COPYRIGHT AND PLAGIARISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

COPYRIGHT What is copyright? Copyright protection is given to the creator of an original work , which gives the holder of the copyright the right to decide when and how copies of the work can be made. This copying has to be done according to certain rules and regulations laid down by law.

Fair Dealing The Copyright Act provides that "any fair dealing" with a work for the purposes of private study or research, or for criticism, review, or news reporting is not an infringement. However, in the case of criticism, review, or news reporting, the user is required to give the source and the author's, performer's, sound recording maker's or broadcaster's name if known

The importance of copyright at the University The University of Pretoria regards copyright as an important aspect and it has made it its duty to comply with the Copyright Act and its related regulations. Copyright infringement is a criminal offence and if you break the law and make illegal copies , you may be fined or imprisoned and therefore run the risk of a criminal record.

When may I make photocopies? Sections may be copied from any book, journal, or other source, for the purpose of research or private study only. The copy must be made by yourself. You may only make a copy on the condition that you do not make the copy available to anyone else.

So how much may I copy? You may copy a “reasonable portion” of a publication. That means only enough to meet your reasonable needs and not so much (an unreasonable amount) that will harm the interests of the owner of the copyright. Photocopying the whole book, for example, is expressly forbidden.

What about the internet? Basic rules for copyright of print material also apply to electronic material. Nearly all the material on the internet is copyrighted, so it is of great importance that you read the copyright conditions and follow them.

PLAGIARISM You commit plagiarism when you use information in your assignment, but do not acknowledge the source that you have used. This means that you are stealing the ideas of another person and presenting them as your own idea.

Some reasons why students plagiarize Lack of research skills -- many undergraduate students do not know how to search the library catalogue, search databases for journal articles, or use other reference sources. Problems evaluating Internet sources -- many students do not know how to critically evaluate Internet sources and this can impact on the research process and the student's writing. Careless note taking -- many students inadvertently plagiarize while doing preliminary research. During the note taking phase paraphrased material and directly quoted material can easily be mixed up if students aren't careful. Confusion about how to properly cite sources

Plagiarism and the web You may not use any information that you have found on the web without acknowledging the original author/creator of the publication. If you do not give credit to the originator of the idea, you are committing plagiarism. Remember that the same rules that apply to acknowledging / crediting print sources, whether textual, graphic or any type of information, apply to information sources found on the web.

The University of Pretoria’s point of view regarding plagiarism The University regards plagiarism as a very serious offence. It undermines trust between students and lecturers and wastes valuable resources (time, money, etc). Lecturers may make use of various tools e.g. Turnitin, to detect and to help put a stop to plagiarism. Plagiarised information can be detected and linked to their sources, no matter where this has been published, or by whom.

What to expect in future? The Department of Education Innovation is investigating the possibility of a campus-wide license for MyDropBox, a plagiarism detection software package.

Educate yourselves! Visit the University of Pretoria AIS web site and find out more about these two issues. http://www.ais.up.ac.za/copyright/index.htm http://www.ais.up.ac.za/plagiarism/index.htm