When writing academic texts, it is essential to be clear about your own words and thoughts and what you have taken from other sources. This page provides advice and tips on avoiding plagiarism by using and referencing other people's texts correctly.
Film on how to incorporate material from other sources in your texts.
Plagiarism means using a text, image, or other material created by someone else without clarifying where you have taken the material from. The basic principle is that it must be clear which words and ideas are your own and what material you have incorporated from other sources. You must always state the source when using someone else's material. This applies whether you are paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting texts that others have written.
How to avoid plagiarism
Learn how to paraphrase, summarize, and quote when using texts others have written.
Mark the text carefully while writing to ensure you know where to insert in-text references.
Track the sources you use. You must have all the information about the sources available to write a correct reference list.
Use reference management software to manage your references.
Ask your teacher or supervisor if you are unsure.
Learn about writing references and reference management software:
Short quotes should be integrated into your running text. More extended quotes should usually be marked with extra indents and a blank line before and after compared to your text. Very long quotes are generally not accepted and should be avoided. If you are unsure about this, contact your teacher or supervisor.
When you quote your source, you should always indicate on which page of the original document the quote is found.
How is plagiarism detected?
Teachers or tutors recognize the original text when reading. Teachers' (or colleagues') words are used. The plagiarized text is well known.
The language or level of writing varies within the student´s text.
Plagiarism can be detected by using text-matching software such as Ouriginal. Search engines such as Google can also be used to detect plagiarism. If a teacher suspects plagiarism, a specific text might be examined and compared with the thesis or report.
