What is plagiarism and how do I avoid it?
Answer
Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own work. This might be done accidentally by not referencing properly, or not paraphrasing well. It might be done deliberately by pretending you wrote something that you didn’t write, using essay-writing services, or in some other way.
Self-plagiarism is when you submit work you have done previously as new work, without referencing your previous work properly.
Collusion is a kind of plagiarism when you work with somebody else on work that should be done yourself. If an assignment is a group project, working together is fine. For all other assignments, all of the work must be your own.
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and should be avoided at all costs. To avoid accidentally plagiarising work:
- Use our referencing guide to make sure you use citations and references clearly and accurately
- Make sure you are paraphrasing information in your own words, not just using quotations.
- Do not attempt to submit previously submitted work as new work. If you use information from something you have written previously, make sure you have referenced it properly.
- Unless your assignment is a group project, do not work with other people on it.
- Never pay or ask somebody to write an assignment for you. Though these services are currently legal under UK law, this is still plagiarism and you risk serious penalties.
For more advice and information about plagiarism, please see the ‘Plagiarism and how to avoid it’ page by Academic and Learning Support.
You can also complete the ‘Avoiding Plagiarism’ course on Moodle.
