Keele UniversityFaculty of Health
Pharmacy
Undergraduate, Postgraduate and International
School of Pharmacy
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Explore…Referencing and How to Avoid Plagiarism
You’re probably already aware of this but all of the work you do at university must be your own work; whether it’s writing an essay, submitting a lab report or giving a presentation. That doesn’t mean that you can’t refer to any other sources of information, just that you need to make sure you reference them correctly.
Throughout your studies you will be requested to submit a variety of pieces of work. In order to complete these successfully you will be expected to use a number of reference materials such as books, internet sources and journal articles which might help you to understand concepts, present supporting information or offer alternative points of view.
If you use material from one of these reference sources then you must make it clear that you are using someone else’s work. If you don’t do this you are committing plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct, or cheating. Plagiarism includes the following:
- submitting a piece of work written in whole or in part by another person
- duplicating the same or almost identical work for more than one coursework assignment
- purchasing, commissioning or acquiring work from a commercial service, including internet sites, whether pre-written or specially prepared for you
- collusion, where a piece of work is prepared by more than one student, including work from a piece of authorised collaborative group-work, and is presented in whole or in part for assessment as if it were your own work.
Plagiarism includes the use of other people’s words, ideas, diagrams or pictures, definitions and even the layout and format of a slide or poster presentation.
We encourage students to work together, to share ideas and help each other through problems. However, you may not claim sole responsibility for a piece of work that has been prepared by more than one person and present it as your own. This is collusion which, along with other forms of plagiarism, can result in severe penalties.
In order to avoid these penalties all you need to do is reference your work correctly, including the times when you need to use someone else’s results because you were absent or couldn’t complete a piece of work in the set time. This helps to show that you have read around the subject and that you can support your ideas with comments from other independent experts.
There are many systems for referencing work. Those most commonly used at Keele are the Oxford and Harvard systems which you will be introduced to during the first week of the course. The Oxford system lists the author’s name, followed by the title of the work and details related to publishing, for example:
SNEADER, Walter. Drug discovery; a history. Chichester, Wiley, 2005.
The Harvard system offers similar information but presents it in a slightly different order:
Sneader, W., 2005. Drug discovery; a history. Chichester, Wiley.
Notice the common use of italics for the book title but the difference in detail and punctuation associated with the author’s name. Other sources of information may be referenced slightly differently, particularly internet sources, but details will be given to you to ensure you understand how this works.
If you are unsure of how best to complete your references you can always ask for help and advice.
You can also access further help once you arrive at Keele by contacting Student Support and Development Services (SSDS). SSDS can help with essay writing, presentations and avoiding plagiarism.
Remember it is your responsibility to look after your work. Allowing someone else the opportunity to copy your work could result in you being disciplined for plagiarism. You shouldn’t give anyone else copies of your work, whether that’s an essay you have printed off, or an electronic file stored on a pen drive. It’s your intellectual property!
