• What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is an unreferenced use of the ideas and words of others. Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is a serious violation of academic ethics. 

All of the following are considered as plagiarism:

  • To present someone’s else work or assignment as your own
  • Resubmitting a previous essay or assignment for a new assignment (self-plagiarism)
  • Copying words or ideas from someone else without citing
  • Failing on correct paraphrasing or quoting
  • Giving incorrect information about the used source
To avoid plagiarism, everything you have used to write your own paper (books, journal articles, web pages), should be listed at the end of your work. These are your references. References should include everything you need to identify the item and be in a consistent format.

• What is common knowledge?

You do not have to cite common knowledge – a fact that almost everyone knows. Common knowledge usually includes historical events, famous people and geographic information that is known by people throughout the world. For example, World War II lasted 1939–1945; Rome is the capital city of Italy; Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States; etc. If something is stated in five or more sources, it can also be considered common knowledge even if most people don’t know it (for example the colours of the national flags of Tanzania). 

Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is and what is not common knowledge in your field of study. If you read or hear the same information many times from different sources, it is probably common knowledge.

If the information is not common knowledge, you should provide a reference. When in doubt, provide a reference!

• What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is presenting ideas and information in your own words and acknowledging where they come from. When paraphrasing, it is important to make sure you have kept the same meaning. 

Read the original information and make notes. Rewrite the information in your own words and ensure that it does not remain too similar to the original. Use synonyms, try to change the form of words (e.g. plural to singular, verbs to nouns) and the structure of the sentence (e.g. from active to passive voice). 
Include an in-text citation and a corresponding reference in the reference list.

• What is quoting?

Taking the exact words from an original source is called quoting. Use quoting: 

  • when the author's words of the original source carry powerful meaning and it is important to use the same wording;
  • when you want to use a specific phrase to support your own argument or provide an evidence.

Place every quotation between quotation marks (" ") and copy the text word-for-word, including the text’s original punctuation and capital letters. You may make only slight changes to the direct quote to keep the correct syntax of the sentence. For example changing the first letter to capital or lower case or the punctuation at the end of the quote. If you need to skip words from the direct quote, you need to replace those words with three ellipsis (...). Short quotes should be incorporated into the sentence, longer quotes (whole sentences or sections) must be indented from your writing. 
Make sure to explain your quotations – what are you trying to show or prove, why this quotation is important. Do not over-quote!
Include an in-text citation and a corresponding reference in the reference list.


Viimati muudetud: neljapäev, 16. september 2021, 11.08 AM