PLAGIARISM
DEFINITION
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the work of another as your own.
For the purposes of this definition the work of another includes:
- written and non written
- phrases, sentences, paragraphs and whole papers;
- illustrations, maps, cartoons, statistics, photographs, charts, graphs, tables, field study or lab results, etc.
- thoughts, opinions, inventions;
For the purposes of this definition another includes:
- author, professional or otherwise, whose work has been published in a newspaper, book, magazine, journal, encyclopaedia, CD rom, etc;
- author, professional or otherwise, whose work has been published on the World Wide Web or other on-line electronic resource;
- another student at your school or anywhere else;
- a paper-writing "service" which offers to sell written papers for a fee;
- any friend or relative.
Plagiarism: - Your Questions Answered
- If I paid another person to write part or all of the paper for me, wouldn't I then own the work and therefore not be plagiarising?
- No matter how much you have paid, it will never be your work and therefore you are still plagiarising. Presenting work that you have paid for is still not your work. Think about it. Every day magazine editors pay freelance writers to write articles. Even though the work has been paid for it is still presented under the name of the writer, not the editor of the magazine.
- I came across this essay which really answers the question I have been asked to do. If I change some words here and there, maybe even reorganise the order of paragraphs, surely that won't be plagiarism?
- Sorry but even if you changed every word but kept the main ideas and you represented it as your own work it would still be plagiarism.
- I didn't deliberately copy, it was an accident. What happened was that I took some notes from a book word for word and then forgot that they were word for word. Surely accidents happen and I can't be accused of plagiarism?
- Accident, carelessness, forgetfulness, etc are not excuses. It is up to you to make sure that you have not plagiarised.
- What's the best thing I can do to try and convince my teacher that the work I am presenting is my own?
- The first thing is of course to make sure that it is your own work. After that, follow all instructions fully, make sure that you have fully documented your research and have followed appropriate drafting procedures. Properly developed research notes and drafts are good evidence that the work is yours.
Still don't understand the concept of plagiarism. Not to worry, your teacher or a member of the library staff will be pleased to explain further or answer your questions.
Consequences. If an infringement is suspected the student will be interviewed by the subject teacher and Head of Faculty / Subject Co-ordinator. Any incident will be treated on its merits.
THE MAXIMUM PENALTY WILL BE A ZERO OR E GRADING FOR THAT PIECE OF ASSESSMENT. PARENTS WILL BE NOTIFIED.
|
