0% found this document useful (0 votes)
88 views16 pages

Tutorial Letter 101/0/2025: Theory of Computer Science III

COS3701 is an online module in the Theory of Computer Science III offered by Unisa, requiring students to register on myUnisa for access to materials and support. The module aims to teach students about recursive enumerable languages, context-free languages, and Turing machines, with specific outcomes including the construction of mathematical proofs and machine acceptors. Students are encouraged to utilize various resources and support services provided by the university to enhance their learning experience.

Uploaded by

kitso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
88 views16 pages

Tutorial Letter 101/0/2025: Theory of Computer Science III

COS3701 is an online module in the Theory of Computer Science III offered by Unisa, requiring students to register on myUnisa for access to materials and support. The module aims to teach students about recursive enumerable languages, context-free languages, and Turing machines, with specific outcomes including the construction of mathematical proofs and machine acceptors. Students are encouraged to utilize various resources and support services provided by the university to enhance their learning experience.

Uploaded by

kitso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 16

COS3701/101/0/2025

Tutorial Letter 101/0/2025

Theory of Computer Science III


COS3701

Year Module

Department of Computer Science

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Please register on myUnisa, activate your myLife e-mail account and
make sure that you have regular access to the myUnisa module
website, COS3701-25-Y, as well as your group website.

Note: This is a fully online module. It is, therefore, available only on myUnisa.

BARCODE
CONTENTS

Page

1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
2. MODULE OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................5
2.1 Purpose ........................................................................................................................................5
2.2 Outcomes .....................................................................................................................................5
3. CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION ........................................................................................... 5
4. LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS................................................................................... 6
4.1 Lecturer(s) ....................................................................................................................................6
4.2 Department ...................................................................................................................................6
4.3 University ......................................................................................................................................6
5. RESOURCES ...............................................................................................................................6
5.1 Prescribed book(s) ........................................................................................................................6
5.2 Recommended book(s) .................................................................................................................6
5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves) ................................................................................................... 7
5.4 Library services and resources .................................................................................................... 7
6. STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES ................................................................................................ 8
6.1 The Unisa First-Year Experience Programme ............................................................................... 8
6.2 Using Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to apply for module credit within a qualification. ......... 9
7. STUDY PLAN ............................................................................................................................. 10
8. HOW TO STUDY ONLINE .......................................................................................................... 10
8.1 What does it mean to study fully online? ..................................................................................... 10
9. ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................... 11
9.1 Assessment criteria..................................................................................................................... 11
9.2 Assessment plan ........................................................................................................................ 11
9.3 Assessment/assignment due dates............................................................................................. 11
9.4 Submission of assessments/assignments ................................................................................... 12
9.4.1 Types of assignments and descriptions ......................................................................................... 13
9.5 The assessments/assignments ................................................................................................... 13
9.6 Other assessment methods ........................................................................................................ 14
9.7 The examination ......................................................................................................................... 14
9.7.1 Invigilation/proctoring .................................................................................................................. 14
10. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY ........................................................................................................ 15
10.1 Plagiarism ................................................................................................................................... 15

2
COS3701/101/0/2025

10.2 Cheating ..................................................................................................................................... 15


10.3 For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below: ..................................................... 15
11. STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES .................................................................................. 16
12. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ........................................................................................ 16
13. SOURCES CONSULTED ........................................................................................................... 16
14. IN CLOSING ............................................................................................................................... 16
15. ADDENDUM ............................................................................................................................... 16
ANNEXURE: GLOSSARY OF TERMS .................................................................................................. 16

3
1. INTRODUCTION
Dear Student

Unisa is a comprehensive open distance e-learning (CODeL) higher education institution. Our
comprehensive curricula encapsulate a range of offerings, from strictly vocational to strictly
academic certificates, diplomas and degrees. Unisa's "openness" and its distance eLearning
character result in many students who may not previously have had an opportunity to enrol in
higher education registering at the university. Our CODeL character implies that our
programmes are carefully planned and structured to ensure success for students, ranging from
the under-prepared but with potential to those who are sufficiently prepared.

Teaching and learning in a CODeL context involves multiple modes of delivery, ranging from
blended to fully online learning. As a default position, all post-graduate programmes are offered
fully online with no printed study materials, while undergraduate programmes are offered using
a blended mode of delivery where printed study materials are augmented with online teaching
and learning via the learner management system, myUnisa. In some instances, undergraduate
programmes are offered fully online as well.

