For many students, one of the biggest concerns is understanding acceptable practice around academic ethics, and in particular plagiarism.
In this section, we'll explore just what we mean by plagiarism and academic integrity.
According to the University of Dundee’s Code of Practice on Academic Misconduct by Students, plagiarism is “[t]he unacknowledged use of another’s work as if it were one’s own”.
Plagiarism can include:
Using someone else’s words or ideas in your own work without acknowledging the source
Quoting someone else’s words without using quotation marks (even if you cite the source)
Substituting words rather than paraphrasing an author’s original idea (even if you cite the source)
Copying and pasting text into your own work without acknowledging the source.
This video explains how some of the more common types of plagiarism occur:
Plagiarism is one form of academic misconduct, but there are others you should also be aware of. These include:
Paying someone (an individual or an online company for example) to do an assignment for you.
Colluding with someone to produce a submission that is supposed to be your own work.
Re-submitting – partially or in full – a piece of work you have previously submitted for assessment at this or another university.
This is only a brief summary. You should read the Code of Practice in full to ensure you have a clear understanding of policy here at the University of Dundee. Every time you submit a piece of work at the University you’re confirming that you’ve adhered to this code, so it’s important that you know what it contains.
One particularly common cause of plagiarism is copying and pasting from other sources into your assignment document. This may lead to intentional plagiarism (where you knowingly and deliberately pass the copied content off as your own work) or unintentional plagiarism (where for example you subsequently forget to add the appropriate citations and references, or you include these details but fail to acknowledge with quotation marks that they are the words of the original author rather than your own).
In your previous studies, it may have been acceptable to use copied passages in this way, or else you may have been in the habit of copying directly into your assignment before editing the copied passage and adding the appropriate references.
You should never copy passages directly into your assignment. You should always think about why you want to use this particular piece of evidence, exactly which parts of the passage you need to include, and whether you should quote these parts directly or paraphrase (put into your own words).
Most assignments at University of Dundee are submitted through a piece of software called Turnitin, which produces what is known as a ‘similarity report’. It’s important to note that this is not a plagiarism report – there can be legitimate reasons for parts of your work being flagged up as similar to other sources. 
Nevertheless, your marker will look into the highlighted extracts in more detail and make a judgement as to whether there is a problem. In all honesty, in many cases the technology is not required. An experienced marker will notice fairly quickly by themselves if something isn’t quite right.
In some subjects, you will be allowed to submit a draft of your assignment in advance of the deadline so you can see the similarity report for yourself and make any necessary adjustments. Note that this is not a universal option and is down to the discretion of the individual module leaders.
You will be informed if this option is available to you. If so, it’s important that you carefully consider what the report is telling you so you can take the appropriate action.
The exact penalties for plagiarism will depend to some extent on the policy within your School or discipline area and should be explained to you in your handbook and/or assignment information.
It is very likely that even minor or first offences will lead to some sort of reduction in the grade you receive for that piece of work. Major or repeat offences are likely to draw more serious penalties and can in extreme cases result in the termination of your studies.
You can read more about potential penalties in section 4 (Procedures and penalties) of the Code of Practice.
It’s understandable to begin a master’s course with a sense of trepidation about plagiarism and the ins and outs of referencing. It can all seem very confusing and fraught with danger.
But the truth is you shouldn’t spend your time worrying about plagiarism and obsessing about getting the details right. The ethical use of evidence and the referencing of that evidence are important elements of successful study, but they are parts of a much bigger picture.
By understanding what constitutes plagiarism, and the role that referencing plays in ensuring that you don’t fall into that trap, you can spend less time worrying about how you reference the evidence and more time focusing on how you use that evidence to its best effect.
At university, there’s an expectation that you will reference accurately and appropriately.
In this section, you’ll find the information you need to make sure you understand the basic requirements. We’ll look at the mechanics of referencing (the ‘how’) as well as exploring why referencing is such an important part of the work you’ll do (the ‘why’). 
