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Avoiding Plagiarism

Students are expected to describe their own ideas and to explain these in their own words.

To avoid plagiarism, students must give credit whenever they:
  1. present another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
  2. include facts, statistics, graphs, drawings-any pieces of information-that are not common knowledge;
  3. quote another person's actual spoken or written words; or
  4. paraphrase another person's spoken or written words.

The communication of a clear and consistent message in respect of plagiarism is essential in promoting a culture of academic integrity and honesty. To assist students to avoid plagiarism, a number of suggested strategies are listed below.

Text-matching software

UWS makes available the Turnitin text matching system which staff may elect to use to assist students identify incorrect referencing and paraphrasing within their assignments. This tool will assist students and staff by identifying source of materials used in written assessment tasks and ensuring that appropriate acknowledgment is given.

Academics and / or students submit documents to Turnitin through vUWS, UWS' institutional electronic content management system.

Citing Resources

UWS library provides Citing Resources for all the major referencing styles.

Bibliographic tools

UWS Library has two online bibliographic management programs that facilitate the creation of a personal database of references.

Refworks and EndNote enable the formatting of references for papers and bibliographies in a variety of output styles. Using these tools can make writing papers simpler and easier and as a result save time and ensure accuracy of citations.

For Students

Students' philosophy towards attribution and acknowledgement of sources, should be a fundamental element of the research process rather than a last minute activity.

For commencing students, information should be provided that includes
  • Presentation of the University's policies and procedures regarding plagiarism and the penalties for academic misconduct
  • Definitions of plagiarism and collusion, instructions in the appropriate academic conventions in fields of study, and how plagiarism might be avoided
  • Examples of referencing
All continuing students should be reminded at the beginning of each teaching session of the requirements of good scholarly practice and academic integrity.

All students will be required to sign the approved Assessment Cover sheet which contains a declaration that the submission is their own work and that all references to other material have been acknowledged. The declaration also permits their work to be subjected to checking for plagiarism.

The Student Learning Unit

The Student Learning Unit provides a number of workshops and online tutorials to support students in:
  • Paraphrasing, summarising, and essay writing;
  • Appropriate use of and attribution for a range of materials including text, images, formulae and concepts.
Students should discuss their learning needs with their academic in the first instance.

For Staff

It is important to be aware of the various strategies available for staff to assist students avoid plagiarism.
  • Encourage discussion. Discuss the importance of maintaining academic integrity, what constitutes plagiarism and the benefits of avoiding plagiarism
  • Provide and discuss proper citing techniques and the difference between appropriate, referenced use of ideas using quotation marks and a citation and inappropriate use such as copying without acknowledgement
  • Be aware of options for course delivery such as varying assessment tasks in subsequent teaching periods; structure assessment tasks to minimise plagiarism and collusion by setting tasks that require interpretation application and analysis.
  • Make the penalties and the consequences of submitting plagiarised material clear.
  • Note changes in style, grammar and vocabulary

Teaching Development Unit

 Provides a range of staff development workshops and events on many aspects of learning and teaching at UWS.

Additional Information