keele university code of practice on postgraduate research degrees

Annex D1: Guidance on avoidance <strong>of</strong> plagiarism and academic
dishonesty
This Annex gives some guidance on how to avoid academic dishonesty (particularly
plagiarism, falsification <strong>of</strong> results and collusion), and identifies the regulations which are
applied in suspected cases <strong>of</strong> academic dishonesty.
Declaration and academic dishonesty
1 When submitting a thesis (or approved alternative) for examination for a higher
degree, students are required to sign a two-part Declaration (see 1.6.4 and Annexes
B1 & C1 <strong>of</strong> the Code <strong>of</strong> Practice). The Part 1 Declaration includes a commitment to
having undertaken research in an ethical and appropriate manner.
2 Examiners are required to confirm, as part <strong>of</strong> the examination process, that they are
satisfied as far as possible that the Part 1 Declaration made by the student is true.
3 It is the students’ responsibility from the outset <strong>of</strong> their research programmes to
ensure that they fully understand the implications <strong>of</strong> the Declarations for the conduct
<strong>of</strong> their research and for the way in which they write it up in the thesis presented for
examination.
4 Academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, falsification <strong>of</strong> research results, collusion,
cheating in examinations, and any other action by the student which gives a false
impression (intentionally or unintentionally) to an examiner or assessor that what is
put forward for examination or assessment is the student’s own work.
Plagiarism
5 In the course <strong>of</strong> their research, research students will inevitably draw on a wide range
<strong>of</strong> previously published material, <strong>of</strong> which some will directly inform and influence their
own lines <strong>of</strong> enquiry. It is important that reference to other people’s work is
acknowledged properly while the student’s own research should be related to it
carefully and unambiguously. Sources <strong>of</strong> information should always be
acknowledged, both by a footnote and in the bibliography/reference section.
6 This account <strong>of</strong> plagiarism is adapted from the MLA Handbook for Writers <strong>of</strong>
Research Papers, ed by Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S Achtert, 2nd edn (New York:
MLA, 1984). The following paragraphs are largely quotations from this source.
Please note that the illustrations given are from literary criticism and anthropology but
the issues are the same in all disciplines. In mathematics and science, for example,
the unacknowledged usage <strong>of</strong> data constitutes plagiarism even if it is adapted in
presentation. If in doubt, students must check with their supervisors.
7 TO PLAGIARISE IS TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN OR
THOUGHT SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE IN FACT BORROWED FROM
SOMEONE ELSE. Plagiarism is the act <strong>of</strong> using another person's ideas or
expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source. The word comes from
the Latin word plagiarius ('kidnapper'), and Alexander Lindey defines it as 'the false
assumption <strong>of</strong> authorship: the wrongful act <strong>of</strong> taking the product <strong>of</strong> another person's
mind, and presenting it as one's own' (Plagiarism and Originality [New York: Harper,
1952] 2).
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