Furthermore, our programmes are aligned with the vision, mission and values of the University.
Unisa's commitment to serving humanity and shaping futures – combined with a clear
appreciation of our location on the African continent – means that Unisa's graduates have
distinctive graduate qualities, which include:

• being independent, resilient, responsible and caring citizens able to fulfil and serve in
multiple roles in their immediate and future local, national and global communities
• having a critical understanding of their location on the African continent and taking
account of its histories, challenges and potential in relation to globally diverse contexts
• the ability to critically analyse and evaluate the credibility and usefulness of information
and data from multiple sources in a globalised world with ever-increasing information
and data flows and competing worldviews
• how to apply their discipline-specific knowledges competently, ethically and creatively
to solve real-life problems
• an awareness of their own learning and developmental needs and future potential
This is an online module, you need to use myUnisa to study and complete the learning activities
for this module. We use myUnisa as our virtual campus, this is an online system that is used
to administer, document and deliver educational material to you and support engagement with
you.

You are encouraged to log into the module site on myUnisa regularly (that is COS3701-25-Y, at
least twice per week). All study material for this module will be available on myUnisa. It is thus
very important that you register on myUnisa and access the module site on a regular basis. You
must be registered on myUnisa to be able to access your learning material, submit your
assignments, gain access to various learning resources, “chat” to your lecturer/e-tutor and fellow
students about your studies and the challenges that you might encounter, and to participate in
online discussion forums.

We wish you every success with your studies!


4
COS3701/101/0/2025

2. MODULE OVERVIEW
2.1 Purpose

Students who have completed this module successfully will be able to generate recursive
enumerable languages, context free languages as well as Push Down Automata (PDAs) which
accept Context Free Grammas(CFGs). There are Two types of machines namely, nPDAs (n > 1)
and Turing Machines (TMs), which accept a variety of formal languages, including recursive
enumerable languages. If you understand TMs, the theoretical predecessor of the computer, then
you should start to realize what is computable and what not. The Chomsky hierarchy is presented
to provide an overview of formal languages.

2.2 Outcomes

For this module, you will have to master several outcomes:


• Specific outcome 1: Define context free grammars (as formal mathematical presentations),
using a variety of defined mathematical tools for evidence (including definitions, theorems
and operators).
• Specific outcome 2: Construct mathematical proofs concisely using abstract mathematical
reasoning techniques. Types of proofs include proofs by constructive algorithms, direct
proofs, proofs by machines, proofs by decidability algorithms and proofs by reductio ad
absurdum (pumping lemma).
• Specific outcome 3: Construct context free language (CFL – Type 2 grammars, Chomsky
Hierarchy) machine acceptors, by drawing these machine acceptors, namely Push Down
Automata (PDAs), through applying the relevant definitions and theorems.
• Specific outcome 4: Construct Turing Machines and nPDAs for n greater than 1, which
accept context sensitive grammars (Type 1 grammars, Chomsky Hierarchy) and recursive
enumerable languages (Type 0 grammars, Chomsky Hierarchy).
• Specific outcome 5: Critically analyse and synthesise provided TMs to determine which
languages are accepted by them.
• Specific outcome 6: Perform algorithms on CFGs to obtain a product, sum or Kleene closure
of a maximum of two CFGs in the case of the sum and the product and one CFG in the case
of the Kleene closure. Proving thereby, for specific CFLs, that they are closed under the
product, sum and Kleene closure. In general, it is proven in Cohen that all CFLs are closed
under the product, sum and Kleene closure.

3. CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION
Unisa has implemented a transformation charter that places curriculum transformation high on the
teaching and learning agenda. Curriculum transformation includes student-centred scholarship, the
pedagogical renewal of teaching and assessment practices, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and
the infusion of African epistemologies and philosophies. All of these are being phased in at both
programme and module levels. As a result of this, you will notice a marked change in the teaching and
learning strategy implemented by Unisa, together with the way in which the content is conceptualised in
your modules. We encourage you to embrace these changes during your studies at Unisa, responsively
and within the framework of transformation.

