Plagiarism

What is plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of reproducing someone else's work, content or idea without giving them credit for it.

This applies to works that are:

• printed or electronic
• published or unpublished
• written by a person or an organisation
• created by AI, like ChatGPT (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 Bristol or elsewhere without permission or citation
• buying or commissioning work, such as essays or software programs.

This list is not exhaustive. More examples can be found on Cite Them Right’s website.

Self-plagiarism

You are also not allowed to reuse your own submitted work to gain academic credit. Credit should only be given for work once.

Submitting, in full or in part, work already awarded credit, is a form of academic misconduct. This applies for work awarded credit at the University of Bristol or elsewhere.

You may see this form of misconduct described as 'self-plagiarism'.

How to avoid plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, you should:

• use citations and reference ideas or work that are not yours
• write your essay in your own words
• only include other people’s ideas within your work when they support your argument or to prove a point.
• use direct quotations only if necessary; focus on ideas instead
• if you use quotations, paraphrases, statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams or images, you must reference them
• never cut/ copy and paste from the internet
• improve your research skills with our University Library’s resources. 

Refer to your faculty, school or course handbook for any specific referencing requirements You can also contact your subject librarian for help.

How we check for plagiarism

We use Turnitin UK (PDF) to check if plagiarism may have occurred. If so, the assignment is also reviewed by the academic department. They decide if the work has been correctly cited or whether there is evidence of plagiarism.

If you are suspected of plagiarism

If we suspect you have plagiarised, you will be asked to attend an interview with senior members of your school to discuss this.

Any obviously plagiarised work is unacceptable and will be penalised according to the University regulations.

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