As exam and dissertation season keeps ticking over, our Advice Centre gives you some tips of avoiding plagiarism.
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the presentation of another person’s work as your own, without proper attribution or reference. This can be intentional and unintentional. Many people don’t realise that you can also plagiarise your own work. This is called self-plagiarism. Self-plagiarism is described as replicating one’s own submitted/published work without referencing or making any major changes.
Plagiarism may be a new concept to some however, it is considered an academic misconduct, and it is not taken lightly by the university. It is therefore important that the quality of your writing as well as the quality of your referencing are the best possible.
To avoid falling outside the realm of academic integrity, here are some tips you could incorporate into your writing to avoid being flagged for academic misconduct allegations.
1. We already know the saying that ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ It is important that you do not leave your work to the last minute and if you find that you are struggling to manage you time it may be helpful to get an extension for a particular assignment. However, where the problems affecting your time management are unavoidable, unforeseen or beyond your control perhaps you may want to speak to an advisor about applying for Extenuating Circumstances. That being said, it is important to have a plan so that you can refine you work with every draft. As you plan you might find it help to put in brackets points that are yours with a ‘ME’ and points from an author an ‘AP’ in brackets to make referencing easier.
2. Give yourself time to look over your work and references to ensure that you have corrected any grammatical errors or gaps in your referencing. You might find it helpful to use the ‘editor’ tool in MS Word for spelling and grammar checks. If you’re unsure about the order of your citations, use the reference guide available for the specific referencing method required for your assignment. For example, the OSCOLA guide.
Tip: If you go to the ‘References’ tab on MS Word and select Style: You can choose the right referencing style for your required assessment. Just make sure you reference according to what is required for your module or assessment.
3. Complete the ‘Avoiding Plagiarism’ course on Moodle. This will teach you good referencing practices and give you information on the Turnitin( the plagiarism detection service used by the university to generate an originality report on your submitted work)
4. Practice good paraphrasing- to paraphrase the right way make sure you understand what the author of the source is saying. Then in your won words explain what is being discussed and still cite the original source to acknowledge the writer.
5. Use quotations when you are directly lifting statements from a source exactly as they are written (verbatim) and remember to cite afterwards.
6. Practice summarising information you have read. This not only helps you to show off your understanding of the research you have done but allows you to avoid copying words exactly as they have been written. Remember to cite even after providing a summary because the ideas you are portraying are not yours.
7. If you need help developing your academic skills, book at appointment with CeDAS (Centre for the Development of Academic Skills) or join one of their drop-ins. Their appointments or drop-ins are tailored to help you with your academic writing and communication, maths, stats, numeracy and studying independently.
8. Finally, keep a record of the progress of your assignment even after you have submitted the assignment so that in the unfortunate event you are flagged for academic misconduct you can use those documents as evidence.
Unfortunately, it is not unheard of to be alleged of an academic misconduct. If you are alleged of any academic misconduct, contact the SU Advice Centre to speak to one of our friendly advisors who would support you by giving you impartial and confidential guidance on responding to the allegation.Please contact us on advice@su.rhul.ac.uk