PLAGIARISM basically means passing someone else’s work off as your own. BAD REFERENCING is also considered as PLAGIARISM and usually receives a penalty. If you are struggling with referencing please see your Faculty Student Support Officer immediately.
All work submitted to the University is checked for plagiarism. A computer system called Turn It In is commonly used to check work and some departments encourage you to put your work through Turn It In before submission.
You can be penalised for;
PLAGIARISM = copying from authors, not using quotation marks or taking sections from other peoples work and changing bits to make it look like your own.
COLLUSION = copying from other students, allowing your work to be copied, not taking reasonable steps to protect your work from being copied or simply giving your work to your mates to help them! Be especially careful when completing GROUP WORK as many students are found to have 'colluded or plagiarised' each year.
ATTEMPTING TO GAIN AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE = paying someone to do your work or falsifying data.
or CHEATING in an exam.
I have received a letter accusing me of PLAGIARISM, what will happen? - you will usually have to attend a meeting with your Head of Department to discuss the matter. We may be able to attend this with you if you give us ample notice.
What are the PENALTIES? - it depends on what year you are in and if anything like this has happened before. Have a look at the plagiarism tariff for more information.
If you are suspected of CHEATING in an exam your case maybe forwarded to an Assessment Disciplinary Committee - the outcomes tend to be more severe than if the matter is dealth with by your Head of Department.
If you are on a PROFESSIONAL course, such as Nursing, Physiotherapy, Social Work or Teaching, the PENALTIES could be WORSE – you could be deemed professionally unsuitable and it may be mentioned on your reference. Worse still the PSRB may refuse registration if they believe the cheating was serious enough, even with mitigation.
If you are struggling with your work PLEASE see your Faculty Student Support Officer.
If you have received a letter inviting you to come to a meeting regarding plagiarism OR any misconduct OR if you have Exceptional Factors affecting your performance PLEASE come and see us at the SU Advice Centre
WE CAN HELP!