University of Sunderland in London

• Presenting any part of someone else’s work as your own; this includes: ​
  • the work of other students​
  • paying for work to be written by someone else and handed in as your own work​
  • visual material, such as photographs you obtained online and have not given credit to the creator​
• Using a source of information word for word without quotation marks​
• Paraphrasing or summarising material in your assignment without acknowledging the original source through in-text citation and reference​
• Changing a few words of someone else’s work but keeping their sentence structure – for example, ‘The company made a profit’/‘The firm made a profit’
• Copying lyrics or parts of a music composition in your own work
• Making minor changes to another person's images or designs without crediting the original source
• 'Recycling' a piece of your own work that you have previously submitted for another module or course
• Citing and referencing sources that you have not used
• Using too many quotations so that your work is little more than the work of others (even if referenced), held together by linking sentences you have written
• Working with another person to produce an assignment and not declaring this (collusion)

It is really simple:

• Never construct an assignment or dissertation by cutting and pasting from other ones
• Use Library Search not Google to find academic sources
• Use several different academic sources in every work
• Leave yourself enough time to read, analyse, and incorporate a variety of resources in your work
• Be careful with your own work - do not leave copies around
• Do proper referencing from the first draft (use automation whenever available but check the output)
• Get into the habit of referencing properly using the Cite Them Right guide

Watch the short video about the Cite Them Right Harvard referencing guide.

You can use other people’s work in your own work in various ways:

• By directly quoting (i.e. copying and pasting or typing an author’s words exactly as they are)

• By paraphrasing (i.e. using your own words to describe what the author is saying)

• By summarising (e.g. summarising the main points of a whole book or article)

Then, in order to avoid plagiarism, you need to complete these two essential parts in your work to acknowledge the sources you have used:

1. Identify your sources by mentioning the author, date, and page number/s (if applicable) briefly in the body of your work immediately when you quote/paraphrase/summarise someone else’s work: this is called citation or in-text citation (see here how to do it - requires logging in)
2. List each of your sources in detail (author/s, date, title, publication details, etc.) at the end of your work in alphabetical order by author’s surname: this is called a reference list or bibliography (see here what details to include in your reference list - requires logging in)

These two parts should correspond to each other. See in the guide here how your citations and reference list entries should match (requires logging in).

If you use direct quotations, there are strict rules for separating your words from what you have taken from someone else.

You may use short direct quotations (couple of sentences) or longer direct quotations (a whole paragraph, for example). There are different rules for separating them from your own words.

• A short quotation should start and end with quotation marks. After you close the quotation mark, you then immediately enter your in-text citation in round parentheses according to the rules set out in the Cite them right guide. See examples here (requires logging in).

• A long quotation should be entered as an indented new paragraph, by leaving space between your words and the quotation – you do not use quotation marks anymore. At the end of the paragraph, you immediately enter your in-text citation in round parentheses according to rules set out in the Cite them right guide. See example here (requires logging in).
  

When paraphrasing, you are not using the author’s words exactly as they are; so, you do not use quotation marks or separate paragraphs anymore.

Because you are using your own language and style, the placement of the in-text citation may vary: it does not need to be at the end of the sentence. Also, all the information required may not be in the round parentheses – some of the information can be outside the round parentheses. See example here (requires logging in).

The rules are similar to paraphrasing. You are using your own language and style to summarise the main points of a work; therefore, there is flexibility with the placement and contents of the in-text citation. Also, page numbers are not applicable anymore. See example here (requires logging in).

A reference list is a list of everything you read and quoted/paraphrased/summarised from in your work. Your assignments are more likely to have a reference list at the end as they are short pieces of work.

A bibliography is generally for bigger pieces of work, for dissertations and major projects. It includes everything you read as background reading in preparation for writing your work as well as everything you read and quoted/paraphrased/summarised from in your work.

You should start creating your reference list or bibliography as you go along when you start writing. As soon as you enter your in-text citation, you should scroll down to the bottom of your work and complete your reference list entry as well. If you do not do it immediately, you may forget it and your in-text citations and reference list entries may not match. See here for how your citations and reference list should match (requires logging in).

NOTE: You can use automation whenever available to create your reference list entries (in Library Search, Zotero, MS Word, and others); but always check the output to make sure it complies with the University referencing guide Cite Them Right Harvard-no et al. (meaning, you cannot use et al. in your your reference list entry; you have to list all the authors). Make the necessary corrections if the automated referencing is not what it should be.

Get the details of the resource

Let us say you want to use and reference the book Quality management for organizational excellence: introduction to total quality in your work. If you have the print book, you can get all the information necessary to reference this book from the first few pages of it (not the front cover): from the title page and the back of title page.

You can also get the all the details of the book from Library Search (and even create the reference list entry using the Citation button) if you borrowed the book from our libraries.

The details of the book are:

Title: Quality management for organizational excellence: introduction to total quality

Author/s: David L. Goetsch and Stanley B. Davis

Edition: Eighth edition

Place of publication: London

Publisher: Pearson

Publication or copyright date: 2016

Go to the guide and find the correct category in the guide

This is a print book with two authors and it is in its eight edition. Now you need to find the correct section in the referencing guide that is going to show you how to reference this book:

• Log in to the online Cite Them Right guide and choose your style as Harvard, or use the print guide

• Find the correct category for the resource you want to reference, in this case, it is Books/Printed books/Books with two or three authors (also look at other examples to see how the edition statement is done). 

Follow the rules and examples given in the guide

So, if you quote something in your work from page 50 of this book, your in-text citation in the body of your work is going to be:

• (Surname and Surname, year of publication, page number)
• (Goetsch and Davis, 2016, p. 50)

And your reference list entry at the bottom of your work is going to be:

• Surname, Initial. and Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.
• Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B. (2016) Quality management for organizational excellence: introduction to total quality. 8th edn. London: Pearson.

Now try these steps to reference your own sources. Use the link below to arrange a referencing session if you need help.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a frequently used tool all over the world in every field. You may use tools such as ChatGPT to help you with your studies either to get started or as part of your work provided you do so within the guidelines of the University: that is, AI can assist you, but cannot do your work for you.

If you are using generative AI in your work, always check with your lecturers on how they want transparency of use. As well as referencing, this may include a signed declaration of generative AI usage and/or an appendix of generative AI prompts and outputs.

Notes for Referencing Generative AI

How do we reference Generative AI?

There are two types of generative AI: ones that are publicly available and ones that are personal to you.

• If the generative AI material is available online and everyone can access it, reference it as an electronic version of a source (same as referencing a report or an article).
• If the AI’s end product (for example, use of ChatGPT in conversation) is only available to you, reference it as a personal communication and include a description of the AI generated material in your in-text citation. Consult your lecturer in case they require you to provide a copy of the AI work as an appendix to your work.

If you are using generative AI in your work and want to reference it, please follow the Cite Them Right Harvard referencing rules on how to reference generative AI in your work (requires logging in). 

Sample Referencing using Cite Them Right

Referencing the AI created material publicly available online:

• Creator (name of AI)
• Year (in parentheses)
• Title of work (in italics)
• [Medium]
• Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

Referencing AI-generated personal communication:

• Name of AI
• Year of communication (in parentheses)
• Medium of communication
• Receiver of communication
• Day/month of communication