5
4. LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS
4.1 Lecturer(s)

The lecturers for this module and other modules may change from time to time. For this reason, the names
and contact details of the lecturers for each module are updated every year and will be given to you in
Tutorial Letter 301 (COSALL). The tutorial letter is issued by the School of Computing and not by individual
lecturers. It will be uploaded on myUnisa. The tutorial letter will include up-to-date contact details of your
lecturers (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and office numbers) and the days and times they are
available. Please note that your lecturers are available for academic queries, such as inquiries about the
academic content of this module. You are welcome to make an appointment with your COS3701 lecturer
if you experience problems with this subject or have inquiries about it.

4.2 Department

The COS3701 module is offered by the School of Computing (SoC), which is part of the College of Science,
Engineering, and Technology (CSET). The School’s contact details are as follows:
• Telephone Number: 011 670 9200
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Home page of School of Computing: http://www.cs.unisa.ac.za
Remember to provide your student number together with the relevant module code.

4.3 University

Please ensure that you contact the correct section or department for each enquiry, as this will result in a
speedy resolution of the enquiry.

Contact addresses of the various administrative departments appear on the Unisa website:
http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Contact-us/Student-enquiries.

5. RESOURCES

5.1 Prescribed book(s)

The prescribed textbook for COS3701 is:

Cohen, Daniel I. A. Introduction to Computer Theory, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, 1997.

Note that there is a custom version of the textbook which was printed specially for the COS2601 and
COS3701 Unisa modules. That version is equivalent to the normal 2nd Edition.

5.2 Recommended book(s)

Should you wish to know more about a particular topic, you may consult the following book.

MARTIN, J. Introduction to Languages and the Theory of Computation. 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003.

(Please note that this book is not necessarily included in the study collection of the Unisa
library.). Recommended books can be requested online, via the library catalogue.

6
COS3701/101/0/2025

5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves)

Search for E-reserves at http://oasis.unisa.ac.za/search/r

E-reserves can be downloaded from the library webpage, option Find E-reserves.

5.4 Library services and resources


The Unisa Library offers a range of information services and resources and has made numerous
library guides available at http://libguides.unisa.ac.za

Recommended guides:

• For brief information on the library, go to https://www.unisa.ac.za/library/libatglance


• For more detailed library information, go to
http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library
• For Frequently Asked Questions, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Frequently-Asked-Questions
• For research support and services such as the Personal Librarian service and the
Information Search Librarian's Literature Search Request (on your research topic)
service, go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-
services/Research-support
• For library training for undergraduate students, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-services/Training
• For Lending Services, go
to https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-services/Lending-
services
• For Services for Postgraduate students, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Services-for-Postgraduates
• For Support and Services for students with disabilities, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Services-for-students-with-
special-needs
• For Library Technology Support, go to https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/techsupport
• For information on finding and using library resources and tools, go to
http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/Research_skills
• For an A–Z list of library databases, go to https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/az.php

Important contact information:


• Technical problems encountered in accessing library online services: Lib-
[email protected]
• General library-related queries: [email protected]
• Queries related to library fines and payments: [email protected]
• Interlibrary loan service for postgraduate students: [email protected]
• Literature Search Service: [email protected]
• Social media channels: Facebook: UnisaLibrary and X Twitter: @UnisaLibrary

To view the Library orientation video – please click here : Unisa Library and Information
Services Video_1_1 (2).mp4

7
6. STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
The Study@Unisa brochure is available on myUnisa at www.unisa.ac.za/brochures/studies

This brochure contains important information and guidelines for successful studies through Unisa.

If you need assistance concerning the myModules system, you are welcome to use the following
contact details:

• Toll-free landline: 0800 00 1870 (Select option 07 for myModules)


• E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

You can access and view short videos on topics such as how to view your calendar, how to access
module content, how to view announcements for modules, how to submit assessments and how
to participate in forum activities by visiting https://dtls-qa.unisa.ac.za/course/view.php?id=32130

Registered Unisa students receive a free myLife e-mail account. Important information, notices
and updates are sent exclusively to this account. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for
your account to be activated after you have claimed it.

Please claim your e-mail account immediately after registering at Unisa by following this link:
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Claim-UNISA-Login

or follow this link to get more information:


https://www.unisa.ac.za/static/myunisa/Content/Announcements/Documents/Claim-myUnisa-
myLife-Nov-2017.pdf

Your myLife account is the only e-mail account recognised by Unisa for official correspondence with
the University and will remain the official primary e-mail address on record at Unisa. You remain
responsible for managing this e-mail account.

