| |
|
|
|
|
The university has
strict rules about plagiarism, and a series of penalties for those found guilty
of it. These penalties can be quite serious, depending on the severity of the
offence, the stage of the course and the offender's past record. In the most
serious cases it could make the difference between obtaining a degree or not.
Unfortunately, however, every year a number of students are found guilty of plagiarism. In many cases this is simply because they do not understand the rules, or realise how important it is to abide by them.
Plagiarism is basically the passing off of somebody else's work as your own. In other words, it is a form of copying or cheating. Most students who are involved in plagiarism would be horrified to be called 'cheats', and are quite sincere when they say that they did not intend to break the rules.
The arrival of the
Internet has made the task of finding information much quicker and easier. Instead
of sitting in a library sifting through dozens of books, you can reach most
of the information you want through your PC. And when you find it, what could
be easier than to copy and paste it into your essay or report?
This is where you must be extremely careful. If you use exactly the same words as someone else, without acknowledging your source, you are committing plagiarism. It is not sufficient to put a reference at the bottom of the page saying "Information taken from www.essays.com"; the words in question must be in quotation marks, and their source indicated.
e.g. "Recent studies indicate that approximately 30 percent of all students may be plagiarising on every written assignment they complete." (from www.plagiarism.org)
According to a recent statement from Oxford University, as few as six consecutive words which are the same as a source can be considered as plagiarism if not properly attributed.
Of course, you cannot
submit an essay made up entirely of quotes - you must have some words of your
own; in fact, the bulk of your essay must be your own, with supporting quotes
from elsewhere. You should use quotes to reinforce the arguments and assertions
you are making in your essay, to show that your ideas come from your research
and are not just the product of a fertile imagination.
If you are writing
a report, which is a more factual document, the principles remain the same:
you must enclose all direct quotes in quotation marks and state the source.
The bulk of the words in the report must be your own, even if the information
they contain is drawn from other sources. Use a variety of sources where possible,
to demonstrate that you have considered the question from different angles and
researched it thoroughly; it is still possible to commit plagiarism even if
your words are not exactly the same as your source, if your tutor/marker feels
that you have simply paraphrased someone else's work.
Another more obvious
form of plagiarism is copying from another student. It need hardly be said that
this practice is heavily penalised if detected. Unfortunately there are some
students who will not hesitate to copy your work if you give them the chance.
Therefore be very careful who you lend disks to, what you leave on machines
in the labs, and so on. Otherwise you may find yourself being accused of plagiarism
when it is your work that has been copied.
During
the marking process, any suspicion of plagiarism is thoroughly investigated.
All written work may be submitted to a system used by many UK universities
called 'Turnitin'. This will compare your work against:
If the marking team feel that there is a case to answer, your mark will be withheld until a hearing can be arranged. At this hearing you can explain your side of the story to a panel, who will examine all the evidence and make an appropriate decision. You may bring someone with you to support your case if you wish.
As indicated above, the penalties may be quite severe for serious cases, but we aim to give any student a full and fair chance to defend themselves.