Avoiding plagiarism and malpractice
Published on 21 February 12
You've worked hard on your assignment – make sure you get the grade you deserve by familiarising yourself with academic rules and regulations.
Whether this is your first year of study or your last, your undergraduate or your postgraduate degree, it doesn’t matter – you must make sure you are clear on how to reference properly and avoid plagiarism during your time at the University. Click here for advice from the Student Guidance Service. (Who are the Student Guidance Service?)
I’d never cheat, this doesn’t apply to me
Of course, your research, study and projects will influence your work and you should be reading and learning from a wide variety of resources. However, it is essential to make clear, in all your submissions of work at the University the distinction between:
- the ideas and work of other people that you may have quite legitimately exploited and developed, and
- the ideas or material that you have personally contributed.
If you don’t make this distinction clear, you could be penalised for plagiarism.
- Plagiarism is presenting the ideas, work or words of other people without proper, clear and unambiguous acknowledgement.
The most important method in avoiding academic malpractice is to make sure you fully understand what is expected of you when you prepare and produce assignments, and that you always observe proper academic conventions for referencing and acknowledgement, whether working by yourself or as part of a team.
If you are not certain which form of referencing is appropriate, either for your discipline or for a particular project, then don’t hesitate to ask your tutor or the course unit coordinator for advice. But be sure that you do not lay yourself open to a charge of plagiarism inadvertently, or through ignorance of what is expected.
- Read the University’s guide to Avoiding plagiarism in writing, which includes some helpful ‘Dos and Don’ts’ to help you make sure you don’t plagiarise by mistake.
Plagiarism isn’t just about your writing
Plagiarism includes copying directly or a close paraphrase of someone else’s words but it also includes minimally adapted versions of computer programs, diagrams, graphs, illustrations etc. taken from any type of source without proper acknowledgement. This includes printed material, the Internet, other electronic/AV sources and even lectures.
Results or data that you or your group submit must be capable of verification, so that those assessing the work can follow the processes by which you obtained them. Under no circumstances should you seek to present results or data that were not properly obtained and documented as part of your practical learning experience. Otherwise, you lay yourself open to the charge of fabrication or falsification of results.
Good luck with your work - and remember that help, support and advice is always available from your tutors, advisors and lecturers, and also the Student Guidance Service and initiatives like the Postgraduate Online Writing Clinic.
- Click here to read the University’s official document on how to avoid plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice.