Lecture 2 – Plagiarism and APA Referencing Ali Robertson 1

A what was the topic we discussed during the last study skills lecture? 2

Plagiarism represents a form of theft. Not necessary in the form of a physical item, like a car, but something like an idea or intellectual property. When someone writes something, like a book or an essay, it is their property. Their ideas are owned by them. If we copy either, accidently or knowingly, someone else’s work we are breaking the rules of academia. Called academic malpractice 3

What is citing? Citing is about telling the reader of your work that the ideas you are presenting come from another source (e.g. book, journal or internet) Citing shows in detail where the information you are using comes from. If you forget or purposefully do not cite other peoples work it is plagiarism. 4

Text – copying sections of text from books, lecture notes or websites (especially Wikipedia!). Images - using pictures from websites. Copying diagrams. Ideas – using an idea even though it may be re-written by you. Even changing the words (paraphrasing) may still be plagiarism if you don’t reference correctly. You must use the American Psychological Association (APA) style of referencing. 5

Acknowledge it – say where you got it from, using the APA standard referencing format. If you use diagrams from texts or webpages, you must provide some personal input as well as referencing them. e.g. Label a diagram or refer to it in the text you write to accompany the diagram. If you draw your own version of a diagram you must still reference it. 6

See study skills. Click on the Study Skills tab and then click on: Example of good practice APA referencing Work achieved a 1 st class award at level 5, and shows concise referencing using the APA system. 7

If you copy the work of another student, with or without their permission this is also academic malpractice. If you research together with another student (which is a good thing) you must produce your own work, independently. Do not show your coursework to other students. 8

Accidental plagiarism will usually result in your work receiving a zero grade, and may require you to resit the module. Deliberate plagiarism can result in you being thrown off the course entirely. See student union advisory on academic malpractice: malpractice/ 9

As of this academic year all student work will be put into a plagiarism detection device, called Turnitin. Most of your assignments will be uploaded into IBIS before deadline day. IBIS will automatically submit the work to Turnitin. It is extremely effective at detecting academic malpractice, as the following example shows. 10

11

12