Avoiding plagiarism

• Plagiarism awareness pack (pdf)
• Plagiarism and how to avoid it - interactive guide (pdf) 

What is 'plagiarism'?

Plagiarism is the word given to a particular kind of academic dishonesty - passing off someone else’s work, ideas or words as your own.  It is often unintentional, where people aren't sure how to reference properly or where they have been used to producing school assignments by cutting and pasting material from outside sources. However, it can carry severe penalties even when accidental.  

The University of Brighton has produced a guide - the Plagiarism awareness pack - to help you understand why universities expect you to be so clear about how you have developed your ideas, what other writers have influenced this process and the basis for any information claims you are making. The pack is usually given to students at the start of their course, with opportunities to discuss any queries with course tutors and fellow students. However, you can also download it here (in PDF format) by clicking on the link.

Once you understand the general principles, it is actually quite easy to avoid the risk of plagiarism. Just make sure you follow the golden rule when you are researching and making notes - keep full records of all your sources! - and then remember to give your references correctly and clearly in all your assignments. There are some general guidelines on referencing in the section on Library and Information Skills.

For more detailed advice on the particular referencing conventions used in your subject, you should ALWAYS consult your course handbook or your course tutors. 

eSubmission and TurnitinUK

The term 'eSubmission' refers to the electronic submission of assessed work, which you do via studentcentral. This same process is also used by staff to provide marking, feedback and returning your work. The university's guidelianes for eSubmission can be found here.

All work electronically submitted is processed by a software called 'TurnitinUK' which is a plagiarism detection and detterance service. For more information about Turnitin at the University of Brighton click here.