Plagiarism and How to Avoid

Welcome!

‘Don’t cheat yourself’ is an online plagiarism tutorial.

We would like to thank Student Development at the University of Leicester for their kind permission to amend and make use of it under a Creative Commons Licence. The tutorial will help you understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

(Click here to see a key to the navigation buttons, or click on the play button to begin.)

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/


How this tutorial is organised

Instructions willappear here

(Bold text in this panel refers to the navigation buttons at the fringes of the screen, i.e. play/pause, forward or backward) or objects in the content area.

Content will appear here

(Often you will be asked to click an object or link in the content area to move onto the next stage.)

Now click the forward button ( ).


How long will it take?

This tutorial will take about 30 minutes.

If you need to have a break, you should make a note of the slide number on the right of the layout pane and come back later.

If you can’t see the layout pane, click on the button – click it again to turn it off.

Image by steve.grosbois via flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegrosbois/3362637206/


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Why you should do this tutorial

Many students find plagiarism difficult to understand.

However, it is worth taking the time to understand how to avoid it, because this will improve your work in a number of ways.

Click forward to find out…


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Why you should do this tutorial

Many students find plagiarism difficult to understand.

However, it is worth taking the time to understand how to avoid it, because this will improve your work in a number of ways.

Click forward to find out…

• Learning how to avoid plagiarism now will

help you write better essays in the future.

• It will also help develop your critical thinking

skills and improve your general study skills.

• Academic work relies on the effective use of

sources and avoidance of plagiarism.

• Plagiarism stops you from learning, because

the more you plagiarise, the less you

understand.

• The penalties for plagiarism are serious, even

if you plagiarise by accident.


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Plagiarism is a crime!

Some types of plagiarism are obvious.

Click on the fingerprints to see some of them. Each of these actions is plagiarism and should be avoided. ROSS CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS CRI


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Meet the plagiarisers

Some types of plagiarism aren’t so obvious.

This tutorial is based on four students, most of whom plagiarised more subtly.

Click each of the pictures on the right (in any order) to find out more.


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So why do students plagiarise?

Students have many reasons for plagiarism, but all forms of plagiarism will get you into trouble!

Click forward for a summary of the reasons.


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So why do students plagiarise?

Students have many reasons for plagiarism, but all types of plagiarism will get you into trouble!

Click forward for a summary of the reasons.

Deliberate plagiarism due to poor time management or planning

Plagiarism caused by carelessness with source information

Plagiarism caused by poor note-taking skills

Plagiarism caused by incomplete referencing


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Overview

Now you’ve met our four students, you can begin to find out how to avoid plagiarism in your own work.

This tutorial has two main parts.

Click forward to begin part 1 (or use the shortcut tabs to the left).

• Part 1:what plagiarism is

• Part 2:how to avoid it.


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Part 1: What it is

So what exactly is plagiarism?

Click the dictionary to find out.

THE NEWSHORTEROXFORDENGLISH DICTIONARY


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Part 1: What it is

So what exactly is plagiarism?

Click the dictionary to find out.

Pretending something is yours

when it isn’t

Source: The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1973

plagiarism / n

“the taking and using as one’s

own … the thoughts, writings,

or inventions of another”

Not just the words, but also ideas, data, images, etc.



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Knowing the rules

But what are the rules?

Click the handbook to find out University of Manchester rules on plagiarism and academic misconduct. Course Handbook


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“Plagiarism is presenting the ideas, work or words of other people without proper, clear and unambiguous acknowledgement. At its crudest, plagiarism is simply copying someone else's work and presenting it as your own… “

Plagiarism may also result from taking notes that closely paraphrase an original work and then writing them up without any attempt to impose your own structure, argument or ideas.”

Knowing the rules

But what are the rules?

Click the handbook to find out your departmental rules on plagiarism.


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Knowing the penalties

Universities are very serious about plagiarism, because the acknowledgement of sources underpins all academic work.

Look at the penalties for plagiarism on the right. These show how important it is to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

It is the responsibility of the University to ensure that all students - undergraduate, diploma, taught postgraduate, research postgraduate, full-time, part-time, distance, exchange (including Erasmus), visiting, UK and international - are given ample opportunity fully to understand the academic requirements that they must follow._______________________________The penalty for malpractice dependant on severity can result in

• A written reprimand • Recorded mark of zero for

assessment • Recorded mark of zero for the whole

year • Suspension for a fixed period• Expulsion from the University


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Plagiarism – yes or no?*

You are now going to read seven essay extracts based on a quotation from a text.

Decide if you think the student has plagiarised – some may be more obvious than others!

Click the book to read the quotation.

