Despite increasing use of molecular diagnostics in clinical parasitology laboratories, a mainstay of faecal parasitology remains microscopy by a capable Microbiologist. With decreasing rates of parasitic infection in high income nations such as Australia, the opportunity to regularly see parasitic elements in faeces is decreasing, affecting skills in parasite microscopy. At times, unusual or suspicious elements may be observed in faecal smears. An important skill for all conducting faecal microscopy is to be able to determine when these elements represent a parasite egg, larva, cyst, oocyst or trophozoite, or if they are unimportant faecal artifact. This lecture will discuss artifacts in stool and provide a logical approach to the investigation of unusual elements in faeces to determine if they represent true parasites, spurious parasites, or non-parasitic elements.