Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

The Faculty takes the issue of academic honesty very seriously. If you're unsure what constitutes plagiarism or how to avoid it, then you should read the guidelines below carefully. If you have any questions after reading the guidelines, Advisers in the TLU will be happy to discuss plagiarism with you.

Use the links below to find out more:

• What is plagiarism?
• Quoting, summarising and paraphrasing
• Example
• Checklist

What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the presentation by a student of an assignment that has in fact been copied in whole or in part from another student's work, or from any other source (e.g. published books or periodicals), without due acknowledgement in the text. In all written work submitted for assessment in the faculty, you must show the sources you have referred to throughout your assignment. The principle is that whenever including information or an argument in an assignment that is not your original work or thought the original source must be acknowledged. To present materials without acknowledgement is, in effect, to claim the ideas or work of another as your own. Quoted passages should be placed in quotation marks and their sources cited within the text. A list of all references cited should be placed at the end of your essay or assessment task.

Presenting material from other sources without full acknowledgement (plagiarism) is penalised heavily. This holds for both copying and paraphrasing of other's work.

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Quoting, summarising and paraphrasing

When writing you can present the ideas of others either through direct quotation, or summarising/paraphrasing, depending on your purpose.

For direct quotation

Copy the material from the source carefully. Use quotation marks for even a single word if the original author used it in a special or central way. Do not change any wording, spelling, capitalisation, or punctuation. Use an ellipses mark (three spaced full stops) to indicate the exact point at which you have deliberately left out part of a direct quotation. Use brackets to surround any word, comment, or punctuation mark you add within the quotation. Place the word sic (meaning 'in this manner') in square brackets immediately after any mistake in spelling, grammar, or common knowledge that your reader may otherwise believe to be a misquote. If the quoted material is less than about 40 words, place it in quotation marks within your running text. If it is more than 40 words, set it off from the text without quotation marks. Quotations of the later sort should have an extra line space before and after the quote and all lines should be single spaced and indented from the left.

When you summarise or paraphrase

State in your own words and sentence structures the meaning of someone else's writing. Since the words and sentence structures are yours, you do not use quotation marks, but you must acknowledge the author of the idea. If you use the original sentence pattern and substitute synonyms for key words or use the original words and change the sentence pattern, you are not paraphrasing but plagiarising (even if the source is acknowledged) because both methods use someone else's expression without quotation marks. In paraphrasing it is crucial not only to use your own form of expression but also to represent the author's meaning without distorting it.

Example

Original

"In the forefeet of pigs is a very fine hole, which may be seen when the hair has been carefully removed."(Smith, 1996, p.23)

Plagiarism

In the front feet of pigs is an extremely small hole, which can be viewed after the hair has been cautiously taken out.

This is plagiarism because the sentence structure is the same as the original and the original source has not been acknowledged.

Paraphrase

Careful removal of the hair from pigs' feet will reveal a small hole. (Smith, 1996, p.23)
This is not plagiarism as the original source has been acknowledged. However, without acknowledgement this would also be plagiarism. Paraphrasing that is closely modelled on the original sentence structure also requires the inclusion of a page number in the citation.

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Checklist

Review this checklist before beginning to write and again after you have completed your first draft, to ensure you acknowledge sources fairly and avoid plagiarising.

1. What type of source are you using: your own independent material, common knowledge, or someone else's material?
2. If you are quoting someone else's material, is the quotation exact? Have you used quotation marks for quotations that are part of the text? Have you set off block quotes with an extra space before and after the quote, single spacing within the quote and left indenting of all lines of the block quote? Are omissions shown as ellipses and additions with square brackets?
3. If you are paraphrasing someone else's material, have you rewritten it in your own words and sentence structures? Does your paraphrase employ quotation marks when you resort to the author's exact language? Have you represented the author's meaning without distortion?
4. Have you acknowledged each use of someone else's material?
5. Do all references contain complete and accurate information on the sources you have cited?
6. Have you completed and signed a cover sheet for your work if you are submitting it in hard copy, or completed an electronic form if you're submitting your work electronically?