What is Plagiarism?
Everyone knows that plagiarism is something to be avoided, but non everyone is certain exactly what it is. This short brochure is designed to assist pupils to understand more to the full what plagiarism is, and every bit of import, how to avoid it.
Plagiarism is a specific signifier of rip offing which is about entirely found in regard of class assignments completed by pupils independently.
The University of Greenwich has a definition of plagiarism:
Plagiarism includes, but is non limited to:
utilizing published work without citing ( the most common )
copying coursework essays
join forcesing with any other individual when the work is supposed to be single
taking another individual ‘s computing machine file/program
subjecting another individual ‘s work as one ‘s ain
the usage of unacknowledged stuff published on the web
purchase of theoretical account assignments from whatever beginning
copying another pupil ‘s consequences
distorting consequences
Chambers Dictionary defines a plagiarizer as a sort of stealer – “ one who steals the ideas or Hagiographas of others and gives them out as his [ sic ] ain ” . When this is besides used for addition – in the University to derive credits for a faculty or faculties – so an extra dimension of dishonesty is added.
As the illustrations above show, plagiarism can take many signifiers. There are gray countries e.g. when is treatment with fellow pupils good pattern and when does it go collusion? There are besides grades of plagiarism, from, for illustration, copying the whole of the assignment, to copying lone portion of it ; or rephrasing much of a beginning instead than copying the existent words used.
The cardinal component of a submitted assignment is that ( unless it is assessed as a group undertaking ) it should be your ain work wholly. How can you state? Try proving yourself against this declaration:
“ I certify that this is my ain work. The work has non, in whole or in portion, been presented elsewhere for appraisal. Where stuff has been used from other beginnings it has been decently acknowledged. If this statement is untrue I acknowledge that I will hold committed an assessment offense.
The remainder of this short brochure gives you more information on plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Why Should n’t I plagiarize?
There are many grounds why pupils plagiarise, for illustration:
non being to the full cognizant of what plagiarism is
short-run terror response when an assignment is due and clip is short
experiencing a despairing demand non to be seen as a failure and so copying to seek to guarantee “ success ”
different academic traditions
Sometimes, of class, plagiarism is a determined and calculated effort to derive the credits for the class without making the work.
Whatever the ground, though, plagiarism is however rip offing. It is non merely rip offing the University but, likely more significantly for your fellow pupils, it is rip offing them. But there are more grounds that the negative 1s ( rip offing others, unfairness, and perchance find and disciplinary action ) for non plagiarizing. Basically, plagiarism is besides rip offing yourself and allowing yourself down.
The Students Union at the University of Greenwich is whole-heartedly against the pattern of plagiarism. It is good cognizant of the unfairness of some pupils sitting up all dark, perchance after working during the twenty-four hours, to finish an assignment ; while others decide merely to seek to download the replies from the cyberspace. One makes a monolithic attempt ; the other makes no attempt at all.
Positive Reasons for Not Plagiarizing
Pride in Your Work
Students should be able to take pride in their work and in the accomplishments they have attained. There is considerable satisfaction in cognizing that the work you have submitted is your ain, and the Markss obtained reflect your ain attempt. There can be small existent satisfaction in cognizing that your grade ( nevertheless good ) was because you were a good darnel, instead than a good pupil.
Real Degree of Attainment
It is possible that person might plagiarize widely and non be discovered throughout their University calling. But they will non truly hold learned anything. The find that their evident attainment does non fit their existent abilities will so go evident when they find a occupation. In the terminal this could take to dismissal and the expiration of a calling.
UK Academic Traditions
It is of import to recognize that plagiarism as described here is what is understood in UK Academic Institutions. Rules which may use anyplace else are merely non relevant here. So, it is non valid to offer as a ground for plagiarism traditions which may run elsewhere. Check the inside informations of the following subdivision to guarantee that you are to the full cognizant of what constitutes plagiarism in the UK so that you do n’t stop up inadvertently being found to hold plagiarised and hence unable to be awarded any credits for your faculty or faculties. If in uncertainty – inquire your coach before you submit the assignment!
Plagiarism in Practice – what is it?
Plagiarism takes many signifiers. Some of the more common are identified here.
Copying from a individual beginning
This is where the pupil uses one of the undermentioned as the footing for the whole or a significant portion of the assignment
a published book
a published article
the cyberspace
an essay from an essay bank
a piece of work antecedently submitted by another pupil for the same or a similar assignment
copying from a text which is about to be submitted for the same assignment ( see besides Collusion below )
Note that this list is comprised of both published and unpublished beginnings. The first three are published, the 2nd three are non. Plagiarism hence is non copying from published beginnings merely. It can besides originate from the copying of unpublished beginnings like essays.
