English Language Materials
The Language Centre
Newcastle University
Avoiding plagiarism
Writing for Arts and Social Sciences
Teachers’ Notes and Answer Key
Task 1
Discussion
This task is intended to raise awareness of plagiarism and ways to avoid it. Discussion
about the comments made by students A – F could highlight the following issues:
Student A:
 Not all words can be changed (e.g.: technical terms, proper names must
remain the same)
 It is not enough to change words. The sentence structure and style must also
be the writer’s own (and therefore different from the original for the most part.
Student B:
 Attitudes to plagiarism and tutors’ expectations about their students’ work
vary from country to country and academic culture to academic culture.
Plagiarism is indeed a serious matter in UK universities and international
students must learn how to avoid it.
Student C:
 Quotations should be used sparingly. An assignment that is little more than a
series of quotations will not be awarded a good mark and may be failed.
Student D:
 While this is true in some cultures, all students at UK universities must follow
what is considered good academic practice in this country.
Student E:
 There are two kinds of plagiarism: plagiarism of ideas and plagiarism of
language, so ‘Yes’, it would be wrong to pass other people’s work off as our
own. This includes failing to acknowledge published sources, copying another
student’s work and getting another person to write an assignment for you.
Student F:
 This is certainly one of the reasons why we must acknowledge source. Others
are given above (Student E).
A definition of plagiarism:
The Mcmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners defines plagiarism as “the
process of taking another person’s work, ideas or words, and using them as if they
were your own.”
1S1 and 2S1: Writing letters of application – Teachers’ notes and answer key
Created by Alicia Cresswell on 01/11/03
D:\106731577.doc
Task 2
Recognising plagiarism
Student 1:
 PLAGIARISED. This is a good summary of the source text but the source is
not acknowledged.
Student 2:
 PLAGIARISED. Although the source is acknowledged (author’s name and
date in brackets at the end of the student text), the resulting text is almost
identical to the source.
Student 3:
 NOT PLAGIARISED: The source is acknowledged and the quotation is
clearly marked as such by the use of quotation marks.
Student 4:
 NOT PLAGIARISED: The source is acknowledged and most of the words in
the source text have been changed. However, this is a rather mechanical
approach to paraphrasing. If a longer text was given this treatment (i.e.:
changing vocabulary only and leaving sentence structure intact), the student
could be accused of plagiarising the source.
Student 5:
 PLAGIARISED: This student made an attempt to change the sentence
structure to begin with, but most of the text is virtually the same as the source,
both in grammatical structure and vocabulary. The source is not
acknowledged.
Task 3
Vocabulary
Word/phrase is source text
The whole of southern Africa
catastrophe
the world has ever seen
the productive generation
is being hit
has dropped
has precipitated
global outcry
a revolution of sorts
have prevented
keep them alive
delivered some gains
those with vested interests in the status quo
Could be replaced by:
Countries in southern Africa
crisis, disaster
in human history
people/adults in their prime
is being affected
has fallen
has caused/generated
worldwide protests
demand for change
have stopped
save their lives
had some success
those who benefit from the
current state of affairs
1S1 and 2S1: Writing letters of application – Teachers’ notes and answer key
Created by Alicia Cresswell on 01/11/03
D:\106731577.doc
Grammatical structure:
 Join these two sentences into one, incorporating changes to vocabulary
whenever possible:
It is the productive generation that is being hit – the workers, nurses, teachers, farmers
and parents. In some countries, life expectancy has dropped to below 40.
People’s lives are being cut short by disease, which has
brought life expectancy down to less than 40 in some
countries, thus drastically reducing the number of key
workers and leaving many children orphaned.

Split this long sentence into two, incorporating changes to vocabulary
whenever possible:
But although the revolution has begun and has delivered some gains in the shape of
cheaper Aids drugs, there is every sign that those with vested interests in the status quo –
the multinational pharmaceutical companies and the governments of countries where they
are based – are now very effectively closing down the opportunities for future change.
The demand for change has been so strong that cheaper
Aids drugs are now available. However, further progress is
unlikely because those who benefit from the current state
of affairs, namely large pharmaceutical companies and
the governments of some of the richest countries in the
world, are doing all they can to protect their interests.

Change the order of clauses in this sentence, incorporating changes to
vocabulary whenever possible:
But although the revolution has begun and has delivered some gains in the shape of
cheaper Aids drugs, there is every sign that those with vested interests in the status quo –
the multinational pharmaceutical companies and the governments of countries where they
are based – are now very effectively closing down the opportunities for future change.
Those who benefit from the current state of affairs, namely
large pharmaceutical companies and the governments of
some of the richest countries in the world, will continue
to do everything in their power to protect their interests,
and in so doing will put an end to the progress made in
response to the growing demand for change.
 Style:
The source text uses hyphens to introduce explanations. You should use other
devices to do this; for example, the phrases “namely” or “that is to say”. The
sentences in the source text are quite long. You could try writing shorter
sentences.
1S1 and 2S1: Writing letters of application – Teachers’ notes and answer key
Created by Alicia Cresswell on 01/11/03
D:\106731577.doc
Task 5
Bergsten, C.F. and L.B. Krause (eds.) (1975) World Politics and International
Economics. Washington: Brookings Institution.
Kegley, C.W. and E.R. Wittkopf (2001) World Politics: Trend and Transformation 8th
Edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Meek, J. (2001) The future’s bright, the future’s grey’. The Guardian Thursday 2
August 2001.
Roberts, J. (2002) Environmental Policy. London: Routledge.
Robertson, D.P. and R.B. Hall (2003) Public Ecology: An Environmental Science and
Policy for Global Society. Environmental Science and Policy 6/5: 399-410.
Wilkinson, D. and I. Skinner (2002) Environmental Sustainability in UK Structural
Funds Programmes 2000-2006. Report published by the Institute for European
Environmental
Policy.
Retrieved
03/11/03
from:
http://www.ieep.org.uk/PDFFiles/PUBLICATIONS/EncSustainabilityInUKSFPro
grammes.pdf
1S1 and 2S1: Writing letters of application – Teachers’ notes and answer key
Created by Alicia Cresswell on 01/11/03
D:\106731577.doc