PLAGIARISM
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a form of cheating or theft. It is theft of intellectual property.
Sometimes plagiarism is called academic dishonesty. It means using other people’s
work and not acknowledging it. Acknowledging means stating clearly whose ideas
you’ve used and where you found those ideas. Plagiarism is stealing ideas from
others, and passing them off as your own work.
Sometimes plagiarism is deliberate. This means students use other people’s work
without acknowledgement, knowing that what they are doing is wrong. They use
other people’s work and pretend it is their own.
Sometimes, plagiarism occurs out of ignorance. This means that students don’t
understand that what they are doing is a form of cheating. Ignorance, however, is not
an excuse for plagiarism. Students have a responsibility to know about plagiarism.
While staff will help and support students in understanding about plagiarism, it is the
students’ responsibility to be informed. The information in the Student Induction
Materials is designed to help students understand more about it and how to avoid it.
Ensure students read it very carefully.
Plagiarism includes all of the following:
1. Students copying other students’ work and passing it in to be assessed as their
own work (either as an assignment or in an exam)
2. Students working together in a group and then all people in the group passing
in the same work to be assessed
3. Students passing in their own work to be assessed when that work (or some of
that work) has already been passed in for assessment in another unit (in other
words, students are passing in the same piece of work twice)
4. Students copying an author’s exact words, pictures, or diagrams,. and not
acknowledging the source
5. Students inserting their own data into a template or framework created by
another student or author and not acknowledging it
6. Students summarising or paraphrasing an author’s work and not
acknowledging the source
7. Students paying someone else to complete their assignment for them
8. Students buying ready-made assignments from any source (For example, other
students, or the Internet)
9. Students downloading information, assignments, essays or graphics from the
Internet and passing it in as their own work
(Based in part on James, McInnis & Devlin, 2002).
Helping students to learn about plagiarism.
It is not helpful for students to be afraid about plagiarism. The best thing is for
students to be informed about it. Using other people’s ideas is an essential part of
completing a university degree. Scholarship involves researching, understanding and
building upon the work of others. Academic integrity is about mastering these
processes, and using them honestly and appropriately.
Avoiding plagiarism does not mean avoiding other people’s ideas. It means students
being honest and showing clearly which is their own work and which is the work of
others.
Here are some suggestions for helping students to be academically honest and avoid
plagiarism:

Students should make a commitment to learn about plagiarism. They should
set aside quality time to read about it and practise the skills that will help them
avoid it. Here are two places they will find helpful information:
o The UTAS website dealing with Academic Integrity
http://www.UTAS.edu.au/tl/supporting/academicintegrity/index.html
o The Student Induction Materials. In particular, the Learning and Study
Skills section which includes guidelines about Western academic
writing, such as reading academic texts, essay writing, report writing,
quoting, summarising, paraphrasing and referencing. When students
understand how to research topics, structure their own arguments and
present their assignments they will feel more confident. This means
they are less likely to feel the need to copy other people’s work.

When students are making notes from, or copying, any type of information
(written text, pictures, diagrams) from any source such as books, lectures,
journal articles, handouts, newspapers, or the Internet , they should:
o make sure that they show clearly which words are theirs and
which are other people’s. For example, they can use coloured
highlighters or different styles of writing to separate their words/ideas
from others’. When they are quoting (writing down the exact words of
someone else) make sure they enclose those words in quotation marks.
o make sure they write down accurate bibliographic information
(author’s name, date of publication, title of book/article, publisher,
edition.)

Discussing ideas in a group is a valuable and effective learning strategy.
However, it is important that when students are studying in a group with other
students that they know whether or not they are to pass in one assignment
from the whole group or separate, individual assignments. If they are
required to pass in separate individual assignments it is important that they
use the ideas discussed in the group as a starting point only for their own
assignment. Their assignment must be structured according to their own plan
and must include their own original ideas.

Use plagiarism software that will help them detect plagiarism in their own
work. For more information visit:
http://www.UTAS.edu.au/tl/supporting/academicintegrity/userinfo.html
Why do some students plagiarise?
There are many reasons why some students plagiarise other’s work. For example:

they may not realize that they are plagiarizing

they may be worried about failing

they may have an overdue assignment

they may not understand the assignment

they may be feeling lazy

if they are studying in their non-native language, they might be worried about
expressing their own ideas in writing.
Many students feel these things at some time during their university studies. They are
very genuine feelings. However, this does NOT make plagiarism acceptable
behaviour.
For many students, plagiarism is a difficult concept to understand because it is
completely new to their thinking. It is a new way of thinking about ideas and
knowledge and ownership. This can be very confusing. Students are often surprised
and disappointed to find that study methods that they have used successfully in their
own education system can cause them to fail in a Western education system. It will
take time and effort to understand different ways of learning in other cultures. This is
why students must set aside some time to learn about plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Why is it wrong to plagiarise?
The section in these Induction Materials about the different approaches to learning
and the different views of knowledge that exist in some cultures, provides some
understanding of why plagiarism is considered wrong in the Western education
system.
In some cultures, being able to reproduce sacred writings and the ideas of great
scholars is the basis of their education system and is rewarded with success. It is
considered a sign of respect to those great scholars to have their work reproduced.
Students expect that teachers already know the ideas of these great scholars and that
to tell the teacher the source of such ideas is disrespectful to them. Put simply, some
cultures do not believe that any one person can ‘own’ ideas or knowledge. Such
cultures believe that ideas and knowledge are owned collectively by all people within
that culture. This is why students who are new to the Western education system often
find the concept of plagiarism difficult to understand at first.
In Western education systems, the ideas of great writers and scholars are highly
valued as well. What is different, though, is that independent thought is very highly
valued, too. Students are rewarded for thinking originally, interpreting the ideas of
great scholars and creating new knowledge. This requires quite different skills to
reproducing knowledge. It requires students to show, very clearly to the teacher,
which ideas are theirs and which ideas belong to other people. This can cause
problems for students from different cultures if they are used to working collectively.
What happens if students plagiarise some one else’s work?
There are potentially severe consequences for engaging in plagiarism. Whether
students engage in plagiarism deliberately or out of ignorance, the consequences are
serious. The consequences can include the following:

Reduction in marks

Failing the assignment

Failing the unit

Being excluded from the Faculty

Being excluded from the University
The university has policies in place for dealing with plagiarism. These policies are
designed to support students and staff. If you would like to read more about UTAS
policies relating to Plagiarism visit the UTAS website at the following addresses:
http://www.UTAS.edu.au/plagiarism/
http://www.UTAS.edu.au/tl/policies/index.htm (Click on Code of Conduct for
Teaching and Learning)
http://www.UTAS.edu.au/universitycouncil/legislation/
All staff are expected to be vigilant about, and consistent in their approaches to,
plagiarism.