Avoiding plagiarism
Unintentional plagiarism can be avoided by:
- Citing the source if you use the words of another literally, and correctly indicating this
- Completely and correctly referring to the author whose words or ideas you are summarizing or paraphrasing
You can distinguish between citation and paraphrase by following this flow chart:
Based on T. Frich (2005) How to recognize plagiarism
Are you still doubtful if you know when you are plagiarizing and when you are correctly citing and referring? Then you can look at a few general examples in which the above flowchart is applied. On this page of links, you will also find a few online tests (mostly in English) to test your knowledge of plagiarism.
The precision of references and citations can differ between disciplines: thus make sure to check on time (certainly before you hand in a paper) that you are proceeding correctly. You will receive information pertinent to your discipline in your programme. Some faculties and programmes also supply information on specific web sites concerning correct references and citations.
