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8/8/2019 Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism

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Plagiarism and how to avoid it a good practice guide for

students

Although we realise that most students are well aware of the

need to avoid plagiarism, we ask that you take a few minutes

to read this short guide. Thank you.

Whats it all about?

The information in this guide for students has been put together to

provide help and advice to all students to help them to avoid

plagiarism in their assessed work. Assessed work includes all

essays, projects, assignments, art work, dissertation, thesis or any

other work that a student is required to present to meet the

assessment requirements of his or her programme at Glyndr.

Glyndr like many other HEIs in the UK recognises that incidents

of plagiarism are increasing and it wishes to help all students to

ensure that they are not involved in any form of plagiarism, as all

cases of plagiarism that are proven have serious consequences

for students and their academic achievements at Glyndr.

Glyndr recognises that the majority of students are well aware of

the need to avoid plagiarism and to take care that they

acknowledge and reference correctly all the sources that they use

Y:\Library Services\Guidelines\Plagiarism and how to avoid it.doc


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in their work. However, all students should take a few moments to

read this guide to make absolutely certain that they are fully aware

of what plagiarism is and how they can make sure that all of their

work is free from any suspicion of plagiarism.

Glyndr acknowledges the generosity of a range of Universities

and Colleges in providing Glyndr with their guides on plagiarism

as examples of such guides. Glyndr has also drawn upon

Guidelines nos. 78 and 87 which are attached to this guide, to

prepare this guide for students. These guidelines are also

available in the library and on the Glyndr web.

PLEASE NOTE THAT PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS ACADEMIC

OFFENCE AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED BY ALL STUDENTS.

What is plagiarism?

Pyper (2000) defines plagiarism as: .. simply theft. It is taking the

words, ideas and labour of other people and giving the impression

that they are your own...

To expand, plagiarism is the representation as your own work,the work of another person or organisation. This can include

lecture notes, handouts, presentations, and also applies to any

other material created by another student, past or present, or by

any other person, including authors of books, journals or web

pages.

You are plagiarising if you:



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copy verbatim the work of another without proper

acknowledgement

closely paraphrase the work of another by simply changing a

few words or altering the order of presentation, without

acknowledgement

quote phrases from anothers work without proper

acknowledgement

deliberately or inadvertently present another's concept as

your own.

Unfair practice and plagiarism

Plagiarism is one of the ways that a student may either

inadvertently or deliberately has used unfair practice to complete

any element of his/her assessed work.

Why does it matter if I plagiarise?

In most systems of higher education in the world, it is agreed that

students must present their own work, and where they draw upon

the work of others, they must reference that work correctly and not

attempt in any way to present another persons work as their own.

Depending on the country involved, to plagiarise is regarded as a

serious academic offence that attracts a serious penalty when it is

detected.



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So whats the fuss all about?

Think about the cases below1 and their implications. We hope you

will understand why higher education institutions in the UK are

clear that plagiarism is not permissible under any circumstances:

A medical researcher falsifies the results of his new anti-

cancer drug to make his discovery seem more important and

able to save lives

A young writer submits his ideas to a film company which

refuses to consider them. Later on a film is produced that is

based on his writing. The film company refuses to

acknowledge his work

A historian publishes a book claiming that there was never

any genocide in Rwanda. He states that he has a lot of

evidence for this and provides anonymous quotations, but

does not give any sources for this claims

A number of students on a particular programme at a

University are acquiring their essays from an Internet site for50 each. The university has not detected this. This has led

to a decline in the Universitys reputation for that programme

with employers as its graduates appear not to have

appropriate skills to enable them to work after graduation

A design student loses the portfolio containing all thesketches for her final year project - many weeks and months



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of work. She is devastated but works night and day to

recover her work. On the day of the show she finds out that

many of her original ideas have been used in another

students work and have been awarded higher marks than

the work she produced 1

We hope you will agree that all of the above situations have

immediately serious consequences. They all affect peoples lives

and distort perceptions of the truth. In the long term, such

dishonesty undermines everyone and stifles creativity and the

creation of new ideas.

What are the possible penalties if plagiarism is proven in a

students work?

We hope that students will avoid any suspicion of plagiarism in

their assessed work by using this guide carefully and by asking for

help if they are unsure.

However, if a case of plagiarism, no matter how small, is found, a

students case must be considered either by an Assessment Board

(which confirms a students marks) or by a specially convened

Committee of Enquiry.

