Plagiarism is a serious type of Academic Misconduct and can happen unintentionally.
Our tips:
-
Use your own words to demostrate your understanding. Don’t copy and paste or simply change a few words around.
-
Reference everything! Theories, ideas, concepts, etc, that aren’t your ideas, even if you express them in your own words.
-
Use various sources. It will allow you to expertly discuss your topic when you read widely about it.
-
Use quotation marks (and reference) when taking a direct quote from a source. However, keep the number of direct quotes to a minimum. Less is best!
-
Ensure your notes are yours. When taking notes, make sure you write down the reference if you take a direct quote. You don’t want to forget and mistake a quote for your own words.
Resources
- Olaide Phillips, one of the lecturers in the Psychology department, has a great video about plagiarism and how to avoid it. Watch the video here.
- Read through the University's Reference List and Referencing Styles for Different Subjects