Plagiarism

What is plagiarism? (Carroll, 2002) Passing off someone else’s work, whether intentionally, or unintentionally, as your own for your own benefit (Carroll, 2002) Slide 2 What is plagiarism? In Carroll’s (2002) definition, the crucial phrase is “passing off ” (page 9), as this acknowledges that plagiarism is a public offence. The wrongdoing lies in deceiving others. Deception could be seen as a deliberate act, but it is still plagiarism if you inadvertently give others the impression that another’s work is yours. Once plagiarism is confirmed then the penalty would depend on intent. If you plagiarise you are not just stealing another’s words. Plagiarism is another’s work and ideas, in whatever form. The word ‘benefit’ in the definition would probably mean a higher grade or mark. There are many other ‘benefits’ though, such as gaining a job, promotion, funding or a better professional standing. Plagiarism is only one form of cheating. Of course there are other forms of cheating which break University regulations, such as cheating behaviour in examinations. In your coursework and examinations, any acts of ‘unfair practice’ are taken very seriously by the University. CARROLL, J. (2002) A handbook for deterring plagiarism in higher education. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University

What form might plagiarism take? Downloading essays from cheat sites Copying another student’s work Collusion Copying sections of work from websites or printed sources Inadequate referencing Slide 3 What form might plagiarism take? Downloading essays from cheat sites is not plagiarism, but passing them off as your own is plagiarism. This is the ‘public’ act. Obviously, copying another student’s work is plagiarism, if you submitted it as your own work. Collusion is a form of plagiarism. One example is where one student gives another permission to copy their work, knowing it will be presented as the other’s own. Essentially, they are partners in plagiarism, by colluding. Markers of students’ work can, and do, detect inconsistencies with some ease. They are very familiar with texts in the subject area and the writing style ‘fingerprint’. With the advent of electronic detection systems, such as ‘Turnitin’, which is used in this University, using material illegitimately can be identified rapidly. This system checks previous students’ work and the Internet as a whole. You could be surprised to learn that inadequate or inappropriate acknowledgement of your sources is defined as plagiarism. For example, if you copy material word for word then this should be in quotation marks. Both this and material you have paraphrased, that is, put into your own words, have to be referenced fully.

Collusion Copying another student’s work – both students are guilty Students working together when independent work was required Collaboration/collusion confusion Slide 4 Collusion If a student gets another to compose the whole or part of their piece of work, then this is collusion. It is collusion when two or more people work together to produce a piece of work, all or part of which is then submitted by each of them as their own individual work. You could confuse ‘collusion’ with ‘collaboration’. It is legitimate to collaborate on a project, for example, if this is the brief. It is essential for you to acknowledge, in this case, all the owners of the ensuing work. If you had not contributed, and pretended to own any work of the project publicly, it would be plagiarism. If the group, or the other person, permitted you to pretend, then that would be defined as collusion. If it is not very clear to you how much collaboration is seen as acceptable, then you should seek the advice of the member of staff who set your assigned work.

What is Referencing? Referencing is a way of acknowledging and listing the sources you have used in producing your work Slide 5 What is Referencing? Remember that you are respecting others’ work by acknowledging them. In the same way as your possessions, if your own ideas were stolen or misused you would rightly be aggrieved. Making sure you reference properly is being a part of the academic community, by acting in a mature, responsible and caring way.

Why do we need to reference ? To enable anyone who is interested to find and read those sources, too To show that you have carried out an appropriate course of reading on the topic To avoid being accused of plagiarism Slide 6 Why do we need to reference? Another good reason is that your evidence of wide reading will attract good marks! You will need to cite others as ‘authorities’, so that you can then lead on to your own analysis and discussion.

How? Harvard system Vancouver system House style Slide 7 How? The two main styles for acknowledging your sources are called the Harvard method (author surname) and the Vancouver method (numeric). Your department may require you to use an alternative method, such as APA. Additionally, departments may deviate slightly from any of these to have their own ‘house’ style. If your department has a ‘house’ style then ask for a copy, if it does not appear in your student handbook. Whichever style you use, remember to follow the guidelines exactly and consistently throughout your whole piece of work, including the list of references. If you are required to produce a separate bibliography, follow the same style as the list of references. In particular, please do take note of the need for accurate CAPITALISATION, italics, abbreviations and punctuation.

Harvard (page 123) According to Pink (1999), referencing is: …“perfectly easy if you would only keep the handout beside you while you are writing your essay.” (page 123) although many students find it difficult to believe at first. Slide 8 Harvard In the Harvard style the author’s surname and the year of publication of the work appear in the text. (Note the round brackets) Quotation marks enclose a direct quote and if, as in this example, it is a long quote, it is indented in your text. A short quote is kept within the sentence, again in quotation marks. Note that the page where the quote appears in the cited work should be included. In Harvard the reference list is arranged in alphabetical order of the authors’ surnames.

Harvard It seems that referencing is not really very intellectually challenging, being a purely mechanical exercise (Purple, 2001) Slide 9 Harvard In this example Purple’s idea rather than his actual words are used, but he still must be acknowledged. This way of citing Purple at the end of a sentence is known as ‘passive’. You could acknowledge Purple in the ‘active’ way by using him in the structure of the sentence, as in: Purple (2001) suggests that referencing… Either way is acceptable, but you could vary your writing by using both ways in one piece of work.

Harvard Reference List PINK, G. (1999) How to do referencing and influence people. Journal of Well-Hard Librarianship 12 (4), 34-37. PURPLE, M. (2001) Zen and the art of doing your references correctly. Cardiff: Pedantree. Slide 10 Harvard Reference List In the Harvard style references are organised in your list in alphabetical order of authors’ surnames. Always check to see that you have included a reference in the list for every author cited within your text.

Vancouver Purple (1) is of the opinion that referencing is not really very intellectually challenging, being a purely mechanical exercise Slide 11 Vancouver Each author cited in this style is given a running number throughout the text of your work. As in the Harvard example on slide 9, these are not Purple’s own words, but you have credited him with the idea.

Vancouver According to Pink (2), referencing is: “…perfectly easy if you would only keep the handout beside you while you are writing your essay” (Page123) although many students find it difficult to believe at first. Slide 12 Vancouver As in the Harvard example, a direct quote is enclosed in quotation marks and indented in your text, if lengthy. Note that the author, Pink, is given the next number in your text and this appears in brackets after the surname. Pink will be the second entry in your reference list.

Vancouver Reference List 1. PURPLE, M. Zen and the art of doing your references correctly. Cardiff: Pedantree; 2001 2. PINK, G. How to do referencing and influence people. Journal of Well-Hard Librarianship 1999; 12 (4): 34-37 Slide 13 Vancouver Reference List As you can see, in the Vancouver method the references are listed in the order they appear in your text, not in the alphabetical order of surname.

Direct quotations . Direct quotes are not an adequate replacement for a demonstration of your own understanding of the topic – even if they are well referenced Paraphrasing (with appropriate referencing) shows that you have understood the topic In general, direct quotes should form a very small percentage of your work Your tutor will be pleased to see that you are treating referencing with due concern. You should gain good marks by showing wide reading and by referencing appropriately and properly.

If in doubt ask your tutor