DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
Plagiarism – Frequently Asked Questions
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is presenting the work of someone else as your own. It is a form of academic misconduct and will lead to serious penalties.
'Someone else' might be the author of a book, article or web site. Alternatively it might be one of your fellow students.
If you use someone else's ideas, arguments, evidence or wording, without full acknowledgement, you are guilty of plagiarism.
If you are unclear as to the boundaries of acceptable/unacceptable practice, take the 'Use or Abuse?' plagiarism test now.
How do I avoid plagiarism?
There are a number of important steps you can take, one of which is to read through this FAQ carefully. There is also a printable list of dos and don'ts.
You are also strongly advised to take the 'Use and Abuse?' plagiarism test in order to check whether your understanding of the rules on plagiarism is correct. The exercise presents you with a variety of different ways of using an extract from an academic book. You must decide which are acceptable and which are examples of plagiarism.
By way of introduction, the following points are of paramount importance:
· Ensure that you NEVER copy or approximate the wording used by someone else, except as part of deliberate and clearly designated quotations.
· Ensure that every time you summarise, draw upon or refer to someone else's ideas, arguments or evidence, you fully acknowledge this through providing a clear reference.
Does plagiarism just apply to word-for-word copying, or is it possible to plagiarise ideas or arguments too?
Word-for-word plagiarism is the most serious kind and it also carries the most severe consequences. However, the unacknowledged use of ideas, arguments or evidence also constitutes plagiarism and will be penalised.
Is it OK to copy most of someone else's wording if I change some words in every sentence?
Absolutely not. Changing some words in each sentence merely means that you have plagiarised something 'almost word for word' rather than 'word for word'. We draw no distinction between the two, since they both involve passing off the writing of another person as if it your own. Arguably, altering the occasional word is worse than direct copying because it signals an intention to deceive.
If you find yourself reproducing someone else's wording style to this extent then you have two options.
1 - Present the extract exactly as it appears in the book/article you got it from in the form of a fully acknowledged quote.
2 - Put away the original, produce a summary of the point entirely in your own words and acknowledge the source for the argument.
I've copied someone else's wording and provided a full reference at the end of the sentence. Is this OK?
Not in itself. The fact that you have provided a reference means that you are acknowledging that an idea or argument has been drawn from someone else's work. In this case, however, you would also need to acknowledge that the words you have used are quoted exactly from someone else. Not to do so would mean that you are effectively passing off someone else's wording as your own. As well as giving a full reference, then, you would need to clearly identify quoted sections with quote marks or indentation/font size to identify quotes.
I've referred to someone's work in my own words. Do I still have to give a reference to acknowledge it?
Yes. Although the most severe penalties are reserved for word-for-word plagiarism, it is also unacceptable for students to fail to acknowledge ideas, arguments or evidence that they have used from books or articles. If in doubt, provide the reference.
Do I have to continually repeat a reference if I discuss the same piece of work for a long time?
To some extent you have to use your judgement here. Your objective is to make it clear to the reader which sections of your discussion are drawing upon the work of someone else. If this becomes ambiguous, you probably need to remind them. Use a combination of properly formatted references and allusions to the author in your writing style to do this. If in doubt, it is established practice to use the term ibid. as a means to communicate that the material relates to the last reference you provided.
I've alluded to someone else's argument in my own words? How do I reference this?
1. You must always give a reference in the text during or directly after each sentence or short section in which you draw upon or summarise someone's work. You should include author and date. You are not required to provide the page number unless you are quoting directly, but nevertheless it is sometimes useful to provide this information, especially if your point is specific and clearly located on a particular page. This can be done by means of a foot note or end note system, but in sociology we ask that the reference is given in brackets in the main text. Here is an example:
Those involved in club culture tend to differentiate themselves from a constructed notion of 'mainstream culture' (Thornton 1995: 99).
2. As well as providing the reference as in point 1, it is also useful to get used to acknowledging the source for ideas or arguments in the way in which you express the point, as in the examples below - both of which are acceptable:
According to Thornton, those involved in club culture tend to differentiate themselves from a constructed notion of 'mainstream culture' (Thornton 1995: 99).
According to Thornton (1995: 99), those involved in club culture tend to differentiate themselves from a constructed notion of 'mainstream culture'.
I want to include an acknowledged quote as part of an assignment. How do I do this in an acceptable manner?
There are two things you need to do here:
1. You must indicate clearly where the section which is quoted begins and ends. There are two ways of doing this. For short quotes you should use single quote marks as follows:
This point is illustrated particularly well by Sarah Thornton's study of club cultures, in which it is argued that, 'although most clubbers and ravers characterise their own crowd as mixed or difficult to classify, they are generally happy to identify a homogenous crowd to which they don't belong' (Thornton 1995: 99).
