Plagiarism and Fraud
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the unattributed use of another person’s work or ideas and defined as being ‘the act of a student who steals the thoughts or writings of others and gives them out as his own’. Thus, for example, written work, which in substance reproduces extensive passages from a textbook, article or another student’s written work with somewhat altered wording is, despite the apparent textual differences, still regarded as plagiarism. The most blatant form of plagiarism is to repeat as your own someone else's sentences, more or less verbatim.
Other forms of plagiarism include repeating someone else's particularly apt phrase without appropriate acknowledgement, paraphrasing another person's argument as your own, presenting another's line of thinking in the development of an idea as though it were your own, or a passage copied from another student's work.
Copying from a textbook, the internet, or an article is also a clear case of plagiarism if proper attribution (i.e. reference) is not made to that work. On occasion it is, of course, acceptable and desirable to replicate text from books and articles, provided that you cite your source or sources. You must also use quotation marks when quoting. Properly attributed text can never amount to plagiarism (although excessive quoting or copying is unoriginal).
Be aware that all said above applies equally to all materials downloaded from the Internet. Copying/pasting from the Internet is a blatant form of plagiarism.
Accidental plagiarism
It is important to note that plagiarism does not require any intention to cheat. The unattributed use of some other person's work or ideas is plagiarism even if it is accidental. The state of mind of the student who plagiarises is only relevant to the possible sanction to be imposed.
Sanctions
Plagiarism is an extremely serious matter and, consequently, all students should take special care to ensure that it does not, even inadvertently, occur in their work. If an examiner discovers an instance of suspected plagiarism or fraud, the examiner will contact the Examination Board.
(This account of plagiarism has been adapted for law from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. ed. by Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S. Achtert, 2nd ed., New York: MLA, 1984.)