Where significant copying takes place the words, agreement of stuff and thoughts are those of the beginning, non the pupil, and the work seldom answers the inquiries set. Where plagiarism is of this nature and extent it is really hard to see how it could hold been inadvertent, ( particularly if the text were derived from an essay bank or old entry ) and therefore it is viewed really earnestly so. This sort of plagiarism is besides progressively noticeable with modern package.
Unacceptable Excuses
“ The book/article was cited in the bibliography ” . No – a bibliography is a list of beginnings consulted non copied from.
“ The book was written by the lector and he/she would anticipate to happen their work repeated in the assignment. ” No – lectors would anticipate several beginnings to be read and used, and would non be flattered to happen their ain work merely copied out.
Copying from several beginnings
This is similar to the above, except that more than one beginning is used. A pupil obtains ( state ) 4 beginnings of information, and copies a sentence or group of sentences from A, so one from B, one from C and one from D and so on.
This is an illustration of plagiarism where a pupil might truly hold thought that they were non making anything incorrect. The beginnings used might good hold been cited in the bibliography, the essay might reply the inquiry set, the administration of the stuff may good be the pupil ‘s ain. However, this is still plagiarism.
Why? The ground is that although the construction and composing is the pupil ‘s ain work, the words are non. Rules of academic presentation require that whenever a direct quotation mark from a beginning is used, this should be cited.
In this type of plagiarism no citations are given in the text and therefore the work is being dishonest about who really wrote what. Further, the pupil ‘s lone part is cutting and pasting, which is non what the assignment was designed to measure, and there is no presentation by the pupil concerned of the needed accomplishments of analysis, reading, judgement or sentiment.
Unacceptable Excuses
“ The beginnings in inquiry put it better than I could. ” No – you are expected to utilize the beginnings constructively and show that you have understood them and been able to utilize them efficaciously in the assignment.
“ I did utilize several beginnings and cited them. ” No – you did non utilize several beginnings, you copied from them, and did non utilize upside-down commas to demo that it was their words and non yours.
Paraphrasing
This is seting person else ‘s positions into your ain words, and this is one of the gray countries in plagiarism. To a certain extent any essay or assignment which relies on reading a series of texts as the footing of assignments will incorporate a important sum of rephrasing. There are two cardinal things to retrieve in this instance to guarantee that it can non be thought to be plagiarism:
Do non utilize merely one beginning
Acknowledge all beginnings used
Take attention when taking notes.
Unacceptable Excuses
“ I used my ain words ” . You may hold – but if all you have done is summarised person else ‘s thoughts so you have still copied because you have made it look as if the thoughts, agreement of stuff etc. were your ain.
“ I cited all the beginnings in the bibliography ” . Again, you may hold, but the issue is how you have used the plants cited, and merely to summarize the work of others whether or non the plants are in the bibliography is still seeking to go through person else ‘s work away as your ain.
Collusion
This can happen when pupils work together, and it is really of import to separate when this is required, and when it has to stop.
Some assignments require pupils to work together as portion of a group undertaking. Where the group as a whole gets the grade so it is joint work throughout and the group co-operation is portion of what is being assessed.
Some group undertakings, though, require pupils to work together at the planning phase, but so to subject single assignments. Here the co-operation has to stop at the point where you begin to roll up your ain single entry, which must be your ain work from this phase onwards.
A gray country is when pupils discuss their work together. A line needs to be drawn between legitimate treatments of the current assignment with pupil co-workers, particularly where you portion a house, and collusion. Where pupils portion a house they frequently besides portion the same resources – for illustration a common pool of books borrowed from the library.
The of import thing to retrieve is that ( except on group undertakings where the group as a whole gets the grade ) whilst general treatment of the issues involved, or attacks to be taken, is acceptable, the concluding entry must be your ain single attempt. Discussion before the assignment is undertaken is one thing, treatment, rectification and betterment during it is rather another and might take to the intuition of copying.
Besides, retrieve that if you allow a fellow pupil to copy your work you will be considered as guilty of collusion as the existent scribe, and will be capable to the same punishments under the University Regulations.
Unacceptable Excuses
“ The essays are really similar but I do n’t cognize how this could hold happened ” . In this instance you could anticipate to be really closely questioned on the beginnings used and why you used the stuff in the specific signifier shown in the assignment. If you are the individual who really wrote the piece you will be able to reply, but the scribe will non.
“ We must hold merely thought along the same lines. ” Again you could anticipate to be closely questioned on the linguistic communication used – ideas may arguably travel along similar lines, but it is stretching chance to presume that the words used and the sequence of stuff will make the same.
