Plagiarism

When someone looks at your written work, they believe it was you that wrote it. A teacher will give you credit for this work. If it is very well-written, they will give you a good score.

If you copy even one sentence from someone else, whether that’s a book, website, or a podcast, you are claiming credit for work that someone else has done.

Plagiarism is unacceptable in university.

Plagiarism in Presentations

Plagiarising a written source has a serious affect on your score. First, if you use a written text in a spoken presentation, it is very hard for your audience to understand you. A presentation needs a spoken text, which is less dense, to be understandable. This applies to native speakers just like learners of English.

Second, because your audience can’t understand you, your presentation is less interesting to them. This means you can’t present effectively.

Plagiarism and your Grade

If you plagiarised something you will get zero for that assignment. You will not be able to re-submit.

How do I avoid Plagiarism?

Write your own ideas, and don’t pretend an idea is yours when it isn’t.

When you use someone else’s ideas, reference them. For example, if you are writing an essay on how to avoid stress, you might find this website has some great ideas. But if you use the same ideas from that site and don’t reference it, you are plagiarising. Here is an example of how to reference:

According to The American Psychological Association (n.d.), there are five ways to reduce stress: take a break, exercise, smile and laugh, find social support, and meditate.

When you use some else’s words, reference them and use quotation marks, like this:

According to The American Psychological Association (n.d.), “meditation and mindful prayer help the mind and body to relax and focus.”

If you are not sure how to reference, please just ask me. This can make the difference between zero and full credit for a piece of work.

References

“Five Tips to Help Manage Stress.” American Psychological Association. n.d., Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/manage-stress.aspx on 25 Nov. 2015.