A NOTE ABOUT PLAGIARISM
FOR ALL VICTORIA UNIVERSITY ARTS STUDENTS

Plagiarism

Plagiarism has become an increasing problem for both staff and students in the Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development. Academic staff use software to detect plagiarism.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined throughout the university as ‘A practice that involves the using of another person’s intellectual output and presenting it as one’s own’.

The following are examples of dishonest practices and /or plagiarism:

• Copying out parts of any text without acknowledging the sources. This may be written text, structures within texts, diagrams, formulae, sound files, still photographs, audio-visual material sound and image files, graphics/animations/multimedia objects, other computer based material, mathematical proofs, art objects and others. This can be done as verbatim copying or paraphrasing.
• The use of someone else’s concepts, experimental results, experimental conclusions or conclusions drawn from analysing evidence or arguments without acknowledging the originator of the ideas or conclusions.
• Submitting a substantially similar final version of any material as a fellow student, whether the co-operation on a piece of work was part of the assignment instructions or not.
• Falsification of results from experiments, surveys or other research methods and fabrication of data.
• Self-plagiarism or recycling, where substantially the same piece of work is submitted more than once for assessment.
• Ghostwriting, where a second or third party authors an assignment that is presented as the student’s own.

How can I avoid plagiarism?

In all your academic work, you will be involved in reading, analysing and writing about other people’s ideas. Obviously, when you do this, you will quote these ideas, what others have said about these ideas, and YOUR analysis of these ideas.

When you do this, it is essential that you use references to show where you have reproduced material which you have found in your research, written by others. This can also include useful material from lectures. Whether you quote directly from other’s work, or whether you paraphrase their work, you MUST acknowledge your sources using references. You will have help to do this during the semester.

Plagiarism also includes ‘borrowing’ work from your classmates.

What will happen to me if I plagiarise?

There are a range of penalties which will be applied if you are found to have plagiarised – from either published or unpublished material. These penalties include:

1. applying a fail grade to the unit;
2. applying a fail grade to part or all of the assessment;
3. referring the matter to the Head of School;
4. requiring the student to re-submit for assessment or to undertake another form of assessment, such as an oral or unseen examination;
5. placing a record of the alleged infringement on the student’s file
6. requiring the student to access the services of CEDS;
7. requiring the student to submit further work;
8. counselling;

PLAGIARISM IS TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY INDEED BY THE UNIVERSITY BECAUSE IT IS A FORM OF CHEATING. IT VIOLATES INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND UNDERMINES THE CULTURE OF INTELLECTUAL ENQUIRY WHICH IS FUNDAMENTAL TO ALL OUR WORK.