Appendix 2Instructions to prevent plagiarism
When preventing plagiarism, the basic requirement is that the conventions of academic writing are taught to students so well that they can clearly show what parts of their texts belong to others and what is their own contribution.Even though the conventions of scientific writing differ slightly between disciplines,the basic rules are the same for all.
It is essential that the author clearly refers to the written material he/she has used,be the material unpublished or published in a traditional print format or on the Internet. The student must use a clear citation systemthat clearly indicates to a reader which part of the text has been based on the work of others, what the cited publication or other material is, and at which part of the publication or material the citation is targeted (often page numbers).
If a student uses a direct quote in his/her own text, the quoted part must be put inside quotation marks. The use of quotation marks is often limited to situations in which several words of a text are quoted. However, this is not a comprehensive rule. For example, if a concept developed by someone else is used, the author must clearly indicate who has created the concept. Instead of using quotation marks, an author can make the borrowing of a concept more explicit by directlysaying so in the text. This method is illustrated in the following example:
...This development phase can be called the second demographic transition.(Lesthaeghe & van de Kaa, 1986)
...Lesthaeghe and van de Kaa (1986) have named this development phase the second demographic transition.
In the first sentence, it is not clear for the reader if the author has named the development phase “the second demographic transition” based on the cited source – or if the researchers in the citation have created the name. In contrast, the second sentence explicitly states that it is the cited researchers who have named the development phase.
An author’s obligation to indicate quotations is not removed in the case of longer quotations, even if the author has modified the original text. Even if the author replaces individual words with others, removes some words or sentences or changes the word order, in practice it is still a quotation.Only naming the source is not necessarily enough to communicate how substantially the text presented by the author has been taken from the source cited.If the author does not name the source, it is a form of plagiarism that is as severe as if the text had been copied word by word, regardless of any small changes to the original text. If an author compiles a longer text, for example, a full subsection of a thesis from the slightly edited texts of other researchers (or has translated them from another language) without other own input, it will be seriously considered if the author has committed plagiarism – even ifhe/she has named the sources. Such a consideration will be even more likely if the paragraphs are from one source and they have been presented in the same order as in the source.
If for some reason it is important for the author to refer to certain source material (e.g. a publication) indirectly, using the information of another source, it must be made clear in the reference that the reference is indirect and that the author has not used the cited source him-/herself.
A student can decrease the risk of plagiarism by following some simple rules:
•Avoid excessive hurry caused by poor scheduling. Blaming a busy schedule is no excuse if you are caught.
•Avoid writing exercises, theses or any other textsby cutting and pasting text from the Internet or another electronic source. As you edit text, it may easily become unclear which parts of the text are your own and which are bysomeone else.However, this explanation is no excuse either if you get caught.
•If you decide to use the cut-and-paste technique nevertheless, it is important to always mark the source in connection with the copied text.
•Be aware that it is equally wrong to copy someone else’s thoughts and ideas as it is to copy their written texts without a clear reference to the source.
•Savethe intermediate versions of your texts (different file versions)so that you can see how your work has developed through the intermediate phases to its final shape.
Teachers can prevent and recognise plagiarism as follows:
•Communicate the reprehensibility of plagiarism and explain that it will be taken seriously and that the community is constantly on guard against it.
•Signs of potential plagiarism include rapid changes in the style and manner of representation or texts that seem“too good” in comparison to the student’s phase of studies.
•It is also suspicious if the most recent sources in the text are many years old.
•Use the plagiarism detection software.
•Look for keywords, names and pieces of text from the Internet using search engines.
•Remember that paper publications may also be plagiarised despite the modern search opportunities.
•Check that the most cited sources have been used appropriately.
•If you have supervised a student’s thesis carefully, there is only an infinitesimal chance that the thesis or even a significant part of it would be plagiarised from elsewhere.