Plagiarism is 'a practice that involves the using of another person’s intellectual output and presenting it as one’s own'.
This includes the presentation of work that has been copied, in whole or part, from other sources (including other students’ work, published books or periodicals, or unpublished works or unauthorized collaboration with other persons), without due acknowledgement.
Strategies to avoid plagiarism include:
- starting early! Mistakes often occur when you are rushed and there are no short cuts; remember, you may be penalised for incorrect referencing
- consulting the referencing style guides for more information on which details you may need to include in your reference list; remember to check with your lecturer which referencing style they would prefer you to use
- pre-submitting assignments to the Originality Check Test folder in the Student Induction Space; you can check your work using Ouriginal, a plagiarism detection tool.
More information about why you need to reference and the importance of avoiding plagiarism is available on the referencing and plagiarism guide.
Consequences of plagiarism
A student found guilty of plagiarism will be subject to one or all of the following:
- Referral to Course Coordinator for: counselling; submission of further work; use of the services of Student Learning Unit; the placing of a record of the alleged infringement on the student’s file.
- Referral of the matter to the Director of Teaching and Learning for: issuing of written warning; resubmission of work for assessment or the undertaking of another form of assessment such as an oral or unseen examination; allocation of a fail grade to part or all of the assessment; allocation a fail grade to the unit.
- Referral of the matter to the Dean for: suspension from the course; official disciplinary action by the University Disciplinary Committee.