Q. What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s ideas as your own. If you don’t know when to cite and reference the sources you have used, you may be guilty of plagiarism without realising it. If you keep a record of where you find your information, then it will be easy to find the details when you need to reference your work.

The University’s Code of Practice on Assessment provides the following definition of plagiarism:

Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents, as his/her own work, the work, written or otherwise, of any other person (including another student) or of any institution. Examples of forms of plagiarism include:

• the verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;
• the close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;
• unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work;
• the deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own.

All types of work submitted by students are covered by this definition, including, for example, written work, diagrams, designs, charts, musical compositions and pictures.

For further advice on avoiding plagiarism, see the University Policy for Dealing with Plagiarism, Collusion and Fabrication of Data and the Library's Referencing guide.