The Different Forms of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work, ideas, or words as your own without proper citation or acknowledgment. It involves taking credit for something that you did not create or failing to give credit to the original source. Plagiarism can occur in various forms, including copying and pasting text from a source without quotation marks or citation, paraphrasing someone else's ideas or work without proper citation, and using someone else's work or ideas without permission or acknowledgment. 
Plagiarism is considered unethical and is widely regarded as a form of academic misconduct, and can result in severe consequences such as loss of credibility, damage to reputation, academic sanctions, and legal repercussions. It is important to understand what constitutes plagiarism and take steps to avoid it to maintain academic integrity and respect the work of others.

Examples of different forms of plagiarism:

Direct Plagiarism - This occurs when you copy and paste a piece of text or information from a source without quotation marks or proper citation. It is the most obvious form of plagiarism and can result in severe consequences. 

Collusion - This is a form of academic misconduct that involves unauthorised collaboration, either consciously or purposely, between two or more individuals on an assessment task or assignment. It is often associated with academic plagiarism and can take various forms, such as sharing or exchanging answers, copying someone else's work, or submitting work that is not your own. Collusion can occur in group work, where group members collaborate to produce a joint work, but one or more members contribute significantly less than the others, or in individual assessments, where students work together on an assignment meant to be completed independently. Collusion undermines the principles of academic integrity, fairness, and ethical conduct, and is considered a serious offense that can lead to disciplinary action 

Paraphrasing Plagiarism - This occurs when you reword someone else's ideas or work without proper citation or acknowledgment. It is still plagiarism even if you change the words and sentence structure. 

'Self' or 'Auto' Plagiarism - Also known as duplicate publication. This happens when a student copies and pastes, reuses or resubmits work they have previously submitted for an assignment - whether it is a small section, or the whole assignment itself. Whilst we appreciate it is your own work, duplicating your own work for several submissions is not permitted and is considered plagiarism.

Accidental Plagiarism - This occurs when you unintentionally present someone else's work or ideas as your own due to poor note-taking or a lack of understanding of citation rules. Whilst we recognise that this may not be a conscious or purposeful form, for instance, if a student does not reference correctly, or misplaces work, or has unintentional phrasing that becomes plagiarism, it will still be highlighted and investigated.

Mosaic Plagiarism: This occurs when you use a combination of words and ideas from different sources without proper citation or acknowledgment. It is also known as patchwriting and can be difficult to detect.

Citation plagiarism: This occurs when you include a citation in your work, but the source does not actually support the information or ideas presented. It is important to ensure that your citations are accurate and appropriate. 

We highly advise all of our students to consult Study Skills Day 5: Academic Best Practice for further information and help.