Plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the use of the words, thoughts, findings and ideas of others without
acknowledging them as such. Some instances of plagiarism are deliberate, for
example, if work is copied in order to meet a deadline. In other cases it may be done
in ignorance. Either way, plagiarism is a form of cheating and will be penalised.
Collusion
Collusion is another form of plagiarism. While collaboration and group work are
required in order for students to exchange ideas and work as a team, this must not
result in the submission of individual work that is the same or very similar as another
student’s. In such cases, collaboration becomes collusion.
Other examples of collusion are where one student writes a piece of work for
another, perhaps for payment, or where an essay is bought from an online supplier.
Regulations, policy and procedures
The University’s policy statement and guidance notes on plagiarism are available in
the ‘Regulations, Policy and Procedures’ document. This can be found by following
the link on the Gateway website or when you login to: my.sunderland.ac.uk.
The penalties for any breach of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, will be
determined by a School Infringements Panel. Each case of suspected plagiarism will
be treated on its own merit and the penalty will reflect the gravity of the offence.
Ignorance of the rules and reasons such as “I ran out of time” or “I was under
pressure” will not be accepted in mitigation.
How to avoid plagiarism
By adopting good study techniques you can learn to avoid plagiarism:
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Use your own words when taking notes, picking out keywords rather than
phrases, or using diagrams to illustrate relationships between key concepts.
When making notes, always keep full details of your sources.
Use a web page like any published resource and make notes in your own words.
Make sure it's absolutely clear which are your thoughts and which are those of
someone else by using quotation marks and citations as appropriate - see
handout on Citations and references.
Don't be tempted to use the same sentence structure and replace a few words
with synonyms - this is still plagiarism.
If you take an idea and summarize it in your own words and style, (paraphrasing),
the idea is still not your own, so you must cite the source.
Ensure that the original source can be easily located by citing it correctly.
Research suggests that most students who plagiarise do so because they're
running out of time, so make sure you plan your work effectively
Try not to rely on one or two sources, utilize as wide a range of resources as
appropriate –
If in doubt, cite it anyway.
Citations and references
There are two formats for including citations (references to other people’s work) in
your own academic writing.
1. Reporting
Example 1
The author’s name is part of your text and the date is in bracket.
According to Peters (1983) evidence from first language acquisition indicates that
lexical phrases are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks.
Example 2
The author and date are in brackets within or at the end of the text.
Evidence from first language acquisition (Peters, 1983) indicates that lexical phrases
are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks. OR
Lexical phrases are learnt first as unanalysed lexical chunks (Peters, 1983).
Reference (this is how the full reference would look at the end of your assignment. In
this case it is a book).
Peters, A. (1983). The units of language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2. Direct quotation
At times, you may want to quote an author's words. In this case you should use
single quotation marks (inverted commas) around the quoted words.
Example 3
Short quotation. The citation is in brackets at the end and includes the page
number.
Despite common practice, the available research suggests that ‘teaching by written
comment on compositions is generally ineffective.’ (Hillocks,1982. p.267).
Example 4
Long quotation, Text is usually indented and set apart from the main text in a
smaller font with only single line spacing.
Jenz and Hubbard in their study of teaching in secondary schools point out that:
Resources tended to be limited to conventional text books which concentrated on the finer and
more abstract concepts in French grammar. The books had illustrations and did not appear to
be convey a feeling for contemporary French Life. (Jenz and Hubbard, 1987 p. 86)
Reference (this is how the full reference for example 3 would look at the end of your
assignment. In this case it is a journal).
Hillocks, G. (1982). The interaction of instruction, teacher comment, and revision in
teaching the composing process. Research in the Teaching of English, 16, 261-278.
There are no hard rules about using direct quotations, but in general you should:
avoid using more than one long quotation per 1000 words
avoid quoting information that is well-known in your subject area
avoid quotations that disagree with your argument unless you can prove they are wrong
avoid using quotes because you cannot understand the meaning of the original source
avoid using quotations to make your points for you; use them to support your points.