Information on plagiarism

About reference to sources, quotations and plagiarism.

As a student you have to be conscientious about clearly accounting for the material used in the texts that are submitted for examination. There are several reasons for this: analysis, interpretations and statements of different kinds are of questionable value if the reader does not know what kind of material they are based on. Clear references and a correctly structured list of references also makes it possible for the reader him/herself to examine and evaluate the sources you have used.

There are different standards for referencing in academic texts. At the department of social anthropology we use the so called Harvard system. A short introduction is available (in Swedish)- Riktlinjer för akademiskt skrivande (pdf)

It is of course important that quotations are literal and that the sources are correctly stated. Page references should always be included in direct quotations since the reader should be able to easily check the quotation or the original context.

To use other people’s expressions or ideas without stating where they are from is plagiarism. To translate and/or change some words in someone else’s text and present it as one’s own is obviously also a form of plagiarism.

There must be no doubt about what your own expressions and ideas are and what has been gathered from other sources.

Plagiarism is considered to be cheating and if discovered in a home exam or paper, the exam or paper will immediately be failed and disciplinary measures may be taken.

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