What is plagiarism?
 Plagiarism is theft. It is deliberately passing off the work (be it ideas, words or labour) of other people as your own.
There are however, different levels of plagiarism and the following is a brief guide to these.

Complete plagiarism - when you submit a piece of work as your own but it is actually all someone else's e.g. a fellow student's or copied straight from a book or website.

Near-Complete plagiarism - when you submit a piece of work as your own but most of it is someone else's e.g. a fellow student or copied from a book or web page.

Patchwork plagiarism -where you have used bits from lots of different works and 'stitched' them together to make your work.

Lazy plagiarism - not referencing your sources or using someone else's work as part of yours without referencing it.

Self-plagiarism - using a piece of work you've already submitted again and either re-submitting it for a different assessment or changing it slightly to meet the new requirements.

 How do I avoid plagiarism?

 1.Reference

The main way to ensure that you are not charged with plagiarism is to reference your work i.e. saying in the text where you got the quote or ideas from.

Your tutor will be able to tell you how they want this done.

You can read the reference leaflet available from the Learning Resource Centre.

 
2. Include a bibliography

A list of all the resources you used to write your work is one of the best ways to show where you got your ideas.

Your tutor will be able to tell you how they want this done.

You can read the bibliography leaflet available from the Learning Resource Centre.

 
3. Make clear notes

Accidental plagiarism is often the result of poor notes - make sure if you make notes from a resource you clearly mark where you have copied the text and where you have summarised what was said.

4. Ask

Ask your tutor or a member of staff at the Learning Resource Centre for more information.

Problem areas

 Quotations

If you copy something straight from a source (i.e. book, journal, internet site etc.) you must surround this with quotation marks and reference where you got it.

For example "the social nature of aardvarks is best illustrated in the family group" (Wilson, 2003, p.56).

 Summaries

Usually you will not use huge strings of quotes, instead you will summarise what was said. Summaries must be all your own words. You can't just pick out sentences and quotations, string them in a different order and hand it in, that is still copying someone else's work.

 
You must reference your summary and it is good practise to start the summary using phrases like:

According to Bahn, ...

Renfrew argues ...

Put in summary form, Wilson's thesis is ...

 
If you are then going to move on to make your own opinion or that of another, you can start with phrases such as:

The conclusion we can draw from this is ...

The argument seems flawed in three ways...

Wilson's opinion needs to be balanced with that of Gilmour, who claims that ...

 For example

According to Gilmour, running not only improves your immediate health but also improves stamina and helps to ensure emotional well being (Gilmour, 1999). This opinion needs to be balanced with that of Wilson, who claims that not only will running damage the body physically but is also detrimental to the runners emotional health (Wilson 2004).

 Common Knowledge

Common knowledge is well known information and does not need to be referenced, even if you did not know it before you started and had to look it up.

For example

Queen Elizabeth I was the queen of England between 1558 and 1603.

As a general rule if you look the information up in a reference book or dictionary you do not need to reference unless you are making a direct quote. Common knowledge is fact and does not cover opinions. If in doubt, ask your tutor whether the information is common knowledge or not.

Further Information

The Department of Zoology at the UniversityofBritish Columbia has produced a guide to plagiarism, what it is and how to avoid it. http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/bpg/plagiarism.htm

The UniversityofMelbourne provides student advice on plagiarism and has several useful examples.http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism/advice.html

The UniversityofTeesidehas an online version of their study skills centre that includes this useful piece on plagiarism. +http://dissc.tees.ac.uk/Plagiarism/Contents.htm+