What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking someone else's work, ideas, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft (definition from the Oxford English Dictionary). Plagiarism means that you, accidentally or purposely, present someone else’s work or ideas as your own without properly referring to the original source. In the academic world, but also at our university, this is a serious accusation that can have severe consequences.
Some examples of plagiarism:
Turnitin
Our university takes copyright and plagiarism very seriously. To prevent plagiarism lecturers and supervisors use the software program of Turnitin to check students' products like essays, placement reports, and theses. This program compares these papers with publications on the Internet and in databases of educational institutions, including our own university. When it detects plagiarism it indicates how many and which resources have been used.
Self-plagiarism
Self-plagiarism is the presentation of your own previously published work as original; like plagiarism, self-plagiarism is unethical. Self-plagiarism deceives readers by making it appear that more information is available on a topic than really exists.
Some institutions may consider it self-plagiarism if a student submits a paper written for one class to complete an assignment for another class without permission from the current instructor. Using the same paper in multiple classes may violate the academic integrity policy, honor code, or ethics code of the university.
However, incorporating previous classwork into one’s thesis or dissertation and building on one’s own existing writing may be permissible; students who wish to do this should discuss their ideas with their instructor or advisor and follow their university’s honor code, ethics code, or academic policies when reusing their previous work. Source: Plagiarism (apa.org)
Re-use materials
You are allowed to re-use materials through summarizing, paraphrasing or quoting as long as you properly identify the source. Watch the videos below to get more insight into plagiarism and how to re-use ideas without plagiarizing: