Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a form of 'cheating' which involves 'stealing' someone else's ideas and work and 'lying' by pretending it is your own work.


How can you avoid plagiarism?
You avoid plagiarism by giving credit to the sources of your information.

Whenever you use words or ideas that you have not thought up yourself, but that you read somewhere else (e.g. in books, websites, articles, etc) then you must show where you found your information in your Bibliography or Reference List


It is Considered Plagiarism if you:
  • turn in someone else's work as your own
  • copy words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
  • fail to put a quotation in quotation marks
  • give incorrect information about the source of a quotation
  • change words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
  • copy so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not 

Steps to avoid plagiarism:
  • BE ORGANISED -  Students are most tempted to cut corners and plagiarise when they leave their assessment tasks to the last minute. Start early to give yourself plenty of time to do your research and write your paper.
  • TAKE GOOD NOTES - make a note of all the information sources you use as you go along! You may want to paraphrase (rewrite in your own words) the information as you record it, or if you are copying words exactly, then use "quotation marks". But always remember to note down the source of your information.
  • ALWAYS REFERENCE your sources. 

  • Need to know more about Referencing?
  • Click here for learn how.
References

Editage. (2013). Tips to avoid Accidental Plagiarism. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOJvWhF_08

Heaton Learning Resource Centre. (2013). Avoiding Plagiarism – Cite your sources. Retrieved from: http://heatonlrc.weebly.com/avoid-plagiarism---cite-your-sources.html

LIRC Productions. (2013). Plagiarism 101 with year 6. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDd7up936MQ

MIT. Academic Integrity. (n.d.) Avoiding Plagiarism - Cite Your Source. MIT. Retrieved from: https://integrity.mit.edu/citing-your-sources/avoiding-plagiarism-cite-your-source

Referencite. (2014). Plagiarism. University of Aukland. Retrieved from: http://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz/index.php?p=plagiarism

Software4Students. (2012). How to avoid plagiarism - Tips for students. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsAQOnjk_To

Study & Learning Centre. (2005).  Deliberate & accidental plagiarism. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Retrieved from: 
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/1_studyskills/study_tuts/plagiarism_LL/deliberate.html

Study & Learning Centre. Paraphrasing.  Royal Melbourne Institute of Technoloby. Retrieved from: 
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/4_WritingSkills/writing_pdf/paraphrasing.pdf

Study & Learning Centre. (2005).  Examples of plagiarism. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Retrieved from: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/1_studyskills/study_tuts/plagiarism_LL/examples.html

Study & Learning Centre. (2005).  How to avoid plagiarism. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Retrieved from: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/1_studyskills/study_tuts/plagiarism_LL/avoidance.html

Study & Learning Centre. (2005).  Plagiarism. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Retrieved from:
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/1_studyskills/study_tuts/plagiarism_LL/index.html

UniLearning. (2000). Notetaking: Paraphrase. Retrieved from:  http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/notetake/note16_para.html

Your Dictionary. (n.d.). Examples of Paraphrasing. Retrieved from: http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-paraphrasing.html