Plagiarism
You should read this advice in conjunction with any resources from subject area.
The University definition of plagiarism is:
'The incorporation of material without formal and proper acknowledgement (even with no deliberate intent to cheat) can constitute plagiarism. Work may be considered to be plagiarised if it consists of: a direct quotation; a close paraphrase; an unacknowledged summary of a source; direct copying or transcription' (Plagiarism Statement - see Section 32.3)
The important principle behind University assessment is that your ideas and your ability to critically evaluate information are being examined, not those of anyone else. Any information or ideas which aren’t yours must be acknowledged.
It’s important you understand what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it, because the University doesn’t distinguish between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. A mistake, poor academic practice, or submission of an early draft that you were intending to work on further will all be investigated in the same way; all would be considered plagiarism.
All of the following are against University rules:
- submitting work containing quotes or ideas taken from someone else’s work, or similar wording to someone else’s work without referencing that other work. Even incomplete acknowledgement or poor referencing can constitute plagiarism
- submitting work written by someone else, but presenting this as your own work
- inappropriate collaboration with others (collusion)
- inappropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI)
- submitting work which has been copied from somewhere else – this also includes where text has been replicated by retyping and
- submitting the same piece of coursework, or a substantial part of the same coursework more than once for the purpose of coursework assessment. This is the case even if this was all your own work initially (this is called ‘auto-plagiarism’ or ‘self-plagiarism’) as it could be deriving double credit for a single effort
- submitting work purchased from essay writing services
The University strongly discourages the use of proofreading and essay-writing companies by students.
These external organisations can trick you into accidentally plagiarising by crossing the boundary from proofreading into rewriting, and leading to you submitting work written by someone else.
You are encouraged to report commercial essay-writing service publicity on University premises to the Student Conduct Team: student-conduct@glasgow.ac.uk
Be extra vigilant when asking for assistance from anyone other than a member of University staff.