Referencing is often looked upon with a sense of dread, but in essence it is a simple process and one that you can and should become competent at carrying out. Whilst you will need to invest some time to understand the process and some of its nuances, the basic mechanics of referencing are quite easily understood. Let’s explore these now.
There are numerous referencing systems and it’s entirely possible that you may have to switch between two or more during your time at university. Understanding the basic mechanics of referencing can help you to master individual systems and switch between them when required.
Irrespective of the system you are using, there are two steps you need to take: the citation and the reference.
Step 1 – the citation
The citation is the (usually brief) information you give in the body of your work, immediately upon using a piece of evidence. It will take the form of either:
an in-text citation, e.g. (Smith, 2020)
or
a footnote or endnote,
but never both. Which of these you deploy will depend on the referencing system you are using.
Step 2 – the reference
The reference is the fuller information about the source which you provide at the end of your work, in either a Reference List or a Bibliography.
A Reference List contains an entry (usually organised alphabetically by author surname) of every source cited in your work. A Bibliography goes further, containing not just sources you’ve cited but also sources from your wider research which have influenced your overall thinking, but which you haven’t cited directly in your work.
Again, the choice of Reference List or Bibliography will be dependent on the referencing system you are using and the conventions of your discipline. For more information, check out the subject guide(s) for your discipline.
Here’s a video from the team at Cite Them Right (the University’s recommended resource for referencing queries) highlighting that distinction between citations and references:
Now that we understand the basic mechanics of referencing, it’s important to understand why we need to reference at all.
Students can sometimes see referencing as a chore, and as something they have to do, rather than something that actually enhances or adds value to their work.
This is the wrong way to think about referencing. In any walk of life, being professional involves working within the conventions and protocols of that occupation. In academia, referencing and acknowledging your sources is one such convention. It’s not something that students alone have to do – it’s a practice we all have to adopt when we engage in any kind of research and writing at university.
Reasons to reference consistently and accurately include:
To acknowledge when we use the work or ideas of others
To display the depth and breadth of our research
To add weight and legitimacy to our own ideas and arguments
To refute or challenge an existing idea or argument
To ensure we are balanced and include an appropriate range of arguments and points of view
To place our own research in context
To allow our readers to further research the topic
When thinking about why we reference, many students tend to focus on the first of these reasons – we reference to show where our evidence came from so we don’t get accused of plagiarism.
But this is a very limited and unconstructive way of thinking about referencing. What you should notice is that many of the reasons listed serve to make your writing better and more effective.
By locating your ideas and arguments within the existing field of scholarship you demonstrate a deeper appreciation of your subject. By engaging with a range of ideas and arguments you make your own arguments stronger and more rigorous. And by pointing your reader towards the resources you’ve drawn upon you become an active participant in the research going on in that area.
So try not to see referencing as something you have to do, see it as something that adds significantly to the quality and depth of your work. Or to turn that on its head, realise that work which is not properly evidenced and referenced is intrinsically weak and unpersuasive, and certainly not of the standard we want to achieve at master’s level.
Practical ways you can develop your referencing skills
Look back at a previous piece of work you have done and assess how effectively you have cited and referenced the evidence you used. Is there an entry in the Reference List or Bibliography for every source you cited in the main body? Is there any evidence you’ve failed to cite?
Notice in the reading you do how evidence is cited and referenced, for example in a journal article or book that you read. Be aware that different publications will have different requirements (the variations in referencing are almost endless), so this won’t necessarily be the exact format you will be required to follow, but it will help you understand the mechanics of referencing, and the ways in which published writers in your field use evidence to support their writing.
It’s important to make sure that you understand how and why you need to reference. Getting into good practices in this area means you will avoid the risk of plagiarism, cite and reference accurately and efficiently, and in so doing enhance the quality of your work.
One of the challenges of academic writing is incorporating that evidence without losing the flow and general tone of your own words. Taking a little time to develop your confidence in the key techniques for incorporating evidence will greatly enhance the quality and coherence of your work, as well as helping you to cite and reference more effectively.
Essentially you have two options when referring to evidence - you can quote directly, or you can paraphrase (put the ideas into your own words).