Both are formal processes and follow the Unfair Practice

Procedures which are included in Glyndrs Academic

Regulations and apply to all study at Glyndr. The possible

penalties that an Assessment Board or a Committee of Enquiry

1 Thanks are due to the University of Brighton for providing these examples in their guide for students



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can decide to apply to a students case are set out in the

Procedure and include:

Verbal or written reprimand. NB. This is kept on file and

discussed with the student to ensure that any repeat

offence cannot then be classed as inadvertent. A

second or subsequent offence will be treated more

harshly

Cancellation of the students mark for all or part of the

module affected

Cancellation of the students mark for all or part of the

module affected and postponement of his or her study at

Glyndr

Cancellation of the students mark for all modules for the

particular level of study

Termination of his or her study at Glyndr

Professional programmes

Students on Professional Programmes should also note that many

Professional Bodies regard plagiarism as a very serious matter.

Many define it as theft with all the very serious consequences

that apply when a professional person is regarded as dishonest,

including the removal or refusal to register a dishonest person as a

on plagiarism and how to avoid it.



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person who is recognised as being able to work as a professional.

A proven case of plagiarism could therefore prevent a student

obtaining a job in his her chosen profession such as teaching,

nursing, social work or youth and community work.

To summarise, plagiarism is a very serious matter and

students must take steps to avoid it at all times, and if in

doubt ASK before handing in your assessed work for

marking!!

How will I know if I have plagiarised or not?

In many cases, plagiarism is committed simply because the

student does not know how to reference properly. A typical piece

of research quite properly involves taking different views on a topic

from recognised authors and measuring them against each other.The result of this exercise is to produce a synthesis, and from that

work - another view (that of the student) which draws upon the

views or ideas expressed by the other persons is written up in the

assessed work.

As long as you clearly identify these previous views and ideas asbelonging to other authors whenever they are used in your

work, no plagiarism is committed. The recommended way to

identify such views and ideas is by using the Harvard Referencing

Method (see guideline no. 78)2. You should learn how to use

Harvard and use it consistently.

2Students should note that while Glyndrs Academic Board has asked that all students have

an understanding of the Harvard referencing system students should note that in their own



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A dissertation, thesis, essay, project or any other work submitted

by you for formal assessment during the course of your study must

be produced by you alone and in your own words, except for

quotations from published and unpublished sources which shall be

clearly indicated and acknowledged. You must acknowledge all

sources, including thoughts, words, drawings, designs,

illustrations, photographs, maps, statistical data, graphs, computer

programs, information from the Internet, or any other work. Failure

to reference the use of any of these sources constitutes

plagiarism.

What should the balance be between use of my own words

and using quotations or references from other people?

Making a decision about the balance between using your ownwords and acknowledging in the text where you are drawing upon

ideas or work of other people is part of your examination technique

and needs to be judged by you, and discussed with your module,

programme leader or tutor if you are unsure and need advice.

Also reading published work in books or journals will give you

some ideas about the balance between using quotations and yourown words.

As a general guide it is much better to use your own words to

show that you have read and understood the work of another

subject discipline different referencing systems may apply. Staff will advise students if this isthe case. However, if you are in any doubt PLEASE ASK a member of staff.



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person and to acknowledge them in your text, than it is to use

large quotations from other people.

Ask yourself the question - what am I being assessed on? The

answer is that you are being assessed on the extent to which you

have understood the topic which you have studied and the way in

which you are able to communicate that understanding clearly to

another person and to present your own ideas and analysis of the

topic you have studied. You are not therefore likely to gain good

marks for using cut and paste from other peoples documents

(whether or not you reference or acknowledge the authors).

How to avoid plagiarism

When taking notes from any source, remember to write down

all the bibliographic details at the time (e.g. author and / or

editor, date, page number(s), journal title, article title, book

and chapter title, publisher and place of publication). This

means you can reference it properly later on.

When making notes, separate your ideas from the ideas of

others, for example use a different coloured pen to note what

others have said, so you do not inadvertently use it without

referencing it in your final work.

Dont be afraid to use your own words. You are not expected

to write as professionally as the authors of the books and

journals you have read. Be confident enough to write your

own ideas in your own words. A good tip is to close the book

or journal you are using and then write your own summary.



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Try not to write your own assignment based solely on your

notes from books and journals. Think of your own views and

ideas, and use references from others to back them up or

counterpoise an argument.

Plan your assignments in good time, so you are not tempted

to make shortcuts.

How can I find out more?

There are many sources of advice and guidance on plagiarism and

how to avoid it. If in any doubt ASK.

Sources available to students include:

Glyndr guidelines 78 and 87 (attached to this Guide).

Guidelines are also available in the library and on the

Glyndr web page

(www.glyndwr.ac.uk.guidelines/guidelines.htm)

Avoiding Plagiarism - advice for students- by Dr Hugh S

Pyper available on the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service at

http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/information

_studies/lmri/JISCPAS/docs/external/student_plagiarism_ad

vice.doc (copy attached to this Guide)

Your Student Programme Handbook

http://www.glyn/http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/information%20_studies/lmri/JISCPAS/http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/information%20_studies/lmri/JISCPAS/http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/information%20_studies/lmri/JISCPAS/http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/information%20_studies/lmri/JISCPAS/http://www.glyn/


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Sessions offered on preparing essays, assignments, projects

or dissertations offered by your Programme at Glyndr -

PLEASE ATTEND THESE!

