Plagiarism

What is plagiarism

If you include someone else’s idea or language in your work without giving them credit, you have plagiarised. You are not allowed to plagiarise in your assessed work.

This applies to works that are:

• printed or electronic
• published or unpublished
• written by a person or an organisation
• created by Artificial intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT, when it is not part of the assessment task (we consider this cheating).

Plagiarism examples

Examples of plagiarism include:

• using AI (like Chat GPT) to create text and presenting it as your own. This is also considered cheating.
• copying another student’s work or idea, with or without their consent.
• copying or summarising text from a source without referencing it.
• using statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams or images without referencing it.
• handing in material downloaded directly from the internet.
• submitting, in whole or in part, work that has previously been. submitted at the University or elsewhere without permission or citation.
• buying or commissioning work, such as essays or software programs.
• resubmitting your own work from a different module, university or course.

This is not a complete list. More examples are on Cite Them Right’s website.

How to avoid plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, you should:

• use citations and reference ideas or work that are not yours.
• write essays in your own words.
• only include other people’s ideas within your work when they support your argument or to prove a point/ theory.
• only use direct quotations if necessary (focus on ideas instead).
• reference all quotations, paraphrases, statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams or images that you use.
• never copy and paste from the internet.

Improve your research skills using our University Library’s resources. 

To check how to reference correctly, refer to your faculty, school or course handbook. For support, you can contact your subject librarian.

How we identify plagiarism

Our academics can use software to help them decide if plagiarism has happened. The software will create a report, showing similarities between your work and other people's work.

We use two Similarity detection services (Office document, 73kB):

• Turnitin UK is used to check most individual assessments. You may also use it to review your work if your school gives you the option to do it.
• SafeAssign is used for group assessments and some individual assessments.

What happens if you plagiarise

If we think you might have plagiarised, we will invite you to a meeting with staff in your school to discuss this. During this meeting, we will explain why we think you have plagiarised and ask how you created your work.

If you are being investigated for plagiarism, you can contact Bristol SU Academic Advice for free and impartial advice and support.

If you are found to have plagiarised, you will be penalised according to the University regulations.