New tricks in plagiarism

Unhappy teacher and student

Teachers fight a constant battle with plagiarism, made worse by the growing volume of information freely available on the Internet at the click of a button.  This ongoing struggle is felt by producers of plagiarism checkers like plagiarismchecker.net, which are continually being developed to deal with new threats and methods being used to cheat. It … Read more

Overview of Referencing

Something many students struggle with, referencing can be fiddly at first but something you should get the hang of with practice. This series of blog entries begins by giving an overview of referencing and the key points to remember before going on to explore the most common styles in some detail. Number of Sources For … Read more

Paraphrasing vs plagiarism

Student copying text in a library

The paraphrasing and plagiarism debate has been prevalent for the past few years. An increasing number of students at University are being accused of plagiarism, and sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the honest students from the ones who have genuinely made a mistake. Researching and writing is a large part of University life, but … Read more

Plagiarism and swipe (comics)

Examples of swipe (comics)

Comics are known for their creativity, originality, epic story lines, and superb graphics. These pieces of art are difficult to make 100% original from time to time. This is why some artists resort to a process of copying art such as a panel, cover, or entire page from an earlier piece that they themselves did … Read more

Plagiarism and cryptomnesia

Lord Byron

Cryptomnesia (literally “hidden memory”) is a situation in which a latent memory is misidentified as one’s original idea. When that idea is used in an original work without attribution, the user has inadvertently committed plagiarism. Two forms of cryptomnesia have been recognized by researchers. These may be referred to as the forgotten thought and the … Read more

Types of plagiarism

Student and teacher in session

Find out about the different types of plagiarism The definition of plagiarism is “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own” (Oxford Dictionary Online). A simple definition of plagiarism is “copying’. There are various different types of plagiarism and this article will give examples as a way … Read more

What is copyright?

Copyright and intellectual property

Find out what copyright is and what it means for students Whenever individuals create poems, stories, novels, biographies or other writings regarded as intellectual property, it belongs to them and them alone. The problem is how to protect such intellectual pursuits from those who might exploit such creative ventures for their own use without compensation … Read more

What is plagiarism?

Confused student

Find out what plagiarism is and how to avoid it The definition of plagiarism according to the Oxford Dictionary Online is “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own”. As such, it is a form of fraud and must be avoided as it is harshly treated by … Read more

What is self plagiarism?

Student studying at a desk

Find out about self plagiarism and how to avoid it While plagiarism is the act of using the research or words of others without attribution, self-plagiarism involves reusing one’s own work. In some circles, self plagiarism is a controversial concept. Some might argue that one cannot steal from oneself. However, there are certain cases in … Read more

Plagiarism prevention through changing mindset

Cheating students in a classroom

Looking at why a different mindset is needed to tackle plagiarism. Whilst plagiarism checkers like plagiarismchecker.net do a lot of good work in helping students identify accidental plagiarism, the real key for educators is in prevention. The task of preventing plagiarism entails examining its root causes and changing your students’ mindset.  This article looks the … Read more

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