Advice to students on plagiarism
Academic advice to students on plagiarism
It is important that all students are aware of the need to ensure that all work presented by them has in fact been produced by them alone. This note is intended to give guidance on the issue of plagiarism and in particular to help students understand the various ways in which plagiarism can occur.
Students should familiarise themselves with The University Regulations and Student Code of Conduct in the Student Handbook and in particular the Academic Penalties in case of Cheating and Plagiarism.
For the purposes of the regulations, plagiarism is defined as the presentation by a student of work for assessment which is not his/her own, in the sense that all or part of the work has been copied from that of another person (whether published or not) without attribution, or the presentation of another's work as if it were his/her own. Any student who knowingly permits another student to plagiarise his/her own work will also be regarded as having breached the General Regulations.
The University recognises the benefits of informal student discussion of assignments requiring a group response. Nothing in the above definition precludes such activities, which are normal in an academic community. The offence of plagiarism takes place when, having had the opportunity of advice and guidance, a student submits for marking work which s/he knows contains matter taken from other sources and for which no attribution is given according to the conventions normally adopted in academic writing.
There are a number of companies offering services over the Internet to produce student coursework. These companies pretend or will try to persuade students that this is an entirely normal and acceptable practice and that many students take advantage of it. They also claim that they offer a secure, confidential and undetectable service for which they charge a great deal of money.
Please be warned that using such a service is an acute form of plagiarism that is likely to result in students failing to obtain a qualification and potentially debarring them from a significant range of professional careers. It puts careers at serious risk and hinders educational development.
Students who experience problems with their assignments should contact their lecturers for advice and should avail themselves of the University-wide support services.