1 Adapted from Willmott, C & Harrison, T (2003)* Adapted from Willmott, C & Harrison, T (2003). Used with permission

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF

THE CELL


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Plagiarism – yes or no?*

You are now going to read seven essay extracts based on a quotation from a text.

Decide if you think the student has plagiarised – some may be more obvious than others!

Click the book to read the quotation.

The original text will appear here for comparison.

* Adapted from Willmott, C & Harrison, T (2003). Used with permission

Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th edition) by Alberts et al. (2002)

“In the late 1970s methods were developed that allowed the nucleotide sequence of any purified DNA fragment to be determined simply and quickly. They have made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced.”

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF

THE CELL


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Original text:

In the late 1970s methods were developed that allowed the nucleotide sequence of any purified DNA fragment to be determined simply and quickly. They have made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced.

Essay extract 1

Is the extract on the right plagiarism or not?

Click the appropriate button.


Adapted from Willmott, C & Harrison, T (2003). Used with permission

This is plagiarism

This is not plagiarism


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Essay extract 2



In the late 1970s methods were developed that allowed the nucleotide sequence of any purified DNA fragment to be determined simply and quickly. They have made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced (Alberts et al., 2002).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Essay extract 3



“In the late 1970s methods were developed that allowed the nucleotide sequence of any purified DNA fragment to be determined simply and quickly. They have made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced” (Alberts et al., 2002).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Essay extract 4



In the 4th edition of their textbook Molecular Biology of the Cell (2002), Alberts et al state that nucleotide sequencing of DNA fragments has “made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced.” Much of this work in the UK is carried out by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and is available for public use (see www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Essay extract 5



In the 1970s methods were developed to allow the nucleotide sequence of purified DNA fragments to be determined quickly and simply. This has made it possible to determine the complete DNA sequences of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes fully sequenced (Alberts et al., 2002).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Essay extract 6



In the latter half of the 1970s processes were devised that allowed the nucleotide sequence of any purified DNA fragment to be established easily and swiftly. They have made it feasible to ascertain the entire DNA sequences of tens of thousands of genes, and many organisms have had their DNA genomes completely sequenced (Alberts et al., 2002).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Essay extract 7



DNA sequencing plays an integral role in modern biology. Techniques initially developed some 30 years ago have become increasingly efficient and the complete genomes of many organisms are now known (Alberts et al., 2002).


This is plagiarism


Original text:



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Part 2: How to avoid it

Now you’ve learnt about plagiarism, what about how to avoid it?

Remember the students that we met at the beginning? What could they do to make sure they don’t plagiarise again?

The strategies they need also provide a step-by-step process to help you not to plagiarise, too.

Click forward to find out more.


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Steps 1-4

A step-by-step process to help you not to plagiarise...

Step 1:Plan ahead

Step 2:Record source details

Step 3:Take appropriate notes

Step 4:Reference correctly


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Step 1

Click forward to find out about step one, or click the photos to skip to a particular step.

Step 1:Plan ahead





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DUE DATE

0(OOPS!)

1 WEEK

7DAYS TO GO

Plan ahead

Time can pass quickly, especially when your deadline is far away or you have other assignments to do (or it’s sunny outside).

There’s really only one solution – PLAN AHEAD!

Click forward for some suggestions to help you plan.

2 WEEKS

14DAYS TO GO

3 WEEKS

21DAYS TO GO


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Plan ahead

Imagine you have three weeks to complete an essay…

If you don’t want to do it all at the last minute, you should divide the process into a number of manageable stages.

Click the time line to see the stages.

DUE DATE

0(OOPS!)

1 WEEK

7DAYS TO GO

2 WEEKS

14DAYS TO GO

3 WEEKS

21DAYS TO GO


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You might allocate another week for writing

Week 1 might be for reading and note taking

Plan ahead

Imagine you have three weeks to complete an essay…

If you don’t want to do it all at the last minute, you should divide the process into a number of manageable stages.

Click the time line to see the stages.

DUE DATE

0(OOPS!)

1 WEEK

7DAYS TO GO

2 WEEKS

14DAYS TO GO

3 WEEKS

21DAYS TO GO

Then you might set aside some time to write a plan

With space at the end for a break before you come back to review it


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Step 2

Now for step two…

(or click the photos to skip to a particular step)

Step 1:Plan ahead





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Record source details

Imagine you made this note while studying in the library last week…

It’s a good piece of writing and perfect for your essay on ion channel function. The problem is that you can’t remember if these are your words or someone else's.

Click the page to find out whose they are.

Ion channels are not simply

tubes that span membranes

through which ions can rapidly

flow. Instead, they are highly

sophisticated molecular

machines that respond to

chemical and physical changes

in their environments and

undergo precisely timed

conformational changes.


