What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism means using another’s work without giving credit. If you use others’ words, you must put them in quotation marks and cite your source. You must also give citations when using others’ ideas, even if you have paraphrased those ideas in your own words.

 

“Work” includes the words and ideas of others, as well as art, graphics, computer programs, music, and other creative expression. The work may consist of writing, charts, data, graphs, pictures, diagrams, websites, movies, TV broadcasts, or other communication media.

 

The term “source” includes published works -- books, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, websites, movies, photos, paintings, plays -- and unpublished sources (e.g., materials from a research service, blogs, class handouts, lectures, notes, speeches, or other students’ papers). Using words, ideas, computer code, or any work without giving proper credit is plagiarism. Any time you use information from a source, of any kind, you must cite it.

 

Source: "Avoiding Plagiarism: Mastering the Art of Scholarship". Student Judicial Affairs. University of California, Davis. 22 August 2008  

Serious consequences

At the Faculty of Life Sciences, we take plagiarism very seriously. If a student is discovered plagiarising the work of others, it will be reported to the Director of Studies and sanctions will be applied. In serious cases, a student may be expelled from the university.

Futher information: http://www.life-sciences.dk/education/for_students/exam/Plagiarism.aspx

 

Why you need to cite references?

You can protect yourself from the crime of plagiarism by always acknowledge your sources and by citing and referencing them correctly

• To acknowledge debts to other writers
• To demonstrate the body of knowledge upon which your research is based
• To provide supporting evidence for your own arguments
• To enable all those who read your work to locate your sources easly

There are several accepted conventions for citing bibliographic references, one method is the Harvard System. It is the most commonly used in scientific papers, see: Literature references: using the Harvard system 

 

How to avoid plagiarism

University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus University and Copenhagen University have developed a new webtutorial about how to avoid plagiarism, try Stopplagiat nu: 

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