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Plagiarism: How do you avoid it? Where do you draw the line?

When doing essays you need to reference your information and facts to avoid being done for plagiarism.
But where do you draw the line? For example if your doing an essay on plants and say that Photosynthesis is the production of glucose from CO2 and Water in the presence of sunlight (something I’ve known since before year 7). Generally you’d not have to reference something like that, even though that fact you’ve written in your essay was NOT your very own discovery. I’ve read scientific papers where common facts are not referenced.

So where do you actually draw the line on what should be referenced and what facts discovered by other people that don’t need to be referenced?
Original post by Ambitious1999
So where do you actually draw the line on what should be referenced and what facts discovered by other people that don’t need to be referenced?


Use your imagination.
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Avatar for gjd800
gjd800
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A general rule of thumb is that if it is agreed by consensus (so like you say, common fact) then you don't need to reference it. I suppose referencing is most relevant when it is a disputed position being advanced by one person or a small portion of people, a novel point, or new information.

I don't think thats exhaustive, but it has worked for me.
Original post by Ambitious1999
When doing essays you need to reference your information and facts to avoid being done for plagiarism.
But where do you draw the line? For example if your doing an essay on plants and say that Photosynthesis is the production of glucose from CO2 and Water in the presence of sunlight (something I’ve known since before year 7). Generally you’d not have to reference something like that, even though that fact you’ve written in your essay was NOT your very own discovery. I’ve read scientific papers where common facts are not referenced.

So where do you actually draw the line on what should be referenced and what facts discovered by other people that don’t need to be referenced?


Things that are general knowledge - and indisputable - you don't need to reference.

I study history, and I would never reference something like, "World War One lasted from 1914 to 1918",

I only reference when:
a) I've used a specific fact/statistic/primary source, to show where I got it from e.g. "Over 16 million people died in WW1" (because often different sources will give different figures)
b) I've used a specific historian's argument - I name the historian in my paragraph and then reference the specific book/article I'm referring to in my footnotes
c) I'm making a generalisation about the literature - so for example, if I make a sweeping statement like (oversimplified example): "the majority of the literature ignores point X", then I would always back that up with sources


I think you just have to use your own judgement. It gets easier with time and practice.
(edited 5 years ago)

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