The problem of plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism can be defined as intentionally or unintentionally failing to acknowledge the source of ideas or quoted text in a creative work. In an academic context, the most common forms of plagiarism are:
-
Presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own, e.g.
- You buy an assignment and submit it as your own work
- You copy all or part of someone else’s assignment and submit it as your own work
- You obtain ideas or information from a Generative AI (GenAI) tool and submit it as your own work, where the use of GenAI is allowed for the concerned assessment task
- Self-plagiarism: Submitting the same material (even a portion) for credit in more than one assessment task without proper acknowledgement
- Collusion: Helping someone else to plagiarize by letting them submit your work as their own
- Copying too much from sources, whether or not you use citation and referencing, so that the assignment shows too little of your own thought
- Copying others’ words or ideas without proper acknowledgement in a submitted work for assessment
Why is plagiarism a problem?
Plagiarism is a problem not only because it is a form of academic dishonesty, but because it interferes with your process of learning at the University. If you submit someone else’s words or ideas as your own:
- you miss opportunities to think, learn and discover
- your teachers do not have an accurate idea of your knowledge and skills
On the other hand, presenting your own ideas in your own words enables you to understand the concepts well and therefore presents opportunities for learning.
Plagiarism has always been a problem at universities, but digital technology has made it much more common. The Internet is a remarkably powerful and useful tool, but it is a form of technology with a negative side - it may be tempting to cut and paste large amounts of digital text into your own assignments without proper citation and referencing, because it is easy to do. Don’t fall into this trap!
Common excuses for plagiarism
Students sometimes make excuses when they are accused of plagiarism. Here are some of the examples:
- “I didn’t know the rules”
- “I didn’t have time to do my own work”
- “I didn’t have time to check my citations and references”
- “The original author’s words are much better than what I can write”
- “I didn’t think anyone would notice”
- “I didn’t think it was important”
This tutorial aims to make you aware of the inappropriateness of these excuses so that you can take positive steps to act in an appropriate way in your academic studies: see the Useful Tips.
What is proper acknowledgement?
To acknowledge the work of others in your assignment, you use citation and referencing.
When you paraphrase other’s ideas you need to include:
- an in-text citation
- an entry in the reference list
When you quote other’s exact words you also need to include:
- quotation marks around their words (" ")
- a page reference for the quoted passage
Important: If you don’t use citation and referencing to acknowledge sources, or if you do so poorly, this is considered plagiarism.
In addition, it is dishonest of you to cite sources that you have not read.
Examples
Look at the example paraphrases below and compare them with the original text. Have the writers used citation and referencing adequately? Why or why not?
Original text by Rebecca Moore Howard
“[P]atchwriting is not always a form of academic dishonesty; it is not always committed by immoral writers. Often it is a form of writing that learners employ when they are unfamiliar with the words and ideas about which they are writing. In this situation, patchwriting can actually help the learner begin to understand the unfamiliar material. Yet it is a transitional writing form; it is never acceptable for final-draft academic writing, for it demonstrates that the writer does not fully understand the source from which he or she is patchwriting… Patchwriting can also be the result of a student’s attempt to deceive, in which case the minimum penalty is an ‘F’ in the course and the maximum penalty, suspension from the university” (Howard, 1995, p. 799-800).
Howard, R.M. (1995). Plagiarisms, authorships, and the academic death penalty. College English, 57(7), 788-806.
Paraphrase 1
Patchwriting can actually help the learner begin to understand unfamiliar material. However, patchwriting is a transitional writing form; it is never acceptable for the final-draft of an academic assignment.
Reference list
Howard, R.M. (1995). Plagiarisms, authorships, and the academic death penalty. College English, 57(7), 788-806.
Has the writer used citation and referencing adequately?
See answer
Paraphrase 2
Patchwriting can be used by some students as one step towards understanding unfamiliar material, and is thus a transitional writing form. Others may use it with dishonest intentions, in which case severe penalties should apply.
Reference list
Howard, R.M. (1995). Plagiarisms, authorships, and the academic death penalty. College English, 57(7), 788-806.
Has the writer used citation and referencing adequately?
See answer
Paraphrase 3
Howard (1995) points out that patchwriting can be used by some students as one step towards understanding unfamiliar material, and is thus what she calls a ‘transitional writing form’ (p. 799). Others, she concedes, may use it with dishonest intentions, in which case severe penalties should apply.
Reference list
Howard, R.M. (1995). Plagiarisms, authorships, and the academic death penalty. College English, 57(7), 788-806.
Has the writer used citation and referencing adequately?
See answer