Academic Essay Writing for Postgraduates Independent Study version
15
A different answer to the question "Why acknowledge?" is that, if you don't, you
commit plagiarism. Below is some practical guidance for university students, adapted
from Andy Gillett's University of Hertfordshire website
http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/writfram.htm
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's work as your own. There are three
main reasons why you should not do this.
1. It is not helpful.
If you plagiarise, you suggest that something is your work when it is not. This will not
get you good marks. To do well in higher education, you need to be responsible for
the ideas and facts that you use in your writing. You need to provide evidence for
these ideas and facts. You need to show where they have come from and what they
are based on. You do this by acknowledging the sources, by citing. This will support
your arguments and help you succeed in your academic writing. It will also show your
lecturers that you have read and understood the required texts.
2. You need to come to your own conclusions.
You need to show that you have understood the material and come to your own
conclusions on the basis of what you have read and heard. Copying from textbooks,
or pasting text from the Internet into your own writing, is not good enough. Most of
what you write will come from the ideas of other people (from the textbooks you read,
the lectures and the seminars you attend, and your discussions with other students,
etc.). This is what academic study is all about. However, the purpose of an
assignment is for you to say something for yourself using the ideas that you have
studied, so you can present ideas you have learned in your own way. The emphasis
should be on working with other people’s ideas, not simply reproducing their words.
3. It is against the regulations.
You must not use another person's words or ideas as if they were your own. This is
against university regulations and is considered a very serious offence. If you
plagiarise, your lecturer cannot understand how well you understand the course and
cannot therefore give you useful advice and support. In addition, if you plagiarise, you
are not learning. This will become obvious in any written examination you are
required to take.
You need to acknowledge the source of an idea unless it is common knowledge. It may be
difficult to decide exactly what is common knowledge within your subject, but if your lecturer,
in lectures or handouts, or your textbooks do not acknowledge the source, then you can
assume that it is common knowledge within your subject. For ideas which are generally
accepted as valid within your specialism, there is no need to provide a reference. Here are
some tips on making sure you provide the necessary acknowledgments in an assignment:
• Take notes in your own words as far as possible. A good strategy is: read, put away
your books and think, and then write your notes.
• If you do want to use a direct quotation, make clear (to yourself) in your own notes
that it is an extract from the original text. Write down the reference details and page
number. This will help you avoid accidental plagiarism when you copy from your own
notes.
• When you use ideas of other people, follow the conventional system for citing and
referencing their ideas at the relevant points in your assignment (inside your text and
in the references). This will make it impossible for anyone to accuse you of cheating
or stealing someone else's work. It will also help you to develop your research skills.
Practice in Citing sources and Writing a Bibliography (list of References)
is available in Supplementary
Materials - Study tasks 5, 6, 12 and 13.