During your university study, you are required to acknowledge the sources of information that you use in your assignments and course work. If you use someone else's ideas without giving proper credit, you may be accused of plagiarism.
Plagiarism can be avoided by referencing. You must provide references when you use:
- Direct quotations (another person's words exactly as written)
- Paraphrases (another person's words summarised in your own words)
- Statistics
- Controversial facts (you must acknowledge the source of information that is not 'common knowledge' or an accepted historical 'fact.' For example, if you were saying that humans first walked on the Moon in 1967 (rather than 1969), you would need to state the source of that information as it is not 'common knowledge' or an accepted historical 'fact.')
- Ideas that are not your own.
Failure to reference sources properly is a form of academic misconduct, which can have serious penalties under the UniSQ Academic Integrity Policy.
During your study you must also comply with copyright law when you reproduce other people's work. Under the Fair Dealing provision of the Copyright Act you are allowed to copy a 'reasonable portion' of a copyrighted work for research, study, criticism or review.
Information on plagiarism, referencing and copyright can be found on the UniSQ Library website. If you require support with referencing or copyright, please contact the Library.