Avoiding Plagiarism

Be under no illusion, plagiarism - copying another person's words or ideas without proper acknowledgment - is cheating.

It is regarded by the University as a serious academic offence that can result in disciplinary action.

Here are some practical tips on avoiding plagiarism:

• Paraphrase in your own writing style your interpretation of the work of others and refer to these sources of information consistently both within your text and in full in your bibliography.
• Show very clearly, by using "quotation marks", all text that is lifted directly from work belonging to someone else. Direct quotes longer than two or three lines should be inserted as a new paragraph, indented and single-spaced, to show clearly that these are not your own words. They should also be referenced both within your text and fully in your bibliography.

Help and advice

Student Learning Service for advice on how to avoid plagiarism.

Information Skills Toolkit - Ethical Use of Information.

Library for advice on referencing and citing styles.

Library Guide: UG GEN007 Referencing and Citing (PDF).
Law students should refer to the fourth edition of OSCOLA, the Oxford guide to legal citation, online at the Oxford Law website.