Plagiarism means using someone else’s words, ideas, or work without giving credit. It can include copying text, images, ideas, or even data from another source and presenting it as your own.
This can happen when you:
✦ Miss a citation: Not giving credit to a source, even accidentally, for ideas, data, or information is plagiarism.
✦ Quote or paraphrase incorrectly: Quoting without quotation marks or a full citation, and paraphrasing by only changing a few words, is still plagiarism. Always cite properly and use your own wording.
✦ Submit someone else's work: Turning in another person’s essay, project, or ideas as if they are your own is plagiarism both for you and them.
✦ Reuse your own work without permission: Using an assignment or project you’ve already submitted for a different task without approval or proper citation (self-plagiarism).
| Academic Integrity |
| Plagiarism is cheating. It means you’re not being honest about your work and ideas. This can lead to failing grades, getting in trouble with your faculty, and can even affect your future education and career opportunities. |
| Maintaining Originality |
| Academic work should reflect your original thoughts and understanding. Using someone else’s work without giving them credit makes it seem like you didn’t put in the effort to think for yourself. |
| Respect for Others’ Work |
| When you use someone else’s ideas or work, it’s important to give them credit because it’s their hard work. Just as you want others to respect your ideas, you should respect theirs. |
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Academic penalties: You might lose marks for/fail the assignment, fail the unit, or even face exclusion or expulsion in severe cases. |
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Limited future opportunities: Plagiarism on your academic record could impact scholarships, job applications, or future studies. |
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Legal and ethical issues: Using someone else’s work without permission can lead to copyright violations, which may have legal consequences. |
✦ Understand what plagiarism is: Know the rules so you can avoid breaking them. Make sure to look up your obligations in the CDU Student Academic Integrity Policy.
✦ Use the correct format: Find your style guide (e.g., CDU APA/Harvard, AGLC) and follow the instructions consistently.
✦ Use quotations wisely: Put quotation marks around direct quotes and cite the source. Try to avoid overusing quotes as this can get you in trouble (even if they're correctly cited).
✦ Paraphrase well: Rewrite ideas in your own words and always cite the original source. Make sure you understand the original text well and express the idea in a new way without changing the meaning.
✦ Keep track of your sources: List where your information comes from as you conduct your searches. Don't lose track of who said what.
✦ Use plagiarism detection tools: Check your work with different tools (such as Grammarly) to get an idea of its originality. Make sure you understand the tool, how it works, and what information it collects before using it.
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