Understanding Plagiarism and Good Academic Practice

Plagiarism and good academic practice By Coralie Neave-Coleshaw and Henry Hillman

Plagiarism • UWE’s guidance on plagiarism can be accessed here: http://www2.uwe.ac.uk/services/Marketing/about-us/pdf/Policies/Assessment_offences_policy.pdf • An example of OSCOLA referencing in a full essay can be found here: https://uweascllmsupport.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/essay-structure/

Plagiarism (cont.) • Plagiarism is using somebody else’s work and attempting to pass it off as your own. It covers: • Quoting somebody without using quote marks or adding a reference • Referring to somebody else’s idea or theory as your own or without giving a reference • Taking part of someone else’s work, altering words and not giving the reference

Collusion • One type of plagiarism is collusion – working with another student to produce work, or copying another student’s work, with or without their permission • Collusion includes submitting work which you have paid someone else to produce in full or in part

Self-plagiarism • It is also possible to plagiarise yourself – you must not submit work for more than one assignment. Using the same piece of work twice is an assessment offence.

Plagiarism – penalties • If your work is found to be plagiarised in full or in part, there are a number of penalties which can be applied. This can include: • Note of a technical offence on your record • Assessment mark reduced to 0 • No chance of resits

Good academic practice • The best way to avoid plagiarism is good academic practice: • Correct use of OSCOLA (see the ASC LLM Wordpress blog) • Always give a reference in the footnote if you have used a source on that point • Correct use of quote marks, knowing when to quote, and always referencing quotes • Full Bibliography

Referencing - quotes • If you are directly quoting an author, no matter how long or short the quote, you must include a full reference afterwards: • e.g. “One argument for the creation of the welfare state was to abolish the five ‘giant evils’ of poverty.” – Because you are talking about Beveridge’s term “giant evils”, you must reference the work you are quoting: William Beveridge, ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ (November 1942)

Referencing – theories or arguments • Even when you are not directly quoting an author, you must still give a full reference if you are summarising their work, advancing arguments they have made, or referring to ideas you have gained from reading their work. • It can often be a good idea to include the name of the author in the work as well as giving a full reference.

Referencing – theories or arguments • e.g.: “Dicey divides the Rule of Law into three parts: no man is punishable except by breaching the law; every man is subject to the law; that laws are the consequence of the rights of individuals and not the source of them.” - A.V. Dicey, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (8th edn, Liberty Fund 2010), ch IV

Bibliographies • Under OSCOLA, Bibliographies must include all of the sources that you have used to produce your work, whether they appear in your footnotes or not. • This means that you should keep a full list of all sources you have used and include them in your Bibliography at the end.

Bibliographies • Here are some situations where you should put a source into your Bibliography: • When you have read a source as preparation for taught work (e.g. a workshop) and then answer an assessment question on the topic • When you have read a source as part of your research for the assessment – even if you conclude that it will not be useful in your final assessment • When you have attended a speech or lecture outside of your course on the subject

Bibliographies - activity • In which of these scenarios should you include the source in your Bibliography? • You do a Google search and read three websites: • One proves during the first paragraph to be unrelated to the topic • One is relevant but not useful to you • One leads you to a journal article which you decide to use in your assessment • You use a quote from your lecture handouts • You are reading a book for fun, but it leads you to a source or gives you an idea for your assessment • You attend a speech by a judge in which they talk about the area you are being assessed on • You read a piece of work produced by a student the previous year, which leads you to a number of new sources • You read the abstract for a journal article but decide that it is not relevant to your assessment

Conclusion • Don’t plagiarise! Remember that plagiarism can occur through not referencing properly and including a full Bibliography, as well as deliberately intending to plagiarise • Collusion is a serious academic offence and a form of plagiarism • You will gain higher marks for showing you have researched the topic thoroughly and have a good grasp of the literature – so, as well as avoiding plagiarism, there are other good reasons to make sure you reference correctly at all times.

Understanding Plagiarism and Good Academic Practice