Note that in both cases you need to cite the evidence – even if you put it into your own words, you are still using someone else’s ideas.
Different subjects have different conventions, so it’s very important that you establish what is preferred or permitted in your subject area.
For example, in the Sciences quotation is used very sparingly – the vast majority of the time you’d be expected to paraphrase. In other disciplines there will be more choice.
So how do you decide when to take one approach over the other? The video below provides some good suggestions:
When quoting directly, there are a few things to bear in mind.
First of all, how you lay out the quote will depend on its length. Shorter quotations (no more than 2 -3 lines in your work) should be included as part of the body of the text, and enclosed in single quotation marks. A short quote should never appear in your work as a freestanding sentence – it should always be part of a longer sentence.
Longer quotations should be presented in a separate, indented block, and do not require quotation marks. They should still however be introduced in the text which precedes them.
See examples of quote layouts - https://www.citethemrightonline.com/article?docid=b-9781350928060&tocid=b-9781350928060-setting-out-quotations
Generally, however, quoting large chunks of text should be avoided where possible, so consider paraphrasing instead or use selected extracts from the quote rather than the whole thing.
See examples of using extracts from quotes https://www.citethemrightonline.com/article?docid=b-9781350928060&tocid=b-9781350928060-making-changes-to-quotations
Paraphrasing can be a difficult skill to master but it is just that – a skill. With practice you can become confident in your ability to put other people’s ideas into your own words without falling into the trap of word substitution.
Word substitution (sometimes known as ‘paraphrase plagiarism) is where you leave the sentence as it is but change certain words to others with the same meaning. This is considered a form of plagiarism because you’re not really showing your understanding and synthesis of ideas – you’re simply showing your ability to find synonyms.
In addition, word substitution usually leads to torturous, clumsy sentences that are far less effective than the original.
The key is to understand that you are paraphrasing the idea or argument and not the sentence. Try thinking about how you would explain the idea to a friend, a tutor, or a family member without having the original text in front of you. This will allow you to move away from the structure of the original sentence and instead think about the underlying subject matter.
Have a look at our video below for more detailed advice on paraphrasing.
Regardless of whether you choose to quote or paraphrase your evidence, you will have two options in terms of how you present it – direct or indirect citation. Depending on the referencing system, this may affect the format and/or position of the citation.
Direct citation occurs when you refer to the author(s) directly in the sentence. The example below shows direct citation in the Harvard style:
Smith (2020) contends that the current penalties for weak or missing citations are too lenient.
Indirect citation occurs when there is no direct reference to the author(s) in your sentence. Note how in the Harvard system the content and position of the citation changes as a result:
It is argued that the current penalties for weak or missing citations are too lenient (Smith, 2020).
There are no hard or fast rules regarding whether to use direct or indirect citation; indeed, good writing will often intentionally combine both.
However, you should pay attention to the conventions of your discipline (for example when reading journal articles and books) and establish whether there is a preferred approach, or specific situations in which you would use one of these approaches over the other.
Practical ways you can develop your use of evidence
Identify the conventions in your own discipline regarding quotation and paraphrasing. It’s important that you know whether quotation is common or whether you’re expected for the most part to paraphrase. If you’re not sure, read a few journal articles or book chapters in your subject area and pay attention to how these authors present evidence.
Practice paraphrasing. It takes time to master, but once you do it will become a natural process and will add immeasurably to the effectiveness with which you use evidence, even if quotation is also permitted in your discipline.
Be aware of the distinction between direct and indirect citation, both in your own work and in the sources you read for research. Are there particular situations where one is more effective than the other?
It’s easy to get bogged down in details of specific referencing systems, and to worry about plagiarism. It is important to take care of these things, but beyond the basics the more important thing is how you’re using that evidence and how you’re incorporating it into your own writing.
By seeing that wider context, and by working on the craft of integrating evidence into your work, you can move beyond the basic concerns and start to see evidence – and the referencing that goes with it – as something that is part of a much bigger and more important picture.