Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism? 

When do I need to reference to avoid plagiarising?

1. If a section of the original text is copied exactly then the copied phrase or sentence must be in "quotation marks" and the appropriate in-text or footnote reference given.

2. If a section of the original text is paraphrased, this means that the majority of the text is put into the student's own words. All paraphrased information needs to be referenced. The only exception here may be with Law subjects.

Academic writing requires you to quote from others, paraphrase other people's ideas, summarise major themes and comment on them. Using other people's ideas gives you an opportunity to analyse, critique, evaluate and connect to the assessment task. See also Writing Critically on this site.

Click here for more information and some exercises to check your understanding.

The VU library website has good information about a range of referencing practices.

This Indiana University site contains some very useful and accessible hints on plagiarism and how to avoid it, including actual examples of how much you have to change a sentence to really write it “in your own words” (ie paraphrase).