You remain responsible for the management of this e-mail account.

6.1 The Unisa First-Year Experience Programme

Many students find the transition from school education to tertiary education stressful and this is often true
for students enrolling at Unisa for the first time. Unisa is a dedicated open distance and e-learning
institution and is very different from face-to-face/contact institutions. It is a mega university and all its
programmes are offered through either blended learning or fully online learning. For these reasons, we
offer first-time students additional/extended support to help them navigate the Unisa teaching and learning
journey seamlessly and with little difficulty and few barriers.

Unisa’s First-Year Experience (FYE) Programme has been specially designed to provide you with prompt
and helpful information about the services that the institution offers.

8
COS3701/101/0/2025

The following FYE services are currently available:

FYE Website Email Support

www.unisa.ac.za/FYE [email protected]

FYE1500
Post-
myUnisa; Study
Registration Skills; Academic &
Orientation Referrals to
Digital Literacies;
other support
etc
services
e.g. Counselling;
Reading & Writing
workshops

To ensure that you do not miss out on important academic and support communication from the
SRU, please check your myLife inbox regularly.

6.2 Using Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to apply for module credit within a
qualification.
Now that you are a registered student, you are advised to familiarise yourself with the learning outcomes
of the module or modules you have chosen. If you have been exposed to those learning outcomes for
three years or more – either through work experience or other involvement – you can apply to be exempted
from completing assignments and writing examinations. As part of your application for this exemption, you
will be required to compile a portfolio of evidence substantiating how your experience is equivalent to the
learning outcomes. The diagram below shows the steps involved in obtaining recognition of prior learning
(RPL) for module credit. For more information on the process, RPL fees, and the contact details of your
college RPL coordinator, visit the Unisa website: www.unisa.ac.za/rpl

9
7. STUDY PLAN
Week Work to do
1-4 Revision of COS2601 Material
5 - 10 Study Chapter 12 – 15
11 Complete and submit assignment 1
12 - 18 Study chapter 17 – 19
19 Complete and submit assignment 2
20 - 24 Study chapter 21 – 25
25 Complete and submit assignment 3
26 Revision until exam date.
26 Exams commence

8. HOW TO STUDY ONLINE


8.1 What does it mean to study fully online?

Studying fully online modules differs completely from studying some of your other modules at Unisa.

• All your study material and learning activities for online modules are designed to be delivered
online on myUnisa.

10
COS3701/101/0/2025

• All your assignments must be submitted online. This means that you will do all your activities and
submit all your assignments on myUnisa. In other words, you may NOT post your assignments to
Unisa using the South African Post Office.
• All communication between you and the University happens online. Lecturers will communicate
with you via e-mail and SMS, and will use the Announcements, Discussion Forum, and
Questions and Answers options. You can also use all these platforms to ask questions and
contact your lecturers.

9. ASSESSMENT
9.1 Assessment criteria

The formative assessment in this module will be Three individual written assignments numbered
01, 02 and 03.
The material covered in these assessments will be covered in the examination.
The summative assessment for this module is in the form of a take home examination, which will
take place at the end of the year.

9.2 Assessment plan

• To complete this module, you will be required to submit Three assignments.


• All information about when and where to submit your assignments will be made available
to you via the myModules site for your module.
• Due dates for assignments, as well as the actual assignments, will be available on the
myModules site for this module.
• To gain admission to the examination, you will be required to submit One assignment/s.
• To gain admission to the examination, you will need to obtain a year mark average of 40%
for the assignments.
• The assignment weighting for the module is 20%.
• You will receive examination information via the myModules sites. Please watch out for
announcements on how examinations for the modules for which you are registered will be
conducted.
• The examination will count 80% towards the final module mark.

9.3 Assessment/assignment due dates

• There are no assessment/assignment due dates included in this tutorial letter.


