Referencing
Plagiarism means taking material/ideas from other people (the books you read, the internet, etc.) and using these ideas in your writing without acknowledging the source. In New Zealand, you will be severely punished for plagiarising. You may receive 0% for an assignment, or you may even be asked to leave the university. A commerce international student told us:
For students from another culture, the practice of referencing is sometimes strange. In some cultures, knowing and quoting reputable writers is a sign of scholarship. Some students might think they don’t need to quote the source as the lecturer will immediately recognise the material. In some countries, it is a mark of respect to copy someone else’s idea. In New Zealand, copying like this is seen as a form of cheating. You need to know and sometimes quote reputable writers too, but it is essential to give the source—the name of the author; and details about the book, journal or website you used.I used the internet for my assignment. I must admit I copied some bits of my essay from some internet sites. My lecturer noticed what I had done, and I got a D for that assignment.
When you use ideas from other authors in your assignments, you will either quote or paraphrase these ideas. In both cases you must acknowledge the source.
Quoting is when you copy the exact words from a text or the internet. The copied words are indicated by quotation marks: “. . .”. You shouldn’t quote too often. Lecturers need to know that you really understand what you are saying, and they will only know this if you write in your own words. Only about 5% of your work should be in quotes. You usually only quote something if it is stated in a very clever or effective way and you know that if you rewrite it in your own words, you will lose some of the impact of the message.
Paraphrasing is what you do to avoid quoting. Paraphrasing is when you put an author’s ideas into your own words without changing the message. This is a difficult skill, especially for students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. To paraphrase, you must first understand the ideas thoroughly. Read, re-read, or talk to a friend until you are sure you understand. Then close the book and write in your own words. Use plain language: short sentences and small words.
Here is a paragraph from the same teenage alcoholism essay we showed you earlier. This paragraph contains quotes and paraphrasing. How many quotes are there? How many paraphrases are there?
The sources in this paragraph have been acknowledged each time. You will notice that both the quote and the paraphrase are acknowledged.
Take this quiz on researching and referencing to find out how prepared you are for academic study at Victoria.
