Project report writing Plagiarism and academic honesty

1 Introduction A technical report is a formal report designed to convey technical information in a clear and easily accessible format. It is divided into sections which allow different readers to access different levels of information. This guide explains the commonly accepted format for a technical report; explains the purposes of the individual sections; and gives hints on how to go about drafting and refining a report in order to produce an accurate, professional document. 11 Originality and plagiarism Whenever you make use of other people's facts or ideas, you must indicate this in the text with a number which refers to an item in the list of references. Any phrases, sentences or paragraphs which are copied unaltered must be enclosed in quotation marks and referenced by a number. Material which is not reproduced unaltered should not be in quotation marks but must still be referenced. It is not sufficient to list the sources of information at the end of the report; you must indicate the sources of information individually within the report using the reference numbering system. Information that is not referenced is assumed to be either common knowledge or your own work or ideas; if it is not, then it is assumed to be plagiarised i.e. you have knowingly copied someone else's words, facts or ideas without reference, passing them off as your own. This is a serious offence. If the person copied from is a fellow student, then this offence is known as collusion and is equally serious. Examination boards can, and do, impose penalties for these offences ranging from loss of marks to disqualification from the award of a degree This warning applies equally to information obtained from the Internet. It is very easy for markers to identify words and images that have been copied directly from web sites. If you do this without acknowledging the source of your information and putting the words in quotation marks then your report will be sent to the Investigating Officer and you may be called before a disciplinary panel. • Plagiarism refers to the unacknowledged borrowing of others’ writing. When you use others’ exact words without citing their work, you are guilty of plagiarizing, whether you “borrow” an entire report or a single sentence. In academic contexts, plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty. In university classrooms, the teacher usually assumes that the work you turn in is your own original work. If you turn in work that is not your own or that was co-created with others, you are obliged to make that clear to your instructor. When you borrow language from other sources, you are expected to use quotation marks and provide a full bibliographical reference. Whenever you borrow graphics or quote passages, you are legally and ethically obliged to acknowledge that use, following appropriate conventions for document sources. If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own or others’ writing ethically and legally, ask your instructor. • Plagiarism is misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own, taking someone else’s writing or ideas and passing them off as your own work. Plagiarism refers to stealing ideas as well as words, while copyright refers only to exact expression. Some acts of plagiarism are also copyright violations, but some are not. Some acts of plagiarism are covered by law (e.g., copyright violations), but other acts of plagiarism are a matter of institutional or professional or general ethics. • In academic contexts, plagiarism is regarded as an issue of academic honesty. Academic honesty refers to the ethics, codes, and guidelines under which the academic community does its learning, its teaching, its academic work. Those guidelines are important to the university’s being able to achieve its educational mission—its goals for teaching, learning, research, and service. How to avoid plagiarism Plagiarism can sometimes be the result of poor note taking, or paraphrasing without properly citing the reference. You can avoid plagiarism by: • citing your references • referencing correctly • recording direct quotes and paraphrases correctly when note taking. Quotes When you use the exact words, ideas or images of another person, you are quoting the author. If you do not use quotation marks around the original author's direct words and cite the reference, you are plagiarising. Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is when you take someone else's concepts and put them into your own words without changing the original meaning. Even though you are not using the same words you still need to state where the concepts came from. Note taking Poor note taking can lead to plagiarism. You should always take care to: • record all reference information correctly • use quotation marks exactly as in the original • paraphrase correctly • clearly distinguish your own ideas from the ideas of other authors and researchers. Plagiarism is when you take (i) somebody else’s idea, or (ii) somebody else’s words, and use them such that you appear to be the original creator or author of the idea or words. Even if you change a few words of someone else's sentence, it is still plagiarism if the same idea is presented. Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct that is prohibited by the Student Code of Conduct. Plagiarism is unacceptable in all academic work and all documents authored by you, including assignments and project reports. Since published documents are stored and accessed in public places, it is quite possible that a published paper, thesis or dissertation can be accused of plagiarism, perhaps years after it is published. When you write a thesis/dissertation that includes discussion of research results from other documents, plagiarism may creep in unintentionally. Therefore, it is particularly important that you recognize plagiarism and make special efforts to avoid it. Plagiarism can also have legal consequences. Because of the Berne copyright convention, virtually all published material (including on-line, internet material) should be considered to have copyright protection whether it has a copyright notice or not. Suggestions to help you avoid plagiarism: • Take notes when you read. Do not copy complete sentences unless you want to quote the sentence. • Wait some time (or a day) after you read the original source text to write your draft. • Don't draft your paper with the original source text (or a photocopy) open next to you. Use your notes. Go back to the source later to check something you are unsure of. You can certainly use other peoples' ideas and words in your writing, as long as you give them appropriate credit. There are established methods of giving credit to your source of ideas and words. This is discussed in the following section. January 12, 2006 Examples: • If you use exact words from another source, put quotation marks around them. Example: According to Derrisen (2004), "since the flow of liquids in open channels is not subject to any pressure other than the weight of the liquid and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the theoretical analysis can be much simpler." • It is not sufficient to use the citation alone if a direct quote is used. Incorrect example: Since the flow of liquids in open channels is not subject to any pressure other than the weight of the liquid and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the theoretical analysis can be much simpler (Derrisen, 2004). • Changing a few words is not sufficient, since copying the ‘writing style’ is also plagiarism. Either use your own words or quote it. Incorrect example: Liquid flow in open channels is subject to pressure from the weight of the liquid and atmospheric pressure; therefore, the theoretical analysis is much easier (Derrisen, 2004). • Quotes are not necessary if you just use the idea. However, a citation is still required. Warning: it is almost impossible to put a single sentence into your own words. This is why you should read and understand, then write from your notes. Acceptable example: Simple models can be developed for a liquid in open channel flow since it is driven only by atmospheric pressure and weight of the liquid (Derrisen, 2004). Note that the last part of the sentence is a fact (not an idea); one can only change the wording of a fact, not the fact itself! When you describe an experiment, the facts (e.g., specifications of a piece of equipment) will be the same for all students, but the word and sentence arrangements will be different. • Put the citation where it will best identify which information is derived from which source. Place the citation after a key word or phrase which suggests a citation is needed. If most or all of a paragraph is from one source, put the citation at the end of the topic sentence. Repeat the citation later if necessary to make the source of information clear. Examples: - In a study of gear mechanics (Brable, 2005) showed that... - Several of these studies identified the critical control parameter… - Heat transfer in regenerators have been modeled by finite difference method (Jurgel, 2001) and by finite element method (Mitchell, 1996, Templeton, 2003)…. Please note that it is the responsibility of the student to avoid plagiarism in theses and dissertations. Your advisor and thesis committee can help with suggestions, but only if you discuss specific instances of a potential problem. If you are concerned about the quality of your writing, you can take the help of others to proofread your thesis.