Plagiarism

Plagiarism is interpreted by the University as the act of presenting the work of others as one’s own 
work, without acknowledgement.

Plagiarism is considered as academically fraudulent, and an offence against University discipline. The 
University considers plagiarism to be a major offence, and subject to the disciplinary procedures of 
the University.

Plagiarism is defined as “taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's 
own”. Plagiarism can occur in many ways; deliberate copying and pasting text from books, reviews, 
research papers, newspapers; from internet sources (e.g. Wikipedia), including social media, or 
copying from another student’s assignment. Importantly, sometimes plagiarism can be accidental – 
such as when a student copies text from one of the above sources into their notes without noting 
(by inverted commas or a note-to-self) that it is copied verbatim from that source - and 
subsequently using this text in an assignment or exam answer. Furthermore, taking a segment of 
text from any of the above sources and simply rewriting each sentence in turn in a different tense 
OR using synonymous nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives is also plagiarism. 
Therefore. it is very important for students to indicate in their notes, those that are written in their 
own words and those that are copied from published sources. 

All plagiarism, regardless of it being deliberate or accidental, is academic fraud, is a most serious 
disciplinary offence, and is treated as such by Trinity College Dublin. 

To help you guard yourself against accusations of plagiarism there is an online tutorial ‘Ready, 
Steady, Write’ at https://libguides.tcd.ie/plagiarism/ready-steady-write

Detailed information on what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and the consequences of committing 
plagiarism are laid out at https://libguides.tcd.ie/plagiarism

The ‘Ready, Steady, Write’ tutorial is compulsory for all TR060 first year students and it will be 
assumed that all TR060 second year students have taken it, understand what plagiarism is and the 
consequences. 
The College rules and further information can be read in Paragraphs 95-104, Part B of the College 
Calendar https://www.tcd.ie/calendar/undergraduate-studies/

Information on Academic Integrity can also be found here https://www.tcd.ie/teaching-learning/academic-integrity/ 

As a rule of thumb you should: (1) write answers / assignments in your own words: (2) in your notes, 
keep track of from where and how you gather information from published sources; (3) rewrite key 
points of information in your own words; (3) use these key points to create a framework around 
which you write the essay in your own words.