Plagiarism is intellectual theft and is committed when you use other people’s ideas and pass them off as your own by not indicating clearly the source of these ideas. This covers material that is the work of another student or a lecturer, the writing of a published author and also includes the wide range of material available off the Internet where there may or may not be an acknowledged author. The use of all material from these sources must be acknowledged through a referencing system in the body of your essay. A general bibliography at the end of your essay is not sufficient.

This warning is not designed to put students off using the work of academics or refining their own ideas by combining them with material from other sources. It is intended to emphasise the conventions that how to acknowledge source material is an important skill that you need to learn. It is often vital that you use other people’s ideas to support your own, or use them as a base from which to pitch a counter-argument of your own.

However, the unacknowledged use of source material is plagiarism and is regarded as a serious form of cheating. At first year this may result in getting no marks for your assignment and the assignment being withheld. The most serious cases may result in suspension or expulsion from the University. In the event of suspicion of plagiarism students may be required to have their essays processed through referencing software programmes to reveal both direct and paraphrased use of published material.

You are required to sign a declaration on the cover sheet of every assignment, stating that where possible all sources consulted have been acknowledged through an accepted referencing system. Your assignment cannot be marked unless this declaration has been signed.