conditions, your use of study sites may additionally be classed as an assessment offence. The consequences of being found guilty of misconduct in either case can involve suspension or exclusion.
You can read more about academic integrity (cheating) during exams.
Use of study sites for assignments or revision
Even if you do not upload materials to these sites yourself, by using them and/or promoting them you are contributing to a climate of academic misconduct where students are encouraged to breach their contracts with their institutions and offend against the relevant copyright and intellectual property laws.
If you are thinking about uploading or accessing content from these study sites in the hope that it will help you with your assignments or revising for assessments, you should consider the possible consequences very carefully.
Instead, you should use the many robust and reliable sources of support here at Bath:
- the Skills Centre
- the Library
- Student Services
- the SU Advice and Support Centre
- your personal or academic tutors.