78. Referencing using the Harvard

methodWhen you write an essay, project, assignment, dissertation or thesis for a

research degree, you will frequently need to refer to literature that you have

read in order to support an argument, illustrate a point, outline a particular

theory, report information or data, or support your reasoning. You must

acknowledge the source of all works that you refer to, by citing references.

References should be flagged within your text and full details listed at the end

of the document. It is important that you never present another writers

material or ideas without acknowledging the source by citing a reference. To

do this is plagiarism, for which you will be subject to the Institutes Unfair

Practice Procedure if detected. References are essential for the following

reasons:

to prove that you have researched your topic, and that yourideas have

been presented in the light of published material;

to substantiate your ideas and arguments;

to acknowledge the source of your information and development of yourideas;

to distinguish between your own opinions and those of others;

to enable your readers to locate the source of your ideas in order to study the

material themselves.



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Principal aspects of the method

The Harvard, or Name and Date, method of referencing is one of the most

commonly used. There are two aspects to the system. Firstly, a flag is

entered, in brackets, in the body of your text at the point at which you make

use of another writers work. Secondly, a list, entitled References, is

provided at the end of your work in which fuller details of all the references you

have flagged in your text are presented alphabetically. The purpose of this

method is toensure that the main body of your text is not cluttered up with

large amounts of bibliographic information, which the reader might find

intrusive. The flags themselves contain the minimum amount of information

possible just sufficient to locate the reference in your list.

Please note

Students should note that while Glyndrs Academic Board has asked all students have

an understanding of the Harvard referencing system students should note that in their

own subject discipline different referencing systems may apply. Staff will advise

students if this is the case. However, if you in doubt PLEASE ASK a member of staff.

Flagging references in your text

The flag is usually presented in the following form: a set of brackets containing

the surname of the author to whom you are referring followed by the year of

publication of the sourcedocument. For example:

The original conclusions (Williams, 1990) have now been questioned

(Reynolds, 1994).

If the authors name appears naturally in the text, add only the date in

brackets. For example:

The original conclusions have now been questioned by both Reynolds (1994)

and Roberts (1995).



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Where there are 2 authors, both should appear in brackets. For example:

A more recent study (Williams and Reynolds, 1996) disproved the earlier

findings.

If there are 3 or more authors, only the first should appear, followed by the

term et al. (A shortened form of et alia, the Latin for and others). For

example:

In a recent report, Smith et al. (1996) have* suggested yet another solution.

(* note the use of the plural for Smith et al.)

When an author has published more than one work in the same year, the

works should be identified with lower case letters (a, b, c, etc. in the order

used) after the date. For example:

Further studies (Smith, 1995a) agreed with the initial findings (Smith, 1995b).

Citing references at the end of your document

Your list of references appears alphabetically by author at the end of your

document. The information provided for each (known as a bibliographic

citation) must comply with a strict set of requirements that would enable any

of your readers precisely to locate the source items to which you refer. Theformat of the citation varies slightly according to the type of material it relates

to. You should note that the punctuation used and the emphasis given to

sections of the typeface is of great importance. For instance, the use of italics

or bold or underlined text where specified, is essential because it

conventionally serves to identify the type of source material (e.g. book or

journal). The bibliographic information, which must be cited for different types

of reference source, is described below. One point to note is that bibliographic



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citations include the names of all authors of a source, no matter how many;

the term et al. is not used

Books:

each authors name and initials

the year of publication in brackets

the title of the book in italics, orbold text or underlined text

the edition, if more than the first

the exact page number(s) at which the reference is located within the source text

the place of publication

the publishers name

For example:

Carnall, C.A. (1999) Managing change in organizations (3rd

edn.), p38.

London, Prentice Hall.

Rudestam, K.E. and Newton, R.R. (1992) Survivingyour dissertation: a

comprehensive guide to content and process, pp120-125. London, Sage

publications.

For more than one reference taken from the same source, the full

bibliographic details are cited only once but the different page numbers are

entered alongside the appropriate lower case letter used in the flags in your

main text. For example:

Phillips, M. (1995) The search for truth. London, Sage publications.

(a) p37

(b) p44

NB. Page numbers can also be given in the body of the text. Please check

with your tutor for advice.



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For different works in the same year by one author, the lower case letters used in the

flags are included

Carson, P. (1990) Gender issues today, p55. London, Macmillan Press.

Carson, P. (1995) The world of work, pp17-18. Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press.

Dawson, R. (1999a) The politics of the family, p171. London, Hugo

Publications.

