Academic cheating

Academic cheating is anything you do to make it appear that someone else's work is your own or allowing someone else to copy your work and submit it as their own.

It can include:

• Sharing another's work

• Copying answers on an exam or homework assignment

• Buying a research or creative paper

• Paying someone else to do your work for you

• Obtaining copies of exams, homework assignments, and notes and using them in place of doing your own work.

Plagiarism

Like cheating, plagiarism is also implying that another person's work is your own. Plagiarism is a form of cheating.

Plagiarism is:

• Using all or part of someone else's work and presenting it as your own.

• Directly copying material from books, journal articles, internet or databases, sound recordings, or films without acknowledge the copied material in your work

• Directly copying the work of other students without acknowledging it

• Taking somebody else’s work and putting it in your own words (paraphrasing) without acknowledging the original source.

What happens if I plagiarise?

Penalties for students caught plagiarising or cheating may include a failing grade or resubmission of the assignment.

How does plagiarism happen?

It can happen deliberately, when you knowingly copy other people’s work and claim it as your own.

It can happen accidentally, for instance with copying and pasting some or all of other people’s work into your own work and forgetting to reference it. It can also happen because you have forgotten where you obtained the information you are using, and assume it is based on your own ideas.

Keep records

Keep a record of the information sources you are using so you can reference them in your work.

Referencing is a system used to acknowledge the sources of information you have used in your assignment. You do this by including your sources and listing all resources you have used in writing your assignments.

Spot the plagiarism

In order to avoid plagiarism, you have to recognise it. Watch the video below to learn the types of plagiarism.

Still not sure?

If you think that the boundaries between research and plagiarism can be ambiguous, it may help you to refer to OP's Academic Integrity policy and clarify any points of doubt with your teacher before submitting work.