Plagiarism is taken very seriously at university level, be it intentional or unintentional plagiarism. In essence, plagiarism is the act of using or copying someone else's work and pretending that you thought of it or created it. In other words, it is a form of cheating.

Students can sometimes fall into the trap of unintentionally plagiarising. This section aims to highlight all the different forms of plagiarism to help students understand what it is, and how to avoid it. In order to avoid suspicion of plagiarism it is important to think carefully about how you use someone else's work in your essay, and to make sure you always provide a reference where necessary.

Activity: Have a go at the plagiarism quiz. This activity gets you thinking about plagiarism and when you need to reference. Click on the 'Next' button to get to the quiz.