• Assessment/assignment due dates will be made available to you on the myUnisa landing
page for this module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to you upon
registration.
• Please start working on your assessments as soon as you register for the module.
• Log on to the myUnisa site for this module to obtain more information on the due dates for
the submission of the assessments/assignments

11
9.4 Submission of assessments/assignments

• Unisa, as a comprehensive open distance e-learning institution (CODeL), is moving


towards becoming an online institution. You will see, therefore, that all your study material,
assessments and engagements with your lecturer and fellow students will take place
online. To facilitate this, we use myUnisa as our virtual campus.

• The myUnisa virtual campus offers students access to the myModules site, where
learning material is available online and where assessments should be completed.
Together, myUnisa and myModules form an online system that is used to administer,
document, and deliver educational material to students and support engagement between
those students and Unisa’s academics.

• The myUnisa platform can be accessed via https://my.unisa.ac.za. Click on the myModules
2025 button to access the online sites for the modules that you are registered for.

• The University undertakes to communicate clearly and as frequently as is necessary to


ensure that you obtain the greatest benefit from your use of the myModules learning
management system. Please access the Announcements on your myModules site
regularly, as this is where your lecturer will post important information to be shared with
you.

• When you access your myModules site for the module/s you are registered for, you will
see a welcome message posted by your lecturer. Below the welcome message you will
see the assessment shells for the assessments that you need to complete. Some
assessments may be multiple choice, some may be tests and others may be written
assessments/assignments, while some may be forum discussions and so on. All
assessments must be completed on the assessment shells available on the respective
module platforms.

• To complete quiz assessments, please log on to the module site where you need to
complete the assessment. Click on the relevant assessment shell (Assessment 1,
Assessment 2, etc.). There will be a date recorded there telling you when the assessment
will open for you. When the assessment is open, access the quiz online and complete it
within the time available to you. Quiz assessment questions are not included in this tutorial
letter (Tutorial Letter 101) and are made available online only. You must therefore access
and complete the quiz online where it has been created.

• It is not advisable to use a cellphone to complete quizzes and you should please use a
desktop computer, tablet or laptop for this task. Students who use cellphones find it difficult
to navigate the Online Assessment tool on the small screen and often struggle to navigate
between questions and successfully complete the quizzes. In addition, cellphones are
more vulnerable to dropped internet connections than other devices. If at all possible,
please do not use a cellphone for this assessment type.

• For written assessments/assignments, please note the due date by which your work must
be submitted. Ensure that you follow the guidelines given by your lecturer to complete the
assessment/assignment. Click on the submission button on the relevant assessment shell

12
COS3701/101/0/2025

on myModules. You will then be able to upload your written assessment to the myModules
site for the modules that you are registered for. Before you finalise the upload, double-
check that you have selected the correct file for uploading. Remember, no marks can be
allocated for incorrectly submitted assessments/assignments.

9.4.1 Types of assignments and descriptions

All assignments are defined as either optional, mandatory, compulsory, or elective.

• Elective assignments
- If not submitted, the student gets no mark for this item.
- The best of the required submissions will count.
• Mandatory assignments
- If not submitted, the student gets no mark for this item.
• Optional assignments – You are encouraged, as a student, to do optional
assignments in order to benefit your learning.

I. Elective assignments
a. The student is given a choice of which assignments within an identified group to submit
and only the best result/s, the number of which is specified in advance, will contribute
towards the year mark.
b. Elective assignments must be grouped into an elective group.
c. For the student to select which assignment to submit, the elective assignments must
be grouped together. For such an elective group, relevant information (such as how
many of the assignments must be submitted and how many of the assignment marks
should be combined into the year mark) will be supplied to you.
d. The selection criteria define how marks received for assignments in an elective group
are to be combined into the year mark. Three different criteria may be used for
calculating the year mark:
• The best mark should be used, or
• If the student submits fewer than the required number of assignments per
group, or no assignment in a group, a mark of 0% will be used.
• 0% is awarded to all non-submitted or unmarked assessments. A best mark is
then calculated from all the qualifying items submitted.

II. Mandatory assessments/assignments


a. Mandatory assessments/assignments contribute to the year mark.
b. If a student fails to submit a mandatory assignment, no mark is awarded and the year
mark is calculated accordingly. The student will therefore forfeit the marks attached to
such an assignment when the final mark for the module is calculated.

III. Optional assessments assignments – You are encouraged, as a student, to do


optional assessments/assignments in order to benefit your learning.

9.5 The assessments/assignments

As indicated in section 9.2, you need to complete Three assessments/assignments for this
module. Details of the tasks set will appear on the assessments/assignments themselves.

