PLAGIRISM

Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without
consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full
acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in
manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition, as is the
use of material generated wholly or in part through use of artificial intelligence
(save when use of AI for assessment has received prior authorisation e.g. as a
reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability). Plagiarism can also include re-
using your own work without citation. Under the regulations for examinations,
intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.”

The necessity to acknowledge others’ work or ideas applies not only to text, but
also to other media, such as computer code, illustrations, graphs etc. It applies
equally to published text and data drawn from books and journals, and to
unpublished text and data, whether from lectures, theses or other students’
essays. You must also attribute text, data, or other resources downloaded from
websites.

The artificial intelligence (AI) can only be used within assessments where specific
prior authorisation has been given, or when technology that uses AI has been
agreed as reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability (such as voice
recognition software for transcriptions, or spelling and grammar checkers).

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good
academic practice from the beginning of your university career. Avoiding
plagiarism is not simply a matter of making sure your references are all correct,
or changing enough words so the examiner will not notice your paraphrase; it is
about deploying your academic skills to make your work as good as it can be.

Forms of plagiarism
Verbatim (word for word) quotation without clear acknowledgement
Quotations must always be identified as such by the use of either quotation
marks or indentation, and with full referencing of the sources cited. It must
always be apparent to the reader which parts are your own independent work
and where you have drawn on ideas and language from another source.

Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement

Information derived from the Internet must be adequately referenced and
included in the bibliography. It is important to evaluate carefully all material
found on the Internet, as it is less likely to have been through the same process
of scholarly peer review as published sources.

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their
order, or by closely following the structure of their argument, is plagiarism if you
do not give due acknowledgement to the author whose work you are using.
A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough;
you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the
paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better
to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words,
indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or
her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will
avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising. You must also properly
attribute all material you derive from lectures.
Collusion
This can involve unauthorised collaboration between students, failure to attribute
assistance received, or failure to follow precisely regulations on group work
projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entirely clear about the
extent of collaboration permitted, and which parts of the work must be your own.
Inaccurate citation
It is important to cite correctly, according to the conventions of your discipline.
As well as listing your sources (i.e. in a bibliography), you must indicate, using a
footnote or an in-text reference, where a quoted passage comes from.
Additionally, you should not include anything in your references or bibliography
that you have not actually consulted. If you cannot gain access to a primary
source you must make it clear in your citation that your knowledge of the work
has been derived from a secondary text (for example, Bradshaw, D. Title of Book,
discussed in Wilson, E., Title of Book (London, 2004), p. 189).

Failure to acknowledge assistance

You must clearly acknowledge all assistance which has contributed to the
production of your work, such as advice from fellow students, laboratory
technicians, and other external sources. This need not apply to the assistance
provided by your tutor or supervisor, or to ordinary proofreading, but it is
necessary to acknowledge other guidance which leads to substantive changes of
content or approach.

Use of material written by professional agencies or other persons

You should neither make use of professional agencies in the production of your
work nor submit material which has been written for you even with the consent
of the person who has written it. It is vital to your intellectual training and
development that you should undertake the research process unaided. Under
Statute XI on University Discipline, all members of the University are prohibited
from providing material that could be submitted in an examination by students
at this University or elsewhere.

Auto-plagiarism
You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted
(partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of
this, or any other, university, unless this is specifically provided for in the special
regulations for your course. Where earlier work by you is citable, i.e. it has
already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work
submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.
Why does plagiarism matter?
Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity. It is a principle of intellectual
honesty that all members of the academic community should acknowledge their
debt to the originators of the ideas, words, and data which form the basis for
their own work. Passing off another’s work as your own is not only poor
scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning
process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your
future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the
degrees it issues.
Does this mean that I shouldn’t use the work of other authors?
On the contrary, it is vital that you situate your writing within the intellectual
debates of your discipline. Academic essays almost always involve the use and
discussion of material written by others, and, with due acknowledgement and
proper referencing, this is clearly distinguishable from plagiarism. The knowledge
in your discipline has developed cumulatively as a result of years of research,
innovation and debate. You need to give credit to the authors of the ideas and
observations you cite. Not only does this accord recognition to their work, it also
helps you to strengthen your argument by making clear the basis on which you
make it. Moreover, good citation practice gives your reader the opportunity to
follow up your references, or check the validity of your interpretation.
The University Grant Commission sets the limit of similarity in your research and
other people’s work and the penalties to be levied.
How AI relates to plagiarism
Since AI draws and paraphrases from many different sources, it can be tricky to
determine how much of it is plagiarized from a specific source.
AI-generated content draws from existing, real-world sources. The algorithms
that form the foundation of AI tools analyze existing content from across the
internet, whether they stem from academic and scientific journals to blog posts—
or even previously generated AI content.
The goal of AI tools is to generate content that is seemingly natural-sounding
and written by humans. However, their credibility can waver depending on the
subject, the sources from which they draw, and the ever-evolving capabilities of
their algorithm. In addition, AI writing can feel clunky, with outdated or awkward
phrasing that can draw unwanted attention to itself. Creating one’s own text
allows writers to develop their own voice, as well as add depth and create
interest in their own work.

AI detectors can parse text of any length to see what parts match the patterns
having been generated by AI. Just like plagiarism detection tools, this can
undermine your work.
What is AI content detection
AI content detection is the process of using machine learning (ML) and natural
language processing (NLP) to determine if text is human-written or AI-generated.
AI content detectors work by analyzing two main characteristics:

Perplexity: Measures how predictable the text is to a language model

Burstiness: Assesses how often certain words or phrases repeatower perplexity
means more predictable text and a higher likelihood of AI generation. Low
burstiness can also indicate AI text.
Therefore, predictable, uniform sentences often indicate machine writing.

Responsible use of AI can be made

1. AI should only be considered and used as a learning aid
2. It should be used with permission