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Ion channels are not simply

tubes that span membranes

through which ions can rapidly

flow. Instead, they are highly

sophisticated molecular

machines that respond to

chemical and physical changes

in their environments and

undergo precisely timed

conformational changes.

Record source details

Easy mistake to make isn’t it?

Click forward to find out how to avoid it.

“

”Biochemistry (5th edition)Berg, Tymoczko and Stryer, p.353


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Key information to record

The way to avoid note making errors is to be disciplined. Make sure that you note down key information about all sources every time.

Click each of the images to the right (in any order) to see what you need to record for each source.

books

journals

websiteswebsiteswebsites


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Step 3

Now for step three…

(or click the photos to skip to a particular step).

Step 1:Plan ahead





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Take appropriate notes

When you’ve recorded the source details, what do you write down in the ‘notes’? And how do you know what ‘appropriate’ notes are?

This depends what your reason for taking notes is.

Click forward to see the main reasons for note-taking.

Name(s) of author(s)*:

Year of publication:

Title of book:

Name of publisher:

Place of publication:

Page reference:

* if it’s a chapter of an edited book you also need to include the ‘Editor(s) name(s)’, ‘Title of chapter’ and ‘First and last page numbers of chapter’.

Notes:

Name(s) of author(s):

Year of publication:

Title of paper:

Title of journal:

Volume number:

First and last page number:

Notes:

Name(s) of author(s):*

http:// address:

Title:

Date page accessed:** often internet pages indicate when they were last updated – this is important information to record if available.

Notes:


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Reasons for note taking

Whatever the source, there are three main reasons to take notes…

This tutorial will look at the first of these reasons – how to select relevant material that you might want to reproduce or adapt in your own work.


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Not just words

Whatever your reason for taking notes, you’ll be dealing with information in a variety of forms, not simply text.

And remember: plagiarism isn’t just about words, it’s about ideas, data and images, too.

Source: The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1973

plagiarism / n

“the taking and using as one’s

own … the thoughts, writings,

or inventions of another”

Not just the words, but also ideas, data, images, etc.



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Taking notes to select – reproducing

If the precise detail of the information is of interest to you, you will want to reproduce the information in exactly the same way…

• whether the information is text:

“The RNA polymerase covers about 30 bp of the template DNA…” (Brown, 2002).

• or an image:

Figure 1 (taken from Brown, 2002)


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Taking notes to select – adapting

However, if it is the idea rather than the detail that is of interest to you, you will want to adapt the information to suit your own needs (which might mean expanding on it or simplifying it)…

• whether the information is text:

Approximately 30 base pairs of the template DNA are covered by the RNA polymerase. (Brown, 2002).

• or an image:

Figure 1 (adapted from Brown, 2002)

DNA

RNA

RNA polymerase


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Importantly…

Whether you are reproducing or adapting information you need to remember…


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Step 4

Finally, when you have planned ahead, recorded source details and taken appropriate notes, you need to make sure you reference correctly…

Step 1:Plan ahead





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Reference correctly

There are two components to citing another person’s work.

Click the text and references pages to find out more.

TextBlah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

References

1. Blah blah blah blah blah






Adapted from unpublished work by Dr Raymond Dalgleish. Used with permission


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Correspondence

There must be exact correspondence between citations and references.

Note: references should be cited and listed in a consistent way – this is most easily achieved using a bibliography software package such as Endnote.

“The novel feature of the structure is the manner in which the two chains are held together” (Watson and Crick, 1953).

References

Watson JD and Crick FHC(1953) Molecular structure of nucleic acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171: 737-738.

Adapted from unpublished work by Dr Raymond Dalgleish. Used with permission


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References and further reading

Further resources regarding referencing and citations are available from the JRUL web site.

References

Alberts B et al. (2002) Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edn, Garland Science. p. 504

Berg JM et al. (2002) Biochemistry, 5th edn, Freeman. p. 353

Brown TA (2002) Genomes, 2nd edn, Garland Science. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=genomes.figgrp.7317 (last accessed 21/07/2006)

Willmott CJR and Harrison TM (2003) An exercise to teach bioscience students about plagiarism. J Biol Educ 37:139-140

Produced by the Student Development with special thanks to Dr Jon Scott, Dr Tim Harrison, Dr Chris Willmott and Dr Raymond Dalgleish. Illustrations by Angela Chorley. English language advice from Vikki Abusidualghoul and Phil Horspool. Inspired by tutorials from Vaughan Memorial Library, Acadia University, Canada – http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/.

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=genomes.figgrp.7317

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=genomes.figgrp.7317

http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/


Plagiarism and How to Avoid

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