Dawson, R. (1999b) Working women, p90. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

For edited books, cite under the editors or editors names and include the

term (ed. or eds.) For example:

Morgan, D. and Stanley, L. (eds.) (1993) Debates in sociology. Manchester,

Manchester University Press.

If you are directly quoting an author who has contributed to an edited book,

cite the name of the chapter (in single inverted commas) written by that author,

then, following the word in cite the bibliographic details of the source book.

For example:

Roberts, H. (1993) The women and class debate in Morgan, D. and Stanley,

L. (eds.) Debates in sociology, p55. Manchester, Manchester University

Press.

Journals: each authors name and initials

the year of publication in brackets

the title of article in single inverted commas

the title of journal, in italics, orbold or underlined text

the volume number and part number or month of issue where appropriate

the number of the first and last pages of the article



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For example:

Weiner, B. (1985) An attributional theory of achievement, motivation and

emotion. Psychological review, vol. 92, 548-73.

(NOTE the distinguishing difference between the format of citations for books

and for journals. With the former, it is the name of the book that appears in

italics, bold or underlined text; with journals, it is the title of the journal. Note

also, that you should use a consistent style in your choice of either italics, bold

or underlined text.)

Audio-visual material:

For audiovisual materials, include the author or director, title, format, date and

publisher. For example:

Robinson, P. (Director) (1982) Making your case [videocassette]. London,

Video Arts Ltd.

British Standards:

The citation should include the following details:

the words British Standards Institution

the date of publication in brackets

British Standard number and year (separated by a colon)

the title and subtitle (if any) in italics, bold or underlined text

the place of publication (if known)

the name of publisher using the abbreviation BSI

For example:

British Standards Institution (1990) BS 5605:1990 Recommendations for

citing andreferencing published material. Milton Keynes, BSI.



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Conference papers:

As a general rule, list as much information as possible, including dates and the

body responsible for publication. For example:

Kregel, J.A., et al. (1989) Factors in business investment [paper presented

to a conference held at the Science Centre, Berlin, September 1987]. Berlin,

the Science Centre.

Corporate authors:

Works of corporate authorship are works produced by national bodies,

groups, government departments, committees, etc. Such publications are

often casually referred to by the name of the chairperson, but this name

should not be used as the author. However, you can give the name of the

chairperson in brackets after the title. For example:

Great Britain, Department of Health and Social Security (1980) Report of the

working party on inequalities in health [Chairperson: Sir Douglas Black].

London, HMSO.

Exhibition catalogues, etc.:

Where there is no author, use the Gallery or Museum. For example:

Sunderland Art Centre (1978) Craftsmanlike [exhibition catalogue].

Sunderland, Ceolfirth Press.

Government publications:

These are usually of corporate authorship, and should be listed according to

the department responsible for publication. However, the citation should

always commence with the words Great Britain. For example:

Great Britain, Home Office (1990) The Hillsborough Stadium, 15 April 1989

: inquiry by Lord Chief Justice Taylor: final report. London, HMSO.



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Internet sources:

There is not yet a standard related to referencing Internet sources. As a

general rule, it is unwise to use Internet references unless they are from

reputable sources, which could also be reliably located by means other thanthe Internet. Remember that one of the purposes of referencing is to enable

others to locate the original source of your ideas. As we all know,many

Internet sources are ephemeral (here today, gone tomorrow). Also, it is often

far from clear who the publisher is for many Internet sites.

We should not be beguiled into thinking that a web-site address has any

permanence or even any authenticity. After all, where would you physically

find www.magic-solutions-for-business.com? A so-called web-site

address is not really an address at all. What we need to know from a

reference is who actually publishes the site and where to find them for

purposes of verification, etc.; this is a long way from knowing merely a web-

site address.

With these points in mind, it may be better not to use such a source unless

you know who actually produces it. If you do know who produces (i.e.

publishes) it, then you should include this information as part of the

bibliographic citation. But, dont use ephemeral or trivial Internet sources.

However, forcredible Internet sources follow the general rules for Harvard

referencing by citing the author(s), the date, the title, a web-site address, AND

enough information to locate the publisherof the site so that you might be

able to obtain hard copy. A note of the date you accessed the site may also

be useful. For example:

Dover, R. (1996) Blakes poetry. http://io.glyndwr.ac.uk/rdover/blake/poetry.

Internet source produced by Dover, R., at North East Wales Institute of Higher

Education, UK. [Electronically accessed 21st

May 2002.]

http://www.magic-solutions-for-business.com/http://io.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/poetryhttp://io.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/poetryhttp://www.magic-solutions-for-business.com/


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Research reports:

If possible it is important to include the subtitle and series information

authors name

date of publication in brackets

title and subtitle (if any) in italics, bold or underlined text

research report number

place of publication (if known)

publisher

For example:

BRECSU, Building Research Establishment (1996) Drawing a winner:

energyefficient design of sports centres. Good practice guide no. 211.

