Ethics – Online Tests

It is your duty as a responsible undergraduate of the University of Peradeniya to

keep the following guidelines in mind during ELA tests, class work, homework
and assignments.

1. These examinations and tests are designed to evaluate your own competence
level in English. Therefore, you should try to avoid getting help from others.
This includes your friends and colleagues, family members, relatives and
other teachers.
2. Copying from answers of a classmate or another student will not be
beneficial to you.
3. Similarly, sharing your answers with your classmates or friends will not help
them in any way.
4. The Internet can be a good resource for you to improve your English
knowledge. You can do so by reading online articles, watching educational
videos etc. However, you have to be mindful when you use online resources
in your ELA tests and homework.
● This includes direct copy/ pasting from the Internet and using ideas
from online resources and presenting them as your own.
● Another important thing to remember is that information you find on
the Internet is not always reliable.
5. Using information from books, magazines, newspapers, articles etc. in your
academic work is always encouraged. However, similar to what is
mentioned earlier, you should avoid copying directly from these sources.
6. If you need to use information from the outside sources, make sure that you
cite them properly in your answers.
● Books and other printed sources/ material – Title of the book/ article
etc. and Name of author/s
1. e.g. Madoldoova, Martin Wickramasinghe
Ethics – Online Tests

2. Prathaba Mudaliar Charithram, Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai

● Internet/ Online resources – Title of the article, Name of authors or

Website, URL
1. e.g. Nelson Mandela, Encyclopedia Britannica.com,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nelson-Mandela
7. A good dictionary is one of the best aids for learning English quickly and
effectively. There are both printed and digital dictionaries which you can
use. However, nowadays many students use the online service Google
Translate. This can result in many problems such as mistranslations and
grammatical errors in answers.
● Look at what a university in the United States said about using Google
Translate in online exams, tests and homework. It says that Google
Translate cannot always be trusted to translate sentences. If you use
Google Translate in your academic work, you will surely come across
incorrect translations.
“Google Translate cannot translate all types of documents, and may
not provide an exact translation. Anyone relying on information
obtained from using Google Translate does so at his or her own risk
…. does not make any promises, assurances, or guarantees as to the
accuracy of the translations provided”
Source: https://uwhelp.wisconsin.edu/google-translate-disclaimer/