There are a number of questions on Academia.SE from students who have just been accused of cheating, or of some other form of misconduct. While the specifics of the allegations and circumstances differ, there is a great deal of commonality in the advice given. Many of the questions are written in a panic on the day of the accusation, and essentially ask how the student can immediately "prove their innocence". Advice often consists of telling the student to calm down and follow the procedure for allegations of misconduct. There is a great deal of valid general advice that can be given here, irrespective of the particular allegation at issue.

To the extent that answers to these questions give advice that is specific to the situation (i.e., which would not be replicated in a canonical version of the question), that is usually technical advice pertaining to a particular piece of evidence (e.g., how a particular computer system works) and arguably this is not material that relates to academia *per se*. Rather than focussing on academic matters, advice then becomes technical advice on evidentiary matters, more akin to legal/forensic advice.

**Here is the [proposed canonical question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/159148/) with a long answer giving general advice [presently closed]. Please let me know if you think this question adds value, and if any edits to the question would be useful. I am open to editing the question (or my answer) if it would lead to acceptance as a canonical version of this class of question.**