plagiarism, exactly what is it?

Ask your tutor or someone at your uni for a copy of their guidelines, you should be given a copy so that you know what you can/can't do.

Generally speaking though, ALWAYS, reference things. That way you can show that you knew it was someone elses work and referenced it and didnt try and pass it off as your own. If you are referring to someone elses ideas/theories etc then re-word it and then reference it. If you copy it word for word then you need to do it as a quotation use speech marks ("......"), you still need to reference it as well. Generally though try not to quote large chunks of work - its not good practice. Check out your departments guidelines for how they want it to be referenced, different people want it differently!

Also, be careful not to just learn model answers etc for exams - this is cheating as well! If you are refering to someone in an exam answer, you still need to reference it.

When you work with other students be careful that they don't copy your work - its not just you copying them. Also, esp with calculations etc, you may all have similar data but different people can work things out differently, it will look funny if everyone worked their answers out exactly the same!

One of my friends at uni got caught for plagiarism last term. She was in a lab group with another person, he did his calculations the same as she did, so both got the same ones right and the same ones wrong. She didnt realise that he had copied her working until they both got called to a meeting with the head of school. The other guy told her then what he had done. They went to the meeting, the other person said that it had been him who copied. They both ended up with the same punishment though. They said that she was equally in the wrong as she shouldnt have lent the other guy her work in the first place. They both had that module invalidated, so are 10 credits down in effect. Seemed very harsh that she had only lent him her work to look at and he copied, and they both got the same in the end.

Anyway, moral of the story - be very careful lending people your work. Be careful about working with other people etc. If in doubt check with a lecturer or your tutor, so that you know that what you do/have done will be ok.

Reply 5

_EMMA_

OP

16

thanks for the reply guys :smile:

and no guest1984 i'm not cheating, my degree means a lot to me and i wouldn't do that. just wanted to be sure i've understood it right.

Reply 6

guest1984

_EMMA_

thanks for the reply guys :smile:

and no guest1984 i'm not cheating, my degree means a lot to me and i wouldn't do that. just wanted to be sure i've understood it right.

Hi there, what you doing tonight? Want to go on a date? :biggrin:

I never said you was cheating?

If i did? I am so sorry! :eek:

Reply 7

There is also self-plagiarism, i.e. submitting the same piece of work (not necessarily word for word, but covering the same subject matter) for credit more than once, for example when two courses overlap. However, answering exam questions on subjects covered in coursework is apparently OK.

Reply 8

Knogle

16

Manatee

There is also self-plagiarism, i.e. submitting the same piece of work (not necessarily word for word, but covering the same subject matter) for credit more than once, for example when two courses overlap. However, answering exam questions on subjects covered in coursework is apparently OK.

Oh, that's not allowed?

Reply 9

Knogle

Oh, that's not allowed?

Not at UCL. From the History Department Undergraduate Handbook:

Besides ensuring that all essays you submit are your own work, you must also avoid self-plagiarism. This means that you must not submit the same piece of work (with or without merely stylistic variation) in order to gain credit more than once. The same criteria apply to self-plagiarism as to other forms of plagiarism, and it is liable to incur the same penalty.

Most of the time, self-plagiarism isn't an issue, but there is the odd occasion when essay titles from two different, but related, courses overlap - in those circumstances it's wise to choose another title which covers new ground.

Reply 10

Knogle

16

Interesting; thanks for the heads up.

Reply 11

http://www.coursework.info/cgi-bin/e...i?p=plagiarism

Knogle

Interesting; thanks for the heads up.

You're welcome - I'm sure you'll get inundated with anti-plagiarism materials when you start at the LSE!

This is my second degree, but I don't remember anyone going about plagiarism when I did my first (finished 1998). I wonder whether it's become more fashionable/topical, especially with the increasing numbers of students using the Internet?

Anyone else with the same experience? I'm particularly interested in whether Oxford is still relaxed on the subject or whether it now also campaigns vigorously against the evils of plagiarism... :smile:

Reply 12

Mustard-man

18

Reply 13

Elles

17

Manatee

There is also self-plagiarism, i.e. submitting the same piece of work (not necessarily word for word, but covering the same subject matter) for credit more than once, for example when two courses overlap. However, answering exam questions on subjects covered in coursework is apparently OK.

.. but not for my course at oxford.
emerging theme: precise rules are university dependent! :p:

I'm particularly interested in whether Oxford is still relaxed on the subject or whether it now also campaigns vigorously against the evils of plagiarism...

We got given some blurb about authorship with our instructions for submission and blurb about 'duplication of material' from the chairman of examiner's letter. & reference to a Proctor's memorandum & an extract from the 2005 Course Handbooks on Plaigarism.
I wouldn't say campaign though - some friends at universities have had lectures about it..!

Reply 14

Elles

.. but not for my course at oxford.
emerging theme: precise rules are university dependent! :p:

Plagiarism is a minefield! :smile:

Elles

We got given some blurb about authorship with our instructions for submission and blurb about 'duplication of material' from the chairman of examiner's letter. & reference to a Proctor's memorandum & an extract from the 2005 Course Handbooks on Plaigarism.
I wouldn't say campaign though - some friends at universities have had lectures about it..!

Thanks for that - that does seems more than they gave out ten years ago.

Reply 15

Tarts_n_Vicars

We had it thrashed into us at the start of first year how evil plagiarism was but even in the handbook the rules are kind of vague and most of us were bricking it submitting essays thinking we'd get done for plagiarism. It doesn't clearly define what is and isn't plagiarism (i.e. if you have the same opinion as Author X are you plagiarising? Or did you examine the evidence and draw your own conclusion that just happened to be the same one?) so if anything when I write essays now I steer clear of anything that coule remotely be construed as plagiarism and reference like it's going out of fashion.

Realistically from the unis point of view I think it's quite hard to prove and punish...but I've not seen any proof of that lol

Reply 16

kookabura

Tarts and Vicars, I know what you mean, I probably go OTT with my referencing and reference nearly every sentence (well maybe not quite.....) Its the conclusions that I struggle with though, when I am trying to sum things up at the end of an essay I often come up with a conclusion, then read another couple of journals and then find that someone else has already said what I have said - so I reference it to them, and in the end I often have said nothing original!

Reply 17

nikk

15

Reference everything you had to look up to include in your essays and you will not get into trouble. Easy. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

Reply 18

austrian guy

nikk

Reference everything you had to look up to include in your essays and you will not get into trouble. Easy. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

yes. As long as you put down the reference as soon as you quote something there should be no problems. But sometimes people quote things and a week later they have no idea where the words came from and can't put a correct reference. (maybe)

Reply 19

Tarts_n_Vicars