London, Department of the Environment.

Theses and dissertations:

authors name

year of publication in brackets

title and subtitle (if any) in italics, bold or underlined text

type of document, e.g. Ph.D. thesis, degree dissertation

place of publication if not clear from the institution name (e.g. Bristol,

University of the West of England)

awarding institution

For example:

Ferguson, M.W. (1998) Photophysical and photochemical properties of

photosensitisers for the photodynamic therapy of tumours. Ph.D. thesis,

North East Wales Institute of Higher Education.



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Unpublished material:

You may refer to items which you found useful, but which are not officially

published, for example pamphlets, internal working papers. They should be

referenced in the same way. For example:

Jones, A. (1996) Guidelines for writing. Unpublished report. Liverpool,

Smith Institute.

You may even wish to reference a useful interview or conversation you have

conducted. For example:

Roberts, A. (1996). Personal communication.

Second-hand references:

Whenever possible, you should quote from original sources. If this is not

possible, use the term cited by... followed by the reference for the work in

which it is quoted.

For example:

Newby, M. (1989) Writing: a guide for students. Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press. Cited by Smith, A. (1992) Students writing skills. London,

Kogan Page.

Direct quotations:

If your quotation is less than 2 lines long, you should include it in your text in

inverted commas. For example:

Many academics have pointed to the need to develop students writing skills.

It has been argued that writing is like talking: a natural ability - once you have

learned how to do it (Newby, 1989). However, the debate seems never

ending . . .

Remember then to add Newby to the list of references.



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If your quotation is longer than 2 lines, indent the whole quotation as a new

paragraph; reduce the point size of the text and close the line spacing to single

line spacing (if you have been using a more open spacing for your main text).

You do not need to use inverted commas. Add the page number(s) where the

quote is taken from, and use 3 full stops to indicate any word(s) you have

missed out. For example:

Many academics have pointed to the need to develop writing skills in

students. Newby (1989) asserts:

Writing is like talking: a natural ability - once you have learned to do it. Itdevelops with use in the right environment. You can learn how to writebetter ... dont give up hope: the chances are that you can still improveconsiderably (p 5).

Personal additions:

Sometimes you may wish to append personal notes to a citation or to a bibliographic

entry in your reference list. This is often best done by using square brackets, e.g.

for conference papers [paper presented to a conference held at the Science Centre,

Berlin, September 1987.]

Compiling a bibliography

A bibliography is different from a list of references. It is a list of various

sources in addition to those you have cited in your list of references which

you have used during the process of studying for, and writing, your

assignment. The purpose of including a bibliography is to assist others who

may wish to study a similar topic. It therefore does not require page numbers

since you are generally referring to whole works for background reading

purposes rather than isolated quotes or ideas.

However, a bibliography is sometimes considered as an optional extra. You

should take advice on whether or not to add a bibliography at the end of

your work. If you decide to do so, remember that it is more useful to list

unusual or unlikely sources rather than the obvious ones. Listing well-known

textbooks or newspapers, and so on, might be considered rather pointless



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and a distraction from the main aim of pointing the reader towards material

they might not have otherwise considered. For the same reason, dont bother

repeating citations of works already appearing in your list of references.

A bibliography should be arranged alphabetically by the authors surname and

by date within that if there is more than one work by the same author. Follow

the same bibliographic rules as for your reference list.

Good practice in the use of references and quotations

There are a number of simple principles concerning best use of references

and quotations in academic writing. The more important ones are as follows:

a) the effective use of a reference usually involves a bit more than simply

citing the source!

The following, for instance, is not very helpful in supporting an argument you

are making:

The studies carried out by Robinson (1998) have provided some interesting

new ideas about change in organizations.

A better use of the reference would involve briefly describing Robinsons

studies, and saying something about his new ideas, e.g.:

Robinson (1998), in his studies of business strategy in small engineering

firms, found that both technology push and consumer pull were important

drivers of organizational change.

In the first example you are giving the reader no actual evidence that

Robinsons studies support your argument. The reference is thus of virtually

no use to anyone; we are left to guess what his work was about.

Good practice, therefore, involves saying something about each reference t

that you use so that the reader can judge its relevance to your argument.



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b) Always make it clear which precise part of your discussion is attributable to

ideas from other sources. The practice of tagging a reference on at the

end of various paragraphs in your assignment is not usually adequate. It

leaves the reader unclear about exactly which ideas are yours and which

come from elsewhere. You should try, wherever possible, to cite the

reference at the start or in the middle of the material actually referred to.

For instance:

Wilson (1991) argued that . . .

