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
• Get into the habit of referencing properly using the Cite Them Right guide
• Use proper referencing from the first draft
• Be careful with your own work - do not leave copies around

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. explaining a theory in 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:

• 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)

• 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)
  

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 wiritng 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).

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. You can get all the information necessary to reference this book from the first few pages of the book (not the front cover): from the title page and the back of title page. If you do not have the book in front of you, you can also get the information from Library Search if you borrowed the book from us. You will see 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 or use the print guide

• Find the correct category for the resource you want to reference

In this case it is Books/Printed books, then Books with two or three authors:

The rule for referencing this resource is going to be like in the example below:

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 assignment is going to be:

(Goetsch and Davis, 2016, p. 50)

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

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 resources. Use the link below to arrange a referencing session if you need help.