Meanwhile, for longer quotes, you should leave a line, indent the quoted section and use a different/smaller font. If you do this, you do not have to use quote marks:
The tendency of those involved in youth cultures to attempt to distance themselves from mainstream culture is illustrated particularly well by Sarah Thornton's study of club cultures. Thornton argues that:
Although most clubbers and ravers characterise their own crowd as mixed or difficult to classify, they are generally happy to identify a homogenous crowd to which they don't belong'. And while there are many other scenes, most clubbers and ravers see themselves as outside and in opposition to the 'mainstream' (Thornton 1995: 99).
2. As you will see from the examples given here, it is also vital to provide a full reference directly after the quote. IMPORTANT: you must include the page number as well as author/date for direct quotations.
Do I have to include the page number in every reference or is it sufficient to provide author and date?
It is an absolute requirement to include the page number in the case of direct quotations. However, in some cases it can be useful to give page numbers in the case of use of ideas or arguments as well. If the point is particular enough that it can be located to a particular page or set of pages, then it will only go in your favour to provide the page number. It demonstrates to us that you have read the source properly and gives us the opportunity easily to follow up your work - which of course is one of the main purposes of referencing. On the other hand, if you are referring to a very general point, made by an author across a number of pages or even a whole book, then author and date is perfectly sufficient.
Is there a limit to how many acknowledged quotes I can use in an assignment?
There is no official numeric limit, but you should be wary of using too many quotes in your assignments. The vast majority of what you present to us needs to be written by yourself. Quotes can be very effective if used thoughtfully, but you should be sparing and select them carefully. They should be used as a means of building upon a point you have made in your own words, not as a means of avoiding explaining something yourself. Remember that you need to demonstrate to the person marking your essay that you fully understand the points you are trying to make.
How do I reference a book or article which I have seen referred to by someone else in another book or article?
It is always preferable for you to find, read and reference from the original source, especially if you make repeated references to it. However, occasionally it will be necessary to rely upon someone else's summary. The way to deal with this is to give the author of the point you wish to reference, followed by 'cited in' and the normal reference for the book or article in which you saw the work cited:
Stan Cohen argues that, prior to the moral panics about mods and rockers in the mass media, there was very little violence or rivalry between the two groups (Cohen, cited in Thornton 1995: 120).
In your reference list you should make sure you include both the original source and the book or article in which you saw it referred to.
How do I reference a chapter by one person which appears in a book edited by somebody else?
Chapters in edited books or anthologies should be referenced in the text to the author of the chapter and the date of the publication in which the chapter appeared. So if I want to reference Ananda Mitra's chapter in the book 'Virtual Culture', edited by Steve Jones, the reference in the text should look as follows:
With relation to a case study of the Indian diaspora, Mitra (1997) discusses the ways in which members of migrant communities have begun to utilise the internet as a means to facilitate transnational interaction and community.
OR
In one study, it was demonstrated that members of migrant studies have begun to utilise the internet as a means to facilitat transnational interaction and community (Mitra 1997).
Contrary to what we have seen in some essays, you should not include the name/s of the editor/s of the book in the in-text reference. The place where the names of the editors should go is your reference list at the end of the assignment. In this case, the information should be presented as follows:
Mitra, A. (1997), 'Virtual Commonality: Looking for India on the Internet', in Jones, S. (ed.), Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety, London: Sage.
How do I reference web sites?
It is vital that all web sites you use in your work are fully referenced. The information you give will depend upon the information available.
1 - If there is a clear author and publication date provided in the web article, then you shoud include a reference in the text in exactly the same way you would for a book or off line article:
Clay Shirky has argued that as a result of the human complexities of social situations, 'designing software for group-as-user is a problem that can't be attacked in the same way as designing a word processor or a graphics tool' (Shirky 2003).
In your reference list you should provide author, date, title or article, title or overall website, date accessed and URL, as follows:
Shirky, C. (2003), ‘A Group is its Own Worst Enemy', Clay Shirky's Writings About the Internet, URL (consulted September 2004), http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_politics.html
2 - If there is not a clear author or a date of publication, you have to provide the reader with as much information as you can. Conventions are still evolving, but the most common course of action is to reference the title of the site in the text and the date you consulted the site:
Web log search engine, Technorati claims currently to be tracking over 3,000,000 separate blogs (Technorati, consulted 2004).
In the reference list, the site should be referred to as follows:
Technorati (consulted July 2004), About Technorati , URL, http://www.technorati.com/about/
Please note that it is vital that, in the reference list, you provide the precise URL for every web site you use.
What information do I have to include in the reference list at the end of an assignment?
Your reference list must enable readers to find more detail on all the sources you've cited in the main text.
The information you have to provide is slightly different for each type of reference. Furthermore, the format in which you provide the information varies according to which of the many referencing systems you use. In sociology, we tend to prefer references to be formatted consistent with the Harvard system, a variant of which is demonstrated in the examples below. If in doubt, follow this system to the letter.
Books: Author/s (date), Title, Place of Publication: Publisher.
Hodkinson, P. (2002), Goth. Identity, Style and Subculture, Oxford: Berg.
Edited Books: Editor/s (date) (ed/s.), Title, Place of Publication: Publisher.
Jones, S. (ed.) (1997), Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety, London: Sage.