What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is intentionally or unintentionally reproducing (copying, rewording, paraphrasing, adapting, etc) work that was produced by another person(s) without proper acknowledgement in an attempt to gain academic benefit. Intentionally or negligently allowing such reproduction to happen may also constitute plagiarism.

Work that can be plagiarised includes: words (language), ideas, findings, writings, graphic representations, computer programs, diagrams, graphs, illustrations, creative work, information, lectures, printed material, electronic material, or any other original work created by someone else.

What is Self-Plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism occurs when a student reuses entire or parts of his/her own work that was previously assessed for academic credit and submits it as part of another work without providing proper acknowledgement of this fact. Some university regulations address the issue of self-plagiarism in their university handbooks. For example, the Department of English at the University of Bristol has an undergraduate handbook with a section called Advice on study skills. The following quote is an extract from their handbook (2005).

“The Department will also regard, for assessment purposes, the re-use of your own essays as ‘self-plagiarism‘. While you may return to the same subjects or works in essays for different units, or within a unit, to avoid self-plagiarism you must not only avoid the verbatim or near-verbatim re-use of previously submitted essays in part or whole, but also ensure that your return to the same subjects or works involves a rethinking of your ideas. Self-plagiarism is also a serious disciplinary matter.”

Examples of how students plagiarise

In natural language (essay) assignments, students are required to acknowledge the source and authorship of material that was not originally authored by them, using quotation marks where appropriate and proper referencing. Here are some examples of plagiarism in essays.

• Copying another student’s work (or part of it) and passing it off as their own. A student that allows another student to copy their work is also liable for plagiarism.
• Copying material from one or more sources without providing proper acknowledgement(s).
• Paraphrasing text from one or more sources without providing proper indication and acknowledgement(s).
• Stealing someone else’s work and submitting it as their own.
• Employing someone else to do the work, or purchasing an essay from an online essay bank.
• Resubmitting work previously submitted for academic credit (self-plagiarism).
• Collaboration between one or more students to create an assignment when this is not permitted.

Examples of how students plagiarise in computer programs

In source-code assignments, students are required to acknowledge the source and authorship of the source-code that was not originally authored by them, within the program source-code (in the format of a comment) and in the appropriate documentation. Here are some examples of plagiarism in source-code assignments identified by Cosma and Joy (2006).

• Reproducing/copying source-code without making alterations and without providing proper acknowledgements.
• Minimally or moderately adapting source-code authored by someone else without providing proper acknowledgements.
• Converting an entire or part of someone else’s source-code to a similar programming language.
• Using code-generating software for creating code without providing acknowledgement of this fact.
• Paying someone else to create the program.
• Collaborating with another student to create a programming assignment when collaboration is not permitted.

References

Department of English, University of Bristol (2005). Undergraduate Handbook 2005-06. Retrieved February 20, 2006. Available from: http://www.bris.ac.uk/english/undergraduate/current/handbook.html

Georgina Cosma and Mike Joy (2006). "Source-code Plagiarism: a UK Academic Perspective". Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference of the HEA Network for Information and Computer Sciences.