Undergraduates: plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation by a student of an assignment which has in fact been copied in whole or in part from another student’s work, or from any other source (e.g. published book, website or periodicals), without proper acknowledgment in the text.

It is expected that when a student turns in work for assessment that it is the independent work of that student, it is written by that student, and they have written it in their own words.

If you copy an article and make some minor changes to pass it off as your own writing, you are plagiarising deliberately.

If you carelessly forget to include quotation marks or a reference to show whose words or ideas you are using, you are plagiarising accidentally.

Whether deliberate or accidental, plagiarism is a serious offence in scholarship.

The University of Melbourne is very concerned about plagiarism and has set up a website that gives details on what consitutes plagiarism, what university policy is, and gives advice to students. The web address is: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism/

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