Or,

More recent studies of personality traits in social workers (Goodyear, 2001)

have shown that

c) The use of direct quotations in work which you are submitting for

assessment should be fairly limited. It only really makes sense to use a

quotation where the words or the phraseology of the original writer convey

the meaning in an exceptional or memorable way. Broadly speaking you

should use your own words wherever possible to describe or explain the

work of others

Thus when using verbatim quotations from other sources you should not

normally use excerpts more than three or four lines long. Nor should you use

too many quotations overall. (As a guide, no more than 5% of the total word

count of your work should normally be made up of direct quotations.)

In general, make use of paraphrasing or prcis as much as possible. This will best

demonstrate your own understanding of the issues involved. (Remember that you

still need to acknowledge the source of ideas by citing references even when

paraphrasing the work of others. Not to do so would be plagiarism.)



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87. Developing your referencing

skills

What is plagiarism?

To plagiarise has been defined as:

"to appropriate ideas, passages etc. from another work or author" Hanks, P

(ed.) (1991) Collins English dictionary. Glasgow, HarperCollins.

To expand, plagiarism is the representation as your own the work of another

person or organisation. This can include lecture notes, handouts,

presentations, and also applies to the material of another student, past or

present. You are plagiarising if you:

copy verbatim the work of another without proper acknowledgement

closely paraphrase the work of another by simply changing a few

words or altering the order of presentation, without acknowledgement

quote phrases from anothers work without proper acknowledgement

deliberately present another's concept as your own.

How will I know?

In many cases, plagiarism is committed simply because the student does not

know how to reference properly. A typical piece of research involves taking

different views on a topic from recognised authors and measuring them

against each other. The result of this exercise is to produce a synthesis,



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another view (that of the student) which to some extent comprises ideas

contained in the previous views.

As long as you clearly identify these previous views and ideas as belonging to

other authors whenever they are used in your work, no plagiarism is

committed. The recommended way to identify such views and ideas is by

using the Harvard Referencing Method (see Guideline no. 78). You should

learn how to use Harvard and use it consistently.

A dissertation, thesis, essay, project or any other work submitted by you for

formal assessment during the course of your study must be produced by you

alone and in your own words, except for quotations from published and

unpublished sources which shall be clearly indicated and acknowledged. You

must acknowledge all sources, including thoughts, words, drawings, designs,

illustrations, photographs, maps, statistical data, graphs, computer programs,

information from the Internet, or any other work. Failure to reference the use

of any of these sources constitutes plagiarism.

How do I avoid it?

To avoid plagiarism, remember the following advice:

Take the time to learn how to reference properly, and stick to one

system (see Guideline no. 78 Referencing using the Harvard

method).

When taking notes from any source, remember to write down all the

bibliographic details at the time (author, title, publisher, date, etc). This

means you can reference it properly later on.

When making notes, separate your ideas from the ideas of others, for

example use a different coloured pen to note what others have said, so

you do not inadvertently useit without referencing in your final work.

Dont be afraid to use your own words. You are not expected to write

as professionally as the authors of the books and journals you haveread. Be confident enough to write your own ideas in your own words.



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Try not to write your own assignment based solely on yournotes from

books and journals. Think of your own views and ideas, and use

references from others to back them up or counterpoise an argument.

Know the regulations about plagiarism.

What about the Glyndr University regulations?

The Institute takes cases of plagiarism very seriously. The penalty applied to

those against whom an allegation has been substantiated depends on the

extent of the plagiarism. There are a range of penalties which include the

cancellation of a candidate's marks for a piece of assessed work in the least

severe case, to the disqualification of the candidate from any future Institute

assessment / examination in the most severe case.

Full details of the unfair practice procedure to be used in the event of

suspected plagiarism can be obtained from the Student Programmes Office.

For further information, please contact the library enquiry

desk, located on the first floor of the library or you can email

[email protected]

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM,ADVICE FOR STUDENTS,DR HUGH SPYPER

Academic Integrity

Every piece of written coursework submitted to the department must be

accompanied by a Declaration of Academic Integrity which you sign, affirmingthat the work is your own and does not contain material from unacknowledgedsources. Work submitted without the Declaration will not be marked until theDeclaration is supplied and in the meantime may incur late submissionpenalties.

Signing this declaration falsely is regarded as a very serious offence andstudents who are found guilty of it are subject to severe penalties. Theuniversity can refuse to award a degree if a student is shown to have made afalse declaration with intent to deceive. It is vital, therefore, that you are clearwhat you are committed to when you sign this document. Any breach of thatdeclaration lays you open to a charge of plagiarism.



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What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is simply theft. It is taking the words, ideas and labour of otherpeople and giving the impression that they are your own. This applies to evena single phrase or a sentence, not just to the work as a whole. They may be

taken from authors you have read or from a fellow student. If this is done withthe deliberate intention to deceive your reader, it clearly deserves severepunishment.

