Top tips for avoiding plagiarism

If you've done the plagiarism quiz you'll realise that whenever you use, or copy the work or ideas of others, you need to acknowledge where that information has come from and in order to do this in the correct way you need to use a referencing system.

So how do I make sure I don't plagiarise?

In summary, to avoid plagiarism you need to -

• Put quotation marks round text when you choose to copy exactly what an author has said and say where that information came from. This might be by providing an in-text citation, e.g. (Smith, 2015, p. 127), or as a footnote depending on your referencing system. More information about citations and how to create them is available later on in the course.
  
  
• If you paraphrase, putting the information from an author into your own words, you still need to say where that information came from - so providing a citation like above. 
  
  
• You must also create a full list of references from your citations at the end of your essay
  
  
• Always be consistent in the way that you cite and reference. If you use a referencing system like Harvard correctly, this will make sure you are consistent and clear when providing references. 
  

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