Plagiarism Quiz

Plagiarism, Collusion and Cheating are considered to be academic misconduct, and can result in a serious penalty.  Some students, correctly found to have committed academic misconduct, may try to justify their actions through variations on the following reasons:

  • “I ran out of time” / “I wasn’t feeling well”;
  • “I simply forgot to put quotation marks around that bit”;
  • “I didn’t know how to correctly cite the source”;
  • “I mixed lots of sources together to create my own work”;
  • “I mistakenly submitted a draft version of my assignment before it was finished”;
  • “I gave my work to a friend, I didn’t know they would just copy it”;
  • “I didn’t mean to do it” / “I won’t do it again”;

None of the above would be considered to be valid reasons for committing academic misconduct.

Remember:  Regardless of whether it was intended or not, if academic misconduct occurs, it will be dealt with as academic misconduct.

This exercise is intended to help clarify what is, and what is not, acceptable academic practice in terms of Plagiarism and Collusion (i.e. the extent to which you can, and cannot, work together with another person, or use another person’s work).

Before undertaking this exercise, you should take a moment to familiarise yourself with the following definitions used at UH:

‘Plagiarism’:

The misappropriation or use of others’ ideas, intellectual property or work (written or otherwise), without acknowledgement or permission. This may include, but is not limited to:

  1. the importing of phrases from or all or part of another person’s work without using quotation marks and identifying the source;
  2. without acknowledgement of the source, making extensive use of another person’s work, either by summarising or paraphrasing the work merely by changing a few words or by altering the order in which the material is presented;
  3. the use of the ideas of another person without acknowledgement of the source or the presentation of work which substantially comprises the ideas of another person and which represents these as being the ideas of the candidate.

(Note for guidance:  For the avoidance of doubt, plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional).

‘Collusion’:

Working together to produce assessed work in circumstances where it is forbidden.

‘Cheating’:

  • to attempt to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process;
  • to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process;
  • where on the balance of probability it could reasonably be construed that a candidate intended to gain an unfair, improper or dishonest advantage in the assessment process.

This may include, but is not limited to:

  • Impersonation;
  • Gaining unauthorised access to exam or test papers;
  • Copying answers of another student in an exam;
  • Covertly bringing answers into an exam or test.

Take the quiz:

Question 1

As part of your research you find a fantastic source of information online. You tell another student about the website and you talk about it together. You write your assignment independently, correctly acknowledging the source.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 2

You and another student happen to find the same source of information independently. You write your assignment independently, using exact words from the source without attributing these words to the source.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 3

You are struggling to start your assignment.  You ask another student for help.  The other student shows you their own work in progress.  You then complete your assignment using your own words.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 4

You’re not sure how to start your assignment and you ask another student for some advice.  The other student helps you by giving you their memory stick containing their own work.  You add some of your own work to make it better, then submit it.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 5

You know that another student in your class always gets high marks so you ask for some help.  The other student goes through your work and provides you with some helpful feedback.  You decide to change your work as a result of the feedback given to you.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 6

You know that another student in your class always gets high marks so you ask for some help.  The other student goes through your work, pointing out any mistakes that they can spot, and provides you with correct answers to problems.  You decide to change your work to include the other student’s ideas but you do not give the other student any credit for their help.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 7

You find the work of another student on the printer and take it away with you. You retype their work making some changes.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 8

You find a great book full of helpful information and facts on the subject of your assignment.  You write your own assignment, which includes some extracts from the book, changing a few words so that they flow better in your essay.  At the end of your assignment you fully and correctly acknowledge the book and it’s author as a source, but you do not identify exactly which extracts in your work came from the book.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 9

You and your best friend on the course decide to work together to produce an assignment, sharing an electronic copy of the work in progress.  As the assignment was not intended to be a group-work task, you both alter the work a little before handing it in.  You do not declare that you worked together because your work is not identical, albeit quite similar.

Is this acceptable?

 
 

Question 10

You decide to illustrate your own points, in your own work, by including some images your found online.  At no point do you declare these images to be your own; in fact, you feel that some of them are so instantly recognisable as other people’s work, that you feel no one would possibly ever think that they were yours.

Is this acceptable?