Study skills
There are lots of resources to help you improve your study skills during your time with the University of Wales. Use the links below to get started:
Avoiding plagiarism
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is when someone tries to present another’s work as their own, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Examples of plagiarism include:
- Buying essays from websites and handing them in as your own work
- Copying essays or articles from the web and presenting them as your own work
- Copying sections from books, journals, dissertations, websites etc. into your own work without providing a reference for the material
- Quoting someone else’s work without putting the words inside quotation marks
- Incorrectly referencing material
- Copying sentences with some words changed without providing a reference
Why Is Plagiarism A Problem?
Plagiarism is viewed as an attempt to gain unfair advantage over other students and instances where plagiarism is detected are dealt with severely in the academic community.
Any student registered on a University of Wales validated course is subject to the University’s . The Procedure sets out the University of Wales’s policy on plagiarism and students should familiarise themselves with the document to avoid plagiarism and other forms of unfair practice.
The huge proliferation of free resources available on the web means that it is now easier for students to plagiarise. It is, however, easier to detect because it is easier to search for information digitally.
Plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin can check submitted work for incorrectly referenced or misappropriated material.
All institutions validated by the University of Wales have access to Turnitin. Please refer to your institution if you want to know more about how your institution uses Turnitin.
Some students plagiarise because of a lack of web searching skills or because of time constraints.
Learning how to effectively search the web and where to find reliable web resources should save you time when searching for material to help your studies. Intute’s Internet Detective tutorial is a good place to start when learning about how to search for and evaluate web resources.
What Should I Do To Avoid Plagiarism?
Most instances of plagiarism can be easily avoided by careful and accurate citation of the material you refer to.
It is good practice to use bibliographic software to manage your references throughout the research process.
See the referencing page for more information about referencing.
Where Can I Find More Information About Plagiarism?
Plagiarism.org and PlagiarismAdvice.org both contain additional useful resources to help you avoid plagiarism.
Referencing
Accurate and careful referencing of the materials you consult during your research and when writing up your work is the best way to avoid plagiarism.
Referencing involves citing the materials that you quote from or refer to in the body of your work and providing a reference list/bibliography at the end of your work.
There are a lot of different referencing styles to choose from. The preferred referencing style will vary in different institutions and even in different departments within the same institution.
If you are unsure which referencing style to use, ask your lecturer or course administrator which style they recommend.
For an introduction to some of the widely used referencing styles, go to the Referencing Styles webpage.
Tip! Whichever referencing style you decide to use, make sure that you apply this style consistently throughout your work.
Reference styles
Below is an introduction to some of the most popular referencing styles and links to examples of referencing guidance documents and tutorials for each of the referencing styles featured.
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The Harvard referencing style is an example of author-date referencing. The Harvard style is very common and is used across most subjects.
With the Harvard system, when you cite someone else’s work (by including a quotation or by paraphrasing their work), you need to include the author’s last name and the date of publication in brackets after the citation in the body of your paper. The full reference to the work is then included in an alphabetic reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.
There is no definitive form of Harvard referencing as there is no organisation that sets standards for the style.
Despite its name, the style is not linked to Harvard University.
As there is no standard, there are variations of the Harvard style.
As with all referencing styles, it is important that you apply the version of the Harvard style that you choose consistently.
Harvard links
- Cardiff University’s Information Literacy Resource Bank features a section on citing references. The Harvard referencing materials include activities, quizzes and a Harvard Referencing Tutorial. The tutorial incorporates interactive exercises to check whether you have understood the style guidelines
- Anglia Ruskin University’s Harvard System of Referencing Guide is a comprehensive guide to using the Harvard style which features examples of how to reference a wide variety of publication formats
- The University of Sussex has developed a Harvard Style Information Literacy Tutorial which also features a quiz to test your knowledge of the Harvard system
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The American Psychological Association publishes a style guide, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which is commonly used by writers, editors and students in the social science subjects.
The APA also provides a free basic online tutorial to using the APA Style which includes guidance on how to reference.
APA Links
The following, freely available APA web guides may also help you to reference your work using the APA style:
- Cardiff University Information Literacy Resource Bank - APA Referencing Tutorial
- University of Wisconsin - Madison - Writing Center APA Documentation
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) - APA Formatting and Style Guide
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The University of Chicago Press publishes The Chicago Manual of Style.
There is also an online version, the Chicago Manual of Style Online which offers a free 30 day trial.
The Manual features a free Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide which gives examples of how to cite a variety of references including books, book chapters, journal articles, newspapers, book reviews, theses and websites. It also features a comprehensive FAQ section.
Chicago Links
There a lot of free Chicago style guides on the web including:
- Purdue University, Online Writing Lab (OWL) - Chicago Manual of Style
- University of Wisconsin - Madison - Writing Center Chicago Documentation
- Murdoch University - Chicago Style Guide
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Developed by the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford, OSCOLA is used to cite authorities, legislation and other legal materials.
The fourth edition can be viewed here. There is also an SCOLA quick reference guide.
The fourth edition does not contain citation advice for International Law sources, however the section on citing these sources from the 2006 edition of OSCOLA is available as a separate document: OSCOLA 2006: Citing International Law.
OSCOLA Links
- The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities - homepage
- Cardiff University Information Literacy Resource Bank - Citing the Law
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The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) referencing style is used in engineering disciplines.
The 2009 IEEE style manual contains guidance on referencing and can be viewed as a pdf document here.
A citation reference guide is available here.
The IEEE referencing style refers to The Chicago Manual of Style for guidance on citing any resources that are not covered by the IEEE style manual.
IEEE Links
There are free, online guidelines to using the IEEE referencing style including:
University of Toronto, Engineering Communication Centre - IEEE Style Documentation
Monash University Library - IEEE Style Examples