Academic Integrity
Throughout your time at university you will be encouraged to work independently and to have original ideas. At the same time, you will be expected to study the literature in your field and incorporate the ideas of other authors into your own work. Academic integrity means being honest about where you have sourced the material for your assignments. You are expected to demonstrate academic integrity, at all times, by indicating which ideas are your own and which are those of other authors.
What is plagiarism?
The use of any published or unpublished work without proper acknowledgement, (for example, directly quoting or paraphrasing some else's work (or your own work) without referring to your source) is known as plagiarism. It usually results from misunderstanding rather than a deliberate intention to cheat but is still a very serious academic offence with severe consequences. The key to maintaining academic integrity is understanding plagiarism and referencing your work properly.
Academic Integrity Initiative
To raise their awareness of plagiarism and the importance of academic integrity, ALL students are expected to undertake training and a test from October 2011. Information about the training and test and the electronic plagiarism detection service, Turnitin, are available on the Academic Integrity Initiative web pages. An online tutorial is provided for training purposes. Your Director of Studies will advise you of which test you need to take and at which point in your studies you will be expected to take it.
Other resources
Developing good writing, research and note taking skills is essential to avoiding plagiarism in your work. In addition to the training and test, the University, through the Library, provides a range of resources which will help you to develop these skills.
The Library's Referencing and Plagiarism webpage includes guides to
- referencing,
- journal abbrevations, and
- using referencing software to organise and store your references.
The Academic Writing Skills Course on Moodle includes sections on research, plagiarism and referencing.
Courses and workshops are also provided through SORTED and the English Language Centre.
If you have any questions about referencing and plagiarism ask your subject librarian or talk to your personal tutor or Director of Studies.
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