Plagiarism and Copyright

In the academic world it is essential to have a grasp of issues pertaining to plagiarism and copyright, issues that are often clouded in confusion. Here we give you the basics.

What is plagiarism?

To plagiarize means using somebody else's work and presenting it as your own without referring to the source. It may be a text, idea, theory, image, chart, figure, music, computer program or a product. Even reformulation, paraphrasing, text to your own words, without referencing the source is plagiarism. Plagiarism may also violate Copyright laws.

What is copyright?

Copyright legislation regulates how you are permitted to use someone else's work (e.g. text, figure, photo, video, sound etc.). Learn more about copyright.

What is self-plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism is when you re-use your own previously published / submitted texts in a new work. You should refer to your own texts in in the same way as you do with other sources.

What happens if I plagiarize?

Plagiarism is a serious offense against good academic practice and can if worse comes to worst result in temporary suspension from studies by decision of The Disciplinary Board at Linköping University. A student who is suspended may not participate in lectures, laboratory sessions, seminars, exams, tutorials, assignments, and may not access to LiU's computer labs. The suspension may also affect payment of student support.

Learn more at LiU's website Disciplinary measures.

How do I avoid plagiarism?

When using other writers' work, re-write the original entirely in your own words. When giving exact quotes from someone else’s work use the original text in quotations marks and give a correct reference.
Always refer and quote in accordance with good academic practice. You can read more about this on the page Citation technique and styles.
Always ask the copyright holder’s permission to use photographs, figures, diagrams in your own work. Not doing so is a violation of copyright law.
Learn more about how to avoid plagiarism through the library's self-study tutorial
NoPlagiat.

What plagiarism detection systems are used at Linköping University?

Linköping University can submit student texts to Urkund, which is a plagiarism-checking tool for teachers. