What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism occurs when someone uses another person’s work as their own, without crediting the source. This can be a simple mistake, such as when a student does not correctly reference a quotation in an essay, or can be a more serious offence. When a student copies an extract from the internet or from a textbook and passes it off as their own, this is seen as a deliberate attempt to cheat and is taken very seriously be the University.The University has a clear Plagiarism Framework which applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate students on taught programmes. Postgraduate Research Students are covered by a different set of rules which can be obtained from your supervisor.The University’s Plagiarism Framework informs students of what is constituted as plagiarism and outlines what action will be taken if you are accused of plagiarism. Plagiarism, under the University’s Framework includes the following:

- Collusion:Collusion occurs when you allow someone else to write all or part of your essay and then claim it as your own work.

- Duplication of your own work:It is possible to plagiarise yourself by directly copying a section from a previous essay you have written and submitting it as part of your new essay.

- Copying or paraphrasing:It is an offence to copy work from any source, such as a website, textbook or journal, and then not reference it correctly. Without using quotation marks and referencing, you are plagiarising as you passing someone’s else words off as your own. This includes paraphrasing, whereby a student changes part of a copied extract to make it sound like their own work.

- Submission of another student’s work:All work that you hand in MUST be your own work, your tutor will know if your essay has been written by someone else.

- Directly quoting from model solutions: Any solutions to questions or problems should be your own work

- Fabrication of results: Any facts or figures that you use in your work must be evidenced and cannot be fabricated.

- Cheating in class tests: Any form of cheating in tests will not be tolerated by the University and will be taken very seriously.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Other steps you can take to avoid plagiarism include:

- Avoid patchwork writing: This is when you use other people’s work and restructure their sentences by changing some of their words. It is important that you express your ideas in your own way and it is all your own work.

- Referencing:Get into good habits when you carry out research for your essays and keep a log as you go along of references and source materials. Even if you don’t end up using them all, when you come to write your essay you will then know exactly where each quote is from and will be able to reference the source correctly.

- Ask: If you’ve ever in doubt, seek advise. If you’re unsure about whether you have referenced correctly or used a source appropriately, you can ask for help from your course tutor, your faculty Student Learning Adviser or contact one of LUSU Education and Support’s advisors. (There is also useful information on the University’s  anti-plagiarism website)

Forms of Plagiarism

There are two types of plagiarism offence at Lancaster University –  a Minor offence and a Major offence. Each type of offence is given different penalties but both are taken very seriously.Once you hand in a piece of work, your work may be submitted into an electronic plagiarism checker called Turnitin. This is a leading academic plagiarism detector and is a highly effective way of identifying where students have plagiarised. The person marking your work, will also be looking out for signs of plagiarism and has years of experience in this area.If it is felt that a student has committed plagiarism, this will be classified as either a ‘major’ or a ‘minor’ offence.

Minor Offences 

Minor Offences are often caused by poor referencing and are a sign of poor academic practice rather than a deliberate attempt to cheat. If a tutor suspects that a student has committed a minor offence of plagiarism they will set the suspected ‘plagiarised’ sections aside and these will not be marked. The feedback on your work will explain why these sections have not been marked and the person who marked your work should offer you a meeting to discuss your mark and the offence.If you are accused of a minor offence for a second time,  you will be asked to have a meeting with the academic officer or other member of staff to discuss where you are going wrong and help they can support you in your academic development.If you are accused of a third minor offence you will have a meeting with the Academic officer and it will be treated as a major offence.

Major Offences

A major of offence will be given for the copying of text, without acknowledge of the source. This offence includes the copying of another student’s work,  cheating in a class test, taking essays from the internet, copying and pasting extract from textbooks or journals or submitting extracts of your own work for assessment twice.If you are accused of committing a major offence, the Academic Officer will conduct an investigation and you will be allowed to see any evidence prior to any Departmental Plagiarism Hearings.

What should I do if I’m accused of plagiarism?

If you are accused of plagiarism, you should seek support from a LUSU Advisor who will be able to discuss the accusation with you and explain what will happen next and the possible penalties you may face. A LUSU Advisor can also attend any meetings with the University and represent you. It is important that you are honest with the adviser and tell them all the relevant information. They are not there to judge you and they cannot advise you about your best course of action if they do not have all the information.

Departmental Plagiarism Hearings

If you called to a departmental plagiarism hearing, it is important not to panic and rather see it as an opportunity for you to explain your actions. A LUSU Advisor will be attending the hearing with you and they will explain what will happen on the day and help you prepare for it.At the hearing there will usually be two members of departmental staff and someone taking notes (this is usually the department secretary). A staff member will explain the allegations to you and you will be shown the piece of work with the problematic sections highlighted. You may be asked questions about the piece of work and also asked to explain how the situation occurred.You will then be given a chance to speak, and may be asked further questions. Our advisers can help you decide the best way to deal with this. Each department deals with these hearings slightly differently, sometimes they can be quite informal.

At the end of the hearing the department staff will usually ask your representative if they have anything to add. This is a good chance for them to cover anything that you may have missed, or for them to sum up the positive aspects of what you have said. Usually you and your representative will be asked to wait outside while the department staff make their decision about the accusation. You will then be informed of the decision and if found guilty of plagiarism, be told the penalty for you actions. The level of your penalty depends on how serious the case of plagiarism is, what year of study you are in and if you have been accused of plagiarism before.If the case of plagiarism is deemed to be too serious to be dealt with at departmental level then you will be asked to attend Standing Academic Committee [SAC].

If coursework malpractice is not discovered until after the start of the exams in that subject, there is no time for the case to be heard by the Standing Academic Committee. The student will then be interviewed by the Head of Department and the Chair and Secretary of the Standing Academic Committee who then make recommendations to the Board of Examiners.