Reuse of programming codification
In industry reuse of codification is to be encouraged and both Web sites and books will supply legion illustrations of codification BUT you should gain that portion of the intent of making a scheduling coursework is for you to develop your ain accomplishments. If most of your codification comes from other beginnings so you will non be awarded a really high grade and besides you will hold learnt really little.A
If nevertheless you choose to do usage of other people ‘s codification so in order to avoid an accusal of plagiarism, you must footnote your naming placing the lines of codification which are non your ain. You must clearly province their beginning e.g. name of writer, page in the book that you have taken the codification from, Web page reference. Failing to cite work taken from other beginnings is a plagiarism offense and will be dealt with as such.
Note that you will be awarded more Markss for the codification you write yourself, than the codification you use from others. Obviously if you copy the full plan from person else ( and cite the work ) you will be awarded nothing as you have non made a part to your coursework solution.
Use of Multimedia
It is your duty to recognition all such stuff suitably. You should be cognizant that copyright stuff must non be published ( for illustration on a web site ) unless you have permission from the proprietor of the right of first publication. A
Plagiarism – how do I avoid it?
The undermentioned good pattern guidelines will assist you to avoid plagiarism.
Use of Citations
Remember that if you use the exact words in your beginning these should look in citation Markss and be referenced by the book or article and the page on which the quotation mark appears. Never use direct citation from any beginning unless citation Markss are used and full mentions are given.
Try to utilize citations meagerly. Use them merely when the writer has expressed something so good and so compactly that you feel that the words can non be bettered. If you do this you will likely cut down the figure of your citations and be cognizant of when you are citing.
Making Notes
During note taking it is possible subconsciously to utilize the linguistic communication of your beginning. Try to be cognizant of this when you are doing notes. To avoid it, try non to do notes as you read, but read foremost, see what the writer has said, and so do notes. If you do this you will copy less of the text.
Paraphrasing
Remember here to impute the wide thoughts or content to the writer in inquiry. You will likely transport over some of their linguistic communication, but every bit long as you are doing it clear which beginnings you are utilizing, and non trying to go through it off as your ain work so this should non elicit intuition of plagiarism.
The more beginnings you look at, the less likely it is that you will look to be reiterating without recognition the content of one of them. And if you take care when you are taking notes ( see above ) you will besides cut down the opportunity of unacknowledged paraphrasing.
Cite all beginnings used
You should mention all the beginnings you have used. Always cite any web beginnings used. If they have contributed to the completion of your assignment they are required to be listed merely every bit much as printed books or articles.
If you merely mention some, and the lector recognises an infusion from another beginning which has non been included in the bibliography, so you can anticipate that he or she will look really closely at the assignment in inquiry.
Absence of beginning commendation can very easy be seen as an effort to forestall the lector perchance comparing your assignment text with that of the existent text used to look into for the grade of similarity. If there is considerable similarity ( either direct copying or paraphrasing ) and you have non cited the work in inquiry, so you might hold some trouble in converting your lector that this was non done to seek to hide the plagiarism which has been identified.
Besides, it is non good pattern to embroider out a bibliography with tonss of rubrics which you have non read. Try to maintain to those which you have really consulted. A short list of well-used beginnings is much better than a long list of beginnings which you have ne’er looked at.
How do I cognize when to include a mention in my work?
When you are composing an essay or finishing a similar sort of assignment it is non ever necessary to include a mention to everything you say. If that were so, your work would be more mentions than substance. When you give a mention is partially a affair of judgement, and conventions will change from one subject to another.
This illustration from an English history assignment gives a good indicant of when you would and would non give a beginning mention. The sentence “ The Battle of Hastings was fought in the South of England in 1066 ” would non necessitate mentions to where you obtained the information, because it is really good known and is non combative.
However, if you so wish to discourse the assorted sentiments of historiographers on the behavior and result of that conflict, so you should cite the beginning e.g. ‘Spring considers that the Norman tactics were misguided but finally successful ( Spring, 1998 ) while Summer has long argued that it was merely the exhaustion of the Anglo-Saxon forces which permitted the Norman triumph ( Summer, 1992 ) . ‘ You might so go on ; ‘A more modern position has late been expressed by Winter ( 2002 ) which regards both these positions as excessively simplistic and I want to see her thoughts in more item here ‘ . Note here, the manner that you have moved from merely saying what bookmans might believe about this conflict, to how you are traveling to see and cover with their positions. In this portion of the essay it will so be clear to what extent you have relied on the information and positions in this peculiar beginning, and which positions are your ain.
Your Lecturer ‘s Positions
It is a common premise that your lector wants you to reiterate his or her positions in your assignment, particularly if these have been published in a book or article. Try to retrieve that this is non the instance. All lectors want you to utilize the beginnings suggested in the reading list ( including their ain if relevant ) , but they want you to utilize them constructively to reply the inquiry, or finish the assignment. They do non desire you merely to reiterate the positions contained in their ain plants.