Sadly, however, it is possible for students unwittingly to lay themselves opento a charge of plagiarism through carelessness or ignorance. The process ofinvestigating such a charge is time-consuming and unpleasant for everyoneconcerned. For everyones sake, you should take every care not only to avoidplagiarism but also to avoid giving your reader any reason to suspect it in yourwork

Whatever the intention, it is still wrong for anyone to be given credit for apiece of work which is not theirs. If it is not clear to the reader what youroriginal work is and what you have derived from somewhere else, how is amarker to know what deserves credit? Marks will inevitably be lost, even ifnothing more serious is amiss, because it is your business as the writer tomake the distinction clear for your reader.

How do I avoid a charge of plagiarism?

The first thing to say is If in doubt, ASK! Your Personal Tutor, YearTutoror Module Tutor can give you advice. However, common sense will help youavoid most of the problems.

The main thing to do is to provide full and meticulous references to anymaterial that you draw on in your essay. References should enable thereader to turn straight to the passage you are referring to or quoting in thesame edition of the book or article that you read. This is why it is importantto include full details of publisher, place of publication and date and any otherinformation that pinpoints the particular edition. Different editions of the samebook may vary in page numbers, for instance, so your reader will not find thepassage on the page you cite.

By putting in full references you are enabling your reader to check thequotation and its context to see if you have reproduced and interpreted itcorrectly. It also alerts them to other material that might be interestingforthem to read if they wish to follow up the topic for themselves. Thedepartment issues a style guide on referencing and footnotes which gives youmodels to follow. Make sure you have a copy and make use of it.

It is not enough just to provide a general reference to a book in a bibliography,however. You need to be specific about which passages you have usedwhere in your essay. If references are inaccurate or incomplete or missing,

then, whether you mean to deceive or not, your work by definition containsmaterial from unacknowledged sources. For instance, if you fail to provide a



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bibliography, you are either implying that you made the essay up entirely outof your own head, or else the essay mustbe based on unacknowledgedsources. A source which cannot be traced because of inadequatereferencesis in effect unacknowledged. If you have attached thedepartments declaration of academic integrity to a piece of work with

inadequate references, you are lying.

Failure to provide accurate references must also raise the question as towhether you have something to hide from your reader. What would they findif they did go back to the source?

POSSIBLE PITFALLS

There are some particular areas in referencing which can be genuinelyconfused. Remember, the basic principle is that you must make it clear toyour reader what is your work and what is someone elses.

Quotations

Quite simply, if you use sentences, phrases, or even distinctive words from asource, you must place them in quotation marks and give a reference to thepage from which the words come. If in doubt, follow this rule and youcant go wrong, at least in regard to plagiarism (but see below).

NB: If your reader can go back to the source and find word-for-wordcorrespondence between what you write and what the source writes,you are not covered from a charge of plagiarism by the fact that you puta general reference to a book or even to the particular passage. Suchhidden quotations are not acceptable. They must be marked asquotations in the text.

Summaries

Often, however, you do not need to or want to quote a long passage from abook to put across the main point. Indeed, an essay which is just a string ofquotations may be covered from plagiarism in the strictest sense if it isproperly referenced, but it wont get many marks! Showing you can copy

quotations doesnt give a reader much indication of what your take on thesubject is, and doesnt show that you are capable of getting the gist of apassage and communicating economically its important and relevant points.

It is quite legitimate to summarise what a writer has said. You need to provideyour reader with the information she needs to check whether your summary isaccurate, however. It is also absolutely essential to make it clear whereyou are summarising someone elses work and when you move on toyour own assessment or development of what they have written.

This is a particularly difficult but important area. It is not enough just to use

footnotes and references, though these are essential. You should bescrupulous in using phrases such as



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According to Smith, Jones argues Put in summary form, Blacks thesis is

and then signal clearly that you are moving on with phrases such as

The conclusion we can draw from this isThis argument seems flawed in two waysBlacks opinion needs to be balanced with that of Green, who claimsthat

In the above examples, there should be a footnote or reference beside eachname, so the reader can check back for the source of your summary.

NB Summaries must be in your own words. Any sentences, phrases or

distinctive words which you take from the source must be put inquotation marks. This is one of the most common mistakes students makeand the point cannot be repeated often enough. You are not covered from asuspicion of plagiarism simply by giving a general reference. Nor is itenough simply to change the odd word here or there while basically copyingwhat your source says. Picking out sentences and then stringing themtogether is also not acceptable. The summary must be in your own words, orelse in quotation marks. A good tip is to close the book as you write up thesummary. If in doubt, quote, but remember that youcant get any credit forthe contents of a quotation! One of the most important skills which an essayis assessing is your ability to communicate succinctly the important and

relevant point you have gained from your reading.

