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Plagiarism Guidelines

Plagiarism is interpreted by the University as the act of presenting the work of others as one's own work without acknowledgement, and as such, is considered to be academically fraudulent. The University considers plagiarism to be a major offence, and it is subject to the disciplinary procedures of the University. The University's full statement on plagiarism is set out in the University Calendar , Part I, 'General Regulations and Information', II, Academic progress , §63 - §71.

The following set of guidelines is based on procedures published by the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Department of Political Science , Trinity College Dublin, and adapted for the School of Social Work and Social Policy. The list of resources for students and academic staff is provided by the Student Counselling Service, Trinity College Dublin

What is plagiarism?

  • Plagiarism is viewed as a form of academic dishonesty and may be defined as stealing or borrowing from the writings or ideas of others and passing them off as your own.
  • Any failure to acknowledge other people's ideas and statements in an assessment is seen by the University as academic fraud. It is regarded as a major offence for which a student may be referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the University and may be expelled from the University.
  • Acts of plagiarism include copying parts of a document without acknowledging and providing the source for each quotation or piece of borrowed material. This applies whatever the source of the work, whether printed, stored on a compact disc or other medium, found on the World Wide Web or Internet.
  • Similarly, using or extracting another person's concepts, experimental results or conclusions, summarising another person's work or, where, there is collaborative preparatory work, submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student without due acknowledgement constitutes plagiarism.

 

Avoiding Plagiarism

  • When using the work of others you must either i) quote their words directly in quotation marks and provide page numbers, or ii) paraphrase them. Either way, an explicit citation of the work being referred to must be given. To fail to do this is to risk being accused of plagiarism. A guide to referencing is available on the College Library website at https://www.tcd.ie/Library/help/howtocite.php .
  • Proceed on the general assumption that any work to be submitted for assessment should in fact be your own work. It ought not to be the result of collaboration with others unless your lecturer gives clear indication that, for that assignment, joint work or collaborative work is required or acceptable. In this latter situation, you should specify the nature and extent of the collaboration and the identity of your co-workers.
  • It is important to understand that stating that your intention was not to cheat and that you did not understand what constituted plagiarism will not be accepted as a defence. It is the action and not the intention that constitutes plagiarism.
  • The University has established regulations in relation to suspected cases of plagiarism and other forms of cheating. The University's full statement on Plagiarism is set out in The University of Dublin Calendar, Part 1 and Part 2. Students are strongly advised to read these documents carefully and follow all conventions described.
  • The Student Counselling Service provides seminars to help students in referencing, using information ethically, avoiding plagiarism and time management.
  • EndNote is the citation software used in College. EndNote allows you to create a personalised library database of references and create a bibliography for your thesis, assignment or journal article. EndNote also allows you to change your bibliographic library into different reference / citation styles.

When in doubt, consult a member of academic staff.

 

Resources for Students

 

Websites that help with English and grammar include:


Resources for Academic Staff

School of Nursing and Midwifery (Source: https://www.tcd.ie/Library/subjectguides/nursing/Harvard%20Ref%20System%202007-08.pdf )

Department of Political Science (Source: https://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/local/plagiarism.php )