What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and using, without acknowledgement, as one's own, the thoughts, data or writings of another.
These could be actual ideas, words or information from any source (books,
articles, newspapers, films, internet, etc). Using other people's ideas without
this acknowledgement is regarded as stealing, since they are the intellectual
property of those who created them.
Common reasons for plagiarism
Plagiarism can sometimes happen inadvertently, or students may be unaware
that certain practices constitute plagiarism. For example:
- Copying a whole paragraph exactly, or even with a few minor changes with
the reference at the end of the paragraph, constitutes plagiarism, as it is
not clear to the reader how much of the paragraph came from the source.
- Copying one or more sentences from one or more sources without using inverted
commas to indicate a quotation, even if the references are given at the end,
is plagiarism.
- Paraphrasing by changing a word here and there in a sentence without changing
the basic sentence structure and meaning is also plagiarism, even
with acknowledgement.
- Presenting opinions, criticisms and judgments written by others in a way
that could be seen as your contribution to the argument also constitutes
plagiarism (e.g. as in sentences that you might start with "Another
interpretation is possible ... It could be questioned..., It could be suggested
..." and not stating where these opinions came from)
The consequences of plagiarism
The University takes plagiarism seriously and the penalties for it can be
quite severe. You can lose marks for an assignment, lose credit for the whole
course, or you can even be excluded from your program depending on the severity
of your offence.
How to avoid plagiarism
- Always record bibliographic details from all the sources you consult (and
remember to include the page number), so you will never be in the situation
of wanting to use some information or ideas but cannot remember where they
come from.
- When taking notes you must differentiate between what you have copied
verbatim (put this in inverted commas), summaries in your own words, and
ideas you generate while reading (see note taking).
- Don't take notes as you read each sentence, rather read a section and
then ask yourself what is relevant to your topic in what
you have just read.
- Integrate ideas from several sources, again trying to decide how you want
to use the information for your own purpose.
- When you are reading look at how experts in the field use their data and
information.
The more you think about your topic and your response to it, the less likely
you are to fall into the trap of just repeating what others have said and unwittingly
committing plagiarism.
UQ
policy on plagiarism
http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/index.html?page=25128&pid=25075
Useful
links in this kit
Note taking
Referencing
Using and integrating sources