The Textbook
If a lector recommends a text edition, so evidently he or she wants you to read it. But, as above, they do non desire you to copy it out when finishing an assignment. Once once more, the thought is to utilize the information constructively. You want to demo that you have understood the issues and constructs involved, but in order to demo that you have understood them, there has to be clear input from you. This can non be at that place if you merely copy out the text of the text edition, nevertheless good this is.
If it helps you to avoid making this – retrieve that your lector will hold read the text edition and will hence be really likely to descry direct copying.
Collusion
To avoid intuition of collusion you are advised to make the followers:
hold any treatments and sharing of thoughts before you start finishing the assignment
make non inquire to look at anyone else ‘s assignment and do non demo yours to anyone else if they ask to see it
retrieve that if sequence, manner and content are really similar between two pieces of work it will take the lector to inquire whether there has been collusion
retrieve that there are now electronic devices available to prove for lingual similarity between two pieces of work.
Copying from the Web or buying essays
There is merely one simple piece of advice here – do non make this. You may cognize some fellow pupil who has done so and “ got off with it ” . However, retrieve, that such a pupil may non hold similar “ success ” following clip, and that even if he or she has been successful in go throughing off work which is non their ain, it does non intend that you will be. Students who have been found to hold downloaded or purchased work will non merely automatically fail that faculty or faculties, but will besides earnestly risk their calling in the University being terminated by being required to retreat from their class.
Decisions
Plagiarism – designation
In this brochure we have tried to place how pupils may plagiarize without being to the full cognizant that they are making so. In making so we have besides given you some indicants of how lectors might recognize that the work is non your ain.
Electronic Detection
There are now assorted and progressively sophisticated electronic AIDSs to help lectors who may be in uncertainty about the originality of work submitted. These include programmes which look at lingual similarities and others which can place when essays have been bought from web sites.
Basically nevertheless cagey web-packages or try purchase strategies may be, there will be package which is able to observe it – and in such a instance it is difficult to conceive of any acceptable account.
Punishments
Unfortunately, nevertheless, plagiarism and cheating does happen. The University does hold punishments for pupils who plagiarise and it will utilize them. The relevant ordinances and processs will be used to look into the intuition of plagiarism and if plagiarism is held to hold taken topographic point, assorted punishments can be imposed, up to necessitating a pupil to retreat from the University.
Normal CMS Penalties for Plagiarism
Type of offense
Punishment
First minor offense e.g. unreferenced stuff, joint entry
Coursework grade is set to zero
Writers who let others have transcripts of their work
Coursework grade is set to zero
Second offenses will be referred to a panel
Referred to Assessment Offences Panel – pupil may be asked to go forth the university.
If more than one offense occurs at the same clip
All classs ( non constituents ) are set to zero
First major offense e.g. plagiarism majority of a undertaking
Referred to Assessment Offences Panel – pupil may be asked to go forth the university.
We hope that this short brochure has assisted you both to place what you should non make and assist you towards good pattern which would debar the hazard of plagiarism.
The Best Approach
The best attack is to guarantee that you have non plagiarised in the first topographic point. The advice contained in this brochure will assist you to make this.
If you feel in uncertainty, look once more at the declaration at the start of the brochure. If you think you have non rather met the demands of this sort of declaration – expression at your work once more before you submit it, and do certain that it is entirely your ain work. If you still experience in uncertainty – inquire your coach or the School Plagiarism Officer, pulling their attending specifically to your plagiarism concerns, before you submit the assignment. Ultimately, it your duty to guarantee that in subjecting any work for appraisal you are non perpetrating an assessment offense.
If you follow this advice you should be able to avoid any hazard of the work being thought of as plagiaristic and you will be able to take pride in accomplishments which have been produced by your attempt entirely.
Glossary
Mentioning Formally recognizing in your text the beginning or beginnings from which you obtained the information. An illustration has already been given in this brochure on p. 7: ‘Spring considers that the Norman tactics were misguided but finally successful ( Spring, 1998 ) while Summer has long argued that it was merely the exhaustion of the Anglo-Saxon forces which permitted the Norman triumph ( Summer, 1992 ) . ‘
Citation This is the act of citing. It means the transition or words which you have straight taken from a beginning and reproduced in your text. The beginning of the quotation mark should ever be given with it.
Bibliography This is literally a list of books, but it now means a list of all the beginnings which you have used in finishing the assignment, including electronic beginnings. Quote, Unquote gives illustrations of how you would name all major beginnings.
Mention This is the elaborate description of the point from which you have obtained a specific piece of information. So, in the fabricated illustration above, you would put in your bibliography the inside informations of the work as Spring, A.B. ( 1998 ) The Norman Conquest: new attacks. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
