Statement on Plagiarism

Students need to show they can think independently and sustain in their own words a clear and cogent argument. Students may not submit work containing unacknowledged or improperly acknowledged transcription or excessive quotation of the work of others. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre is available to help students who have problems with expression.

Plagiarism is a most serious academic offence, and severe penalties will be imposed on anyone found guilty of it. Students may sometimes offend in this way inadvertently, through inexperience or failure to understand the aims and methods of university study. The attention of students is therefore directed to the following explanation. Apart from the question of deliberate deceit, the practices described here can impede sound thinking: learning to avoid them is part of training in the skills of good scholarship.

Plagiarism can be defined as 'the appropriation, by copying, summarising or paraphrasing, of another's ideas or argument, without acknowledgement'. Modes of misappropriation are described below.

Copying

Copying is the quotation of another author's text, word for word, without acknowledgement. Such quotation is only permissible when indicated by quotation marks or indentation and acknowledged by exact references. It is not sufficient to make a general attribution or give references for some but not all of the passages copied. References should be to the work in which the material is found: lifting references or footnotes which refer to a third work (as if it had been consulted when in fact it has not) is not acceptable.

Summarising

To summarise the argument of other authors (for example, by isolating main points and tracing connections) is legitimate, provided it is made clear this is being done. However, to summarise others' arguments, ideas or information as though they were one's own is plagiarism.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing means putting an author's meaning into different words. This is permissible only if full and exact references are given. A common form of plagiarism combines copying with paraphrase, repeating some words of the original text and substituting different words for others. The more the wording is changed, the more fully the copyist may have understood the material, but it is still necessary to give the source of the ideas and of any direct quotations.

Penalties for plagiarism may include resubmission of the work, the award of no marks for an assignment and failure in the unit. All examples of intentional plagiarism will be reported to the Faculty Office.

You should make sure you have read the Science Faculty Statement on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism.

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