Plagiarism

1. Plagiarism 1

2. Plagiarism • the practice of using other people’s ideas and works without appropriating the sources and passing it as one’s own works • it is a false assumption of authorship. • Includes: • Presenting the work of others as one’s own work. • Copying verses/figures/tables from another work without citing the source. • Using synonyms but copying the sentence structure of a source without citing the source. • Failure to put “quotation marks”. • Incorrect citation information. • Hiring someone to write your work 2

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4. However, plagiarism is a highly subjective concept relating to factors such as linguistic competence, culture, academic integrity, legal/regulatory frameworks and institutional governance etc.

5. Forms of plagiarism • Intentional plagiarism occurs when writers know well they are passing off someone else's words or ideas as their own. • Unintentional/accidental plagiarism is often the result of poor citation or referencing (lack of knowledge to do proper citation and referencing) or lack of understanding about what constitutes plagiarism • Self-plagiarism is the act of using one's own published or submitted work without mentioning the previous use or publication.

6. Detecting plagiarism • The internet makes easier to commit plagiarism… But at the same time it has made it easier to detect! • Use meta-search engines – those which access many search engines at the same time e.g. completeplanet • Use search engines such as: • www.google.com, scholar.google.com etc • It is necessary to posses good search skills (e.g., phrase searching; use of Boolean operators – AND, OR, NOT; query modifiers – allintitle:, allintext:, site:domain )

7. Use plagiarism detection software: • www.scanmyessay.com • www.articlechecker.com/ • etc. • However, most academic databases are part of the “Invisible Web” and neither search engines nor Internet plagiarism services have access to them. • Search specific databases including library catalogues, ETD etc.

8. Manual detection - when supervisors use knowledge/skills to detect that a submitted work is composed of some parts that are not the author’s own • Look at: • Writing style, language, vocabulary, tone, grammar, etc. It doesn't sound like the student you know! • Look for gray letters in the text, often an indication that the page was downloaded from the web, as color letters on a screen show up gray in a printout

9. Citations are made to materials not owned by your library! Using secondary citations without acknowledging through In: referencing • Citations can not be verified. • Citations in the text are not included in the list of references. • Websites (urls) listed in citations are inactive. • A students can not identify citations or provide copies of the cited material. • A student can not explain what he/she has written

10. Avoiding plagiarism Teaching students proper writing skills Introducing information literacy /search courses to students and staff ---- including proper citation styles (sometimes students are relatively better than staff in using the web!) Introducing students to what plagiarism is….and the possible consequences Formulate anti-plagiarism policies, laws/regulations Libraries making research output available online e.g. ETD & grey literature Institutions should acquire plagiarism detection software 11/4/2019 10