Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty that the University takes seriously. Find out about plagiarism and learn how you can avoid it in your work.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when you present someone else’s work as if it were yours, whether you mean to or not. “Someone else’s work” means anything that is not your own idea. This includes:

  • material from books, journals, or any other printed source
  • the work of other students or staff
  • information from the internet
  • software programs and other electronic material
  • designs, ideas, images, audio, and more
  • the way material is organised or structured.

Intentional plagiarism

Intentional plagiarism is when you deliberately copy the work of someone else and try to pass it off as your own. This includes attempting to disguise the plagiarism through the use of software such as translation software or paraphrasing software without crediting the source. This is a form of academic dishonesty.

Accidental plagiarism

Accidental plagiarism happens when you unintentionally fail to give attribution to someone else's ideas, work, words, or images. This can happen if you are not careful when you take notes or you forget where an idea came from. It can also happen if you are not careful to completely paraphrase the work you are using and citing. Take care when paraphrasing to ensure you have not just changed a few of words and see the paraphrasing advice available from Te Taiako—Student Learning. Accidental plagiarism can still amount to academic misconduct, so you need to develop academic skills to avoid this happening.

Self-plagiarism

The rules around reusing work you have submitted previously depend on your subject area. If you are reusing work which you have previously submitted for assessment, you may need to reference yourself. Check with your tutor or lecturer whether you are allowed to reuse work. If you are, you need to reference yourself.

Why you shouldn’t plagiarise

Academic integrity

The value of your qualification from Victoria University of Wellington depends on our academic integrity. Academic integrity means that staff and students should always treat others honestly, fairly, and with respect. Plagiarism is dishonest. It’s a form of cheating and it goes against our ethical standards. Knowing how to avoid plagiarism is a key part of writing assessments and can help ensure the authenticity and accuracy of your work.

Consequences

Plagiarising the work of others prevents you from developing your own academic voice and showcasing your individual knowledge and contributions. The University has systems in place to detect plagiarism. If you plagiarise, you may be penalised under the Student Conduct Statute.

How to avoid plagiarism

Cite your sources properly

Take note of citations while you are studying. Be careful to accurately reference your sources, and that any quotes are properly formatted and any paraphrases are clearly marked.

Understand that citation and referencing styles may vary between courses. Your school or programme likely has information on the specific conventions you should follow. If you're not sure, check with your course coordinator or school or programme administrator.

Develop effective research skills

When you take notes, record any quoted material accurately. Make sure you know where your writing closely resembles the work of others and ensure you are paraphrasing completely. You must clearly indicate when you are expressing someone else’s ideas, even when you have changed the words and sentence structure.

Improve your writing skills

Take every chance to practise expressing your own ideas in writing. Pay attention to feedback from your lecturers.

Manage your time

Sometimes students plagiarise because they run out of time to finish an assignment. Give yourself plenty of time to carry out research, rewrite drafts, check your sources, and ensure you have fully acknowledged all ideas and material that are not your own. If you run into trouble, speak with your course coordinator.

Use AI mindfully

If you are using AI tools, be careful to avoid inadvertently plagiarising or misattributing content. This includes ensuring that referencing is accurate and complete. You are responsible for ensuring any content you submit is accurate. Follow any rules around AI use within your course.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is when you rewrite someone else’s ideas in your own words. It shows that you understand what you’ve read.

For short passages:

  • Break up long sentences.
  • Combine short sentences.
  • Use synonyms (utilise a thesaurus).

For longer passages:

  • Close the book.
  • Write down what you remember.

Examples of good and bad paraphrasing

Original: ‘In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons: to alert readers to the sources of your information and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas.’

Version A: In research writing, we cite sources for a couple of reasons: to notify readers of our information sources and give credit to those from whom we have borrowed. (Hacker)

Version B: Researchers cite their sources to ensure that their audience knows where they got their information and to recognise and credit the original work. (Hacker, 1995, p.260)

Version B is not plagiarism. The student has used her own words to accurately convey the author’s meaning and has fully acknowledged the source. Version A is plagiarism, as only minor wording changes have been made. Also, the citation in Version A is incomplete.

Citing your sources

When you use other people's ideas, you have to say where they came from. There are many different referencing styles—for example, APA, Harvard, Chicago B. Your school should give you guidelines on which one to use.

Here’s an example of citing your source using the Harvard referencing system:

  • ‘A Vision’, written in 1925, is one of Yeats’s best-known poems. Opinions vary on Yeats’s poetry: “Some critics think his work is supple and muscular in its rhythms and sometimes harshly modernist, while others find his poems barren and weak in imaginative power” (Williamson 1996, 67).

See how the writer used quotation marks and put the author’s name, publication date, and page number in parentheses after the quote. Alternatively, you can put that information in a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Where to find help

There are several places at the University where you can get help with your writing.