Avoiding Plagiarism

1. Avoiding Plagiarism

2. Why? • Your achievement at the university is measured by the knowledge you acquire as well as the ability to think critically and independently — integrating, querying, and developing your own ideas • Using others’ work to pass as your own does not fit this expectation • Penalty: zero marks; failing the course; unable to complete study program; academic discipline;

3. Good referencing • From CUHK Independent Learning Centre • Good referencing can… • make your writing more persuasive • give you due credit as the teacher knows you have read appropriately • allow your readers to retrieve the material you have cited, and therefore contribute to scholarship development

4. CUHK policy • What is plagiarism? • http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p01.htm • “Plagiarism is the act of using the work of others (in particular the writing of others) as one's own.” • “The most obvious and substantial type of plagiarism is copying whole articles, sections, paragraphs or whole sentences from other publications without acknowledgement.” • “If material is taken from a source, there shall be proper quotes and acknowledgements.”

5. Don’t fall in traps! (CUHK policy continued) • “However, even the use of a few words or paraphrasing (without actually copying any words at all) may constitute plagiarism if the source is not acknowledged.” • “Students sometimes unintentionally plagiarize because they are not aware of the very stringent rules that apply. Students must read the guidelines provided.”

6. Let’s take a quiz • University of New South Wales: Plagiarism and Academic Integrity • Site: “Which of the following are incidents of plagiarism?” • http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism/plagquiz.html (accessed 2013.9.4)

7. (UNSW cont’d) • Plagiarism in all its disguises: Common forms of plagiarism • Downloading an assignment from an online source and submitting it as your own work. • Buying, stealing or borrowing an assignment and submitting it as your own work. • Copying a section of a book, article or website and submitting it as your own work. • Copying, cutting and pasting text from an electronic source and submitting it as your own work. • Taking exact sentences or paragraphs from someone else (essay, article, book, lecture, web page, newspaper) without quotation marks and without proper acknowledgement. More • Using the exact words of someone else, with proper acknowledgement, but without quotation marks. More • Putting someone else's ideas into your own words and not acknowledging the source of the ideas. More • Using your own ideas, but with heavy reliance on phrases and sentences from someone else without acknowledgement. More • Relying too much on other people's material; that is, repeated use of long quotations (even with quotation marks and with proper acknowledgement). More

8. Resources • The CUHK Independent Learning Centre http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/EN/index.aspx • Anthropology Department statement: http://cuhk.orientalecom7.com/en/plagiarism_policy.php • Additional information: guidelines developed and published by the Department of Sociology, CUHK http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/soc/citation.pdf • University page: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ • What is plagiarism?: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p01.htm • Proper use of source material: • Rule of thumb: use quotation marks for key terms and six words or more quoted together; just citation if the idea is borrowed instead of the language • see http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p02.htm • Appendix A: Detailed guidelines on proper use of source material http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p02a.htm