Writing Essay without Plagiarism & References: Ask Study Coach Blog
Ask Study Coach Blog brings you questions and answers to understand the topic of Plagiarism. Writing essays of 2,000 words and over can leave students feeling anxious if they feel unable to meet the word count. Failure to understand key concepts, learning outcomes, can result in students not knowing what to discuss in an essay or dissertation, and in turn this could lead to plagiarism. Ask Study Coach will now attempt to explain the concept of plagiarism.
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Question: How to avoid plagiarism?
Answer: The academic support department at a college or university will usually provide students with information and guidance on how to avoid plagiarism; it is advisable to read the guidance carefully. Students College Handbook will also usually set out the rules governing plagiarism. If you cannot find written guidance then consult with your college or university library. To avoid plagiarism students need to reference correctly.
Question: What is a reference?
Answer: A reference is the way that you acknowledge your use of other people’s work. There are two parts: The citation is a pointer in the text of your work, saying that you are using someone else’s ideas. The reference gives the full details of where the information came from. You put it in a reference list at the end of your work: www.bradford.ac.uk
Question: Do you have to reference everything?
Answer: Students cannot take ownership of researcher’s words simply because the student have read the researcher’s book. The ideas in the book does not belong to the student, it belongs to the author. Students can cite the work but they will need to reference the source. Therefore, taking chunks of text from books, articles, websites and appropriately citing the source will still be deemed to be plagiarism.
Question: How to avoid plagiarism when using chunks of text?
Answer: If you choose to use chunks of text then you must have an input into what is typed-up. If you choose to quote researchers (by typing-up chunks of their work) you will need to discuss the quotes, discuss the statements, discuss the data. You need to give a good rationale for deciding to rely on the researcher’s words; you need to raise arguments, critique what you have typed-up. In summary, you need to have an input into your assignment.
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Question: What is academic misconduct?
Answer: Academic Misconduct is simply another term for plagiarism. Universities in the UK will sometimes use the terms ‘plagiarism’ and ‘academic misconduct’ interchangeably, both terms are referring to the same issue.
Question: Give an example where academic misconduct is used?
Answer: London Metropolitan University student.londonmet.ac.uk refers to academic misconduct. London Metropolitan University states that: “The University takes academic misconduct very seriously and seeks at all times to rigorously protect its academic standards. Plagiarism, collusion and other forms of cheating constitute academic misconduct.”
Question: What is academic honesty?
Answer: The meaning is that work submitted for marking must be the student’s own work, and must be the student’s own words. The point being made is that a student should not copy and paste researchers’ words and submit as their own, this would constitute plagiarism. Some acts of dishonesty are: cheating in exams, fabricating data, impersonation, working as a syndication, colluding, attributing researchers work to self.
Question: How to avoid plagiarism when doing group work?
Answer: When working in a group you need to ensure that the work you are presenting is sufficiently your own. To avoid plagiarism you need to write-up by yourself, don’t write-up as a group. A group presentation will not be deemed to be plagiarism/academic misconduct.
Question: Is there a link between plagiarism and referencing?
Answer: Essays and other assignments that are not referenced or insufficiently referenced will be in breach of plagiarism rules. Assignments should be evidenced with relevant academic references and these should be clearly acknowledged, including acknowledging quotes. Failure not to reference sources could be deemed as plagiarism and students penalised.
See an earlier Study Coach Blog on referencing: https://www.studycoachuk.com/academic-support-referencing/
Question: Do UK Universities require students to sign a plagiarism awareness form?
Answer: From a Study Coach search most universities in the UK, will require students to sign an acknowledgement of being aware about plagiarism/academic honesty rules. International students should note this point since this might not be the practice in their home country. Universities such as Anglia Ruskin University https://aru.ac.uk Birmingham University www.birmingham.ac.uk Bradford University bradford.ac.uk and other universities all make it clear to students that plagiarism rules should be observed.
Question: How will Lecturers know if a student has plagiarised?
Answer: The use of software makes it easy for Lecturers to identify plagiarism. When work is submitted for marking it is likely to be submitted through the Turnitin system or a similar plagiarism system. It is possible that Turnitin or a similar system is not currently used worldwide, International students should therefore raise their awareness, and become informed about the application and similar systems. Turnitin is a computing system to promote academic integrity, the system will generate a similarity report and will identify where a student has taken words from www.turnitin.com
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