13
9.6 Other assessment methods

Look out for assessment information that will be shared with you by your lecturer and e-tutors
(where relevant) and for communication from the university.

9.7 The examination

Examination information and details on the format of the examination will be made available to
you online via the myUnisa site. Look out for information that will be shared with you by your
lecturer and e-tutors (where relevant), as well as for communication from the University.

9.7.1 Invigilation/proctoring

Since 2020, Unisa has conducted all its assessments online. Given the stringent requirements
imposed by professional bodies, as well as increased solicitation of Unisa’s students by third
parties to unlawfully assist them with the completion of assignments and examinations, the
University is obliged to assure the integrity of its assessment integrity by using various proctoring
tools: Turnitin, Moodle Proctoring, the Invigilator App and IRIS. These tools authenticate the
student’s identity and flag suspicious behaviour to assure the credibility of their responses during
assessments. The description below is for your benefit as you may encounter any or all of these
in your registered modules:

Turnitin is plagiarism software that facilitates checks for originality in students’ submissions
against internal and external sources. Turnitin assists in identifying academic fraud and ghost
writing. Students are expected to submit typed responses when using the Turnitin software.

The Moodle Proctoring tool is facial recognition software that authenticates students’ identities
during their Quiz assessments. This tool requires access to a student’s mobile or laptop camera.
Students must ensure that their cameras are activated in their browser settings prior to starting
their assessments.

The Invigilator App is a mobile application-based service that verifies the identity of an
assessment participant. The Invigilator app detects student dishonesty-by-proxy and ensures that
the assessment participant is the student registered for the module concerned. This invigilation
tool requires students to download the app from the Google Play Store (Android devices), the
Huawei AppGallery (Huawei devices) or the Apple App Store (Apple devices) on their camera-
enabled mobile devices prior to their assessment.

The IRIS Invigilation software verifies the identity of a student during assessment and provides
for both manual and automated facial verification. It can record and review a student’s
assessment session and it flags suspicious behaviour by the student for review by an academic

14
COS3701/101/0/2025

administrator. The IRIS software requires installation on students’ webcam-enabled laptop


devices. IRIS invigilation software is used for all CSET online examinations/tests. It is the
responsibility of students to ensure the software is working properly before the examination
session, and attendance of training.

Students who are identified and flagged for suspicious or dishonest behaviour arising from the
invigilation and proctoring reports will be referred to the disciplinary office for formal proceedings.

Please note:

Students must refer to their module assessment information on their myModule sites to determine
which proctoring or invigilation tool will be used for their formative and summative assessments.

10. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY


10.1 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, ideas and thoughts of others and presenting them as
your own. It is a form of theft. Plagiarism includes the following forms of academic dishonesty:

• Copying and pasting from any source without acknowledging that source.
• Not including references or deliberately inserting incorrect bibliographic information.
• Paraphrasing without acknowledging the source of the information.
10.2 Cheating
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Completing assessments on behalf of another student, copying the work of another


student during an assessment, or allowing another student to copy your work.
• Using social media (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram) or other platforms to disseminate
assessment information.
• Submitting corrupt or irrelevant files. (This matter is addressed in the examination
guidelines.)
• Buying completed answers from so-called “tutors” or internet sites (contract cheating).
10.3 For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below:
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Study-@-Unisa/Student-values-and-rules

15
11. STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES
The Advocacy and Resource Centre for Students with Disabilities (ARCSWiD) provides an
opportunity for staff to interact with first-time and returning students with disabilities.

If you are a student with a disability and would like additional support, or if you need additional
time for assignments/assessments, you are invited to contact lecturer to discuss the assistance
that you need.

12. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


None

13. SOURCES CONSULTED


The prescribed textbook and Unisa policy documents.

14. IN CLOSING
Do not hesitate to contact your lecturers by email if you are experiencing problems with the
content of this tutorial letter or any aspect of the module.

The COS3701 lecturers hope that you will enjoy the module and wish you success. Note that your
success depends on your own efforts – work hard, do your assignments, etc. and you are much
more likely to be successful.

15. ADDENDUM
There are no addenda.

ANNEXURE: GLOSSARY OF TERMS

©
Unisa 2025

16

You might also like