You should also remember that what you will get most marks for in an essay isnot your summary, but what you do with it: how you build on or critique thematerial you are using. An essay which just consists of summaries of otherpeoples work with no evaluation or attempt to come to a conclusion, howeverwell written or referenced, will not gain high marks. The more you can showan original approach, the less likely it will be that any suspicion of plagiarismwill arise.

SECOND -LEVEL SOURCES

Experience shows that students find particular problems in dealing with whatcould be called second-level sources as opposed to first-level sources. Thedistinction is simple. If you quote directly from an authors own work, you areusing a first-level source. However, if you quote what someone elsesays thatthe author says, whether by quoting the author or summarising their work, youare using a second-level source.

You need to be most careful not to give the reader the impression thatyouhave done the work that was really done by the writer of the second-level source.



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Quoting quotations

A common problem arises because, almost inevitably, the books you read foran essay will themselves contain quotations from other books, often the mostrelevant and useful quotations for the topic. You must be careful here,

because you should not give the reader the impression that you have readbooks that you havent! You did not do the work of finding the quotation, soyou should not claim you did. If you simply quote the words you find, you arenot acknowledging the source from which you got the words, which is actuallythe book you are reading, and so are in danger of breaching the declaration ofacademic integrity. In fact, the best advice is probably not to quote at oneremove.

If you do decide its necessary the first rule is check the quotation.Researchers in the humanities spend a lot of time on doing just this. How doyou know that the book you are reading has quoted accurately or given the

proper reference? Misprints and other accidents may occur. The quotationmay actually have been taken out of context and when you read the wholepassage, you may decide the writer in whose work you found the quotationhas misrepresented the source.

You need to go back to the original source of the quotation to check thereference. If it is a quotation from a classic work that exists in many editionsand/or translations, you may decide that checking its accuracy from a differentedition is enough, but then you should quote and refer to the source you usedto check it as you cannot vouch for the accuracy of the reference in thesecond-level source.

If you cannot check the quotation, either because the original source is notavailable or because time will not permit, you must give a reference both tothe source of the quotation and to the place where it is quoted e.g.

Jeremy FisherThe Crimes of Peter Rabbit(Oxford, Oxford UniversityPress, 1987) p. 45, quoted in Jemima Puddleduck Peter RabbitVindicated Journal of Beatrix Potter Studies2 (1999) pp. 2-12; p. 5.{Note: this is a made-up example for this purpose which is not anykind of excuse for you inventing references in your assessed work!)

Referring to both sources is best practice in any case.

Quoting Summaries

Another common problem for a reader of essays is to find that a studentsuddenly seems to have become an expert on obscure 19

thCentury

commentaries on the book of Job, for instance. In the middle of a not verygood essay, there may be a long list of arguments along the lines of

Whereas Eisberg saw Job as a comedy, Schmidt and Schleswig-Holstein

emphasis the tragic aspects.



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It is usually fairly obvious that the student hasnt actually read what any ofthese people say, particularly when the books are out of print and in a foreignlanguage. The same thing can happen with contemporary English authors,however. The list of authors and opinions is not the students own work; itcomes from some second-level source.

Here again, it is not enough to put the second-level source in a bibliography,or even to footnote a reference to the page. You need to do these, but youalso need to put a phrase in the text like According to Brown, . This bothacknowledges that Brown did the work, but also to some extent protects you ifBrown got it all wrong!

WORKING WITH ANOTHER STUDENT

It hardly needs saying that copying another students work and passing it off

as your own is unacceptable, with or without their consent. Trying to gaincredit for essays available on the internet or from other sources is also clearlyunacceptable.

A more difficult case arises when two students have worked together or haveshared books, so that the reader notices similar quotations, arguments oroverall structures between the two essays and the question arises whetherthese are parallels, or whether one student has depended on another. Insuch cases, if the matter cannot be resolved, the mark may be halved andshared between the students. It is in both your interests, then, to make surethat your work can be seen to be independent.

There can also be a problem if there are a limited number of books availablefor a large class and similar quotations and bibliographies appear. In suchcases, it is doubly important to show not only that you can quote material, butthat you are capable of summarising it and structuring your essayindependently. Note the warnings under summaries above.

IN CONCLUSION

Though plagiarism is a serious offence, if you are clear, careful and honest

there should be no problem. Dont let the fear of plagiarism keep you fromusing to the full the amazing resources in other peoples writings. Learninghow to make proper and responsible use of other peoples work in developingyour own understanding of a subject is the heart of academic life. Readinggood scholarly work should also give you useful examples and models ofgood practice and you should actively look out for ways in which these mayhelp you improve your own writing.

A final word: If in doubt, ASK!

HSP 16/06/00