Avoiding Plagiarism

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is presenting the words and/or ideas of others as if they were your own, for example:

Handing in someone else's work in your own name (begging, borrowing or buying a paper) This is a clear example of intentional plagiarism

	Copying information without saying where this comes from
	Repeating someone else's words or ideas without referencing these
These can be accidental or deliberate forms of plagiarism

Plagiarism is the academic equivalent to stealing and whether information is plagiarised intentionally or unintentionally, it is still an offence.

Avoiding plagiarism requires you to master the art of knowing how to draw on the wisdom of others and still be able to create your own original work.

It is strongly recommended that you read the University of Wollongong policy on plagiarism.

This policy

• defines plagiarism;
• outlines how and when to reference;
• explains ways to avoid plagiarism, and
• details the academic procedures for investigating plagiarism and other forms of cheating.

The following summary from the policy explains plagiarism and the penalties:

1. Acknowledgement Practice Ideas are important and people should receive appropriate credit for having ideas. If, in writing an essay or report you copy information and don't give a reference this is: unfair to the author who wrote the text; unfair to other students who do their own work without copying; failure to do independent work as expected in a university; a breach of copyright. 2. Plagiarism Plagiarism means using the ideas of someone else without giving them proper credit. That someone else may be an author, critic, journalist, artist, composer, lecturer, tutor or another student. Intentional plagiarism is a serious form of cheating. Unintentional plagiarism can result if you don't understand and don't use the acceptable scholarly methods of acknowledgment. In either case, the University may impose penalties which can be very severe. What are the penalties for plagiarism? The penalties for plagiarism can be severe and can range from a zero grade for an assignment or subject to expulsion from a subject and from the university. For this reason, you need to learn how to avoid plagiarism.

The questions in the compulsory ILIP assignment directly relate to this policy.

How to identify and avoid plagiarism

Consider the paragraphs below and then answer the questions. The first is the original work and is cited in the reference list.

1. Lifelong learning is intertwined with self directed/independent learning and participative citizenship. The American Library Association (1989) states that information literacy is 'a means of personal empowerment. It allows people to verify or refute expert opinion and to become independent seekers of truth.' (cited in Lupton 2004, p12)
   
   
2. Life-long learning is something that we should all participate in so that we better ourselves and contribute to society. The American Library Association states that information literacy is 'a means of personal empowerment. It has been suggested also that information literacy enables people to decide the accuracy of what is being said and to develop critical evaluation skills.

Tick all that apply
	Both paragraphs appear to be correctly written with no plagiarism
	The incorrect punctuation in Passage b suggests that this has been copied and pasted
	Passage b cites the American Library Association and an author and should be referenced
	Passage b paraphrases Passage a but does this in a way that does not need referencing
	Lupton in Passage a is correctly cited
Click here to check your answers.

Activity Do this quick quiz for further practice in avoiding plagiarism.   T F 1. You want to include some information from a past seminar in your paper. You need to reference this. 2. You are building on someone else's ideas but not quoting them directly. You do not need to reference this. 3. You have included in your reference list an author whose ideas were important to the writing of your paper. You do not need to cite the author in the body of your writing. 4. You ended up only using two words from a lengthy quote, and anybody could have said these. You do not need to cite the author. 5. You are quoting a comment but are unsure of the context of this comment. You should go back to the original source to verify the accuracy of the comment. 6. You are repeating information that you believe is commonly known. eg Sydney is in NSW. You do not need cite this if you believe your readers already know the information and could easily find it themselves. 7. You have worked hard to summarise the argument of another writer, and changed the words significantly. You do not need to cite. 8. You have cut and pasted a paragraph from an original piece of work but left out a couple or words and changed the order of the sentences. This is a form of plagiarism. Click here to check your answers.

How to reference the works of others and avoid plagiarism

The ILIP modules are a starting point on how to effectively integrate information into your work as well as correctly reference this information. There are various ways to reference (or cite) the works or ideas of others. Learning Development suggests the following

Avoiding plagiarism is made easier by developing an awareness of academic writing skills and conventions. Some of these include: Efficient and effective note-taking and note-making strategies; An understanding of the difference between direct and indirect quotations; An understanding of the difference between summarising and paraphrasing; An understanding of how to integrate evidence from sources into your writing; and An understanding of referencing conventions of your faculty. Short explanations of these conventions and skills are provided at the Learning Development site above. Please note that this information is highly condensed and is only meant to create a general awareness. The skills required to avoid plagiarism and to effectively integrate sources into your work can be practiced at the interactive UniLearning website. Remember you should also refer to the guidelines for referencing within your faculty, as there can be variations across the university.

Other Tips

Don't leave your work until the last minute. This means you are rushing and taking shortcuts. You may inadvertently include information or quote from the source without referencing this properly.

Plan ahead and take your time when reading through resources. Take notes to record what you read (highlighting quotes), as well as notes on how to find the reading again. Make sure that when you refer to this information you reference the original source(s). If you quote, use the correct punctuation as well as the reference.

Keep copies of work developed by you as evidence of your authorship. The University's Intellectual Property Policy 5.9 explains students' rights as owners of work, and the exceptions.

Make an accurate record of the electronic sources you have obtained information from, including the date you accessed this information. It is very important to cite electronic sources correctly and more information on how to do this is available from the Library's Referencing electronic databases & Web resources.

Refer to your Subject Outlines for details of the particular reference style used in your courses.

You can find out how to reference the works of others properly by making use of:

1. Learning Development resources (select the Help with studying and assignments link on the Current Students page of the University of Wollongong homepage), and
   
   
2. the list of referencing and style guides provided by the Library

References

Bartlett, A, Holzknecht, S & Cumming Thom, A 1999, Preparing Students for Graduate Study: To Hit the Ground Running, Asia Pacific Press, Canberra.

Lupton, M 2004, The Learning Connection: Information Literacy and the Student Experience, Auslib Press, Adelaide.

Martin, B 1994, 'Plagiarism: a misplaced emphasis', Journal of Information Ethics, vol.3, no.2, pp36-46.

Online Writing Lab (OWL) 2004, Avoiding Plagiarism: Printable Handouts, Purdue University, accessed 2/3/2005, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html

Swales, J & Feak, C 1994, Academic Writing for Graduate Students: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Abor, Michigan.