What is Plagiarism and how do students avoid it?

There are a number of definitions of plagiarism and although they differ in detail they all have two elements in common.

Plagiarism has taken place if you:

• take another persons ideas or creative work;
• and try to pass them off as your own.

To avoid plagiarism you need to make sure that all of your sources of information are attributed. In other words you need to reference correctly.

Student Support Services have some advice on avoiding plagiarism

Sources of information on Plagiarism and how to avoid it

Take a look at some of these resources for some ideas about this:

• Sussex University
• Essex University
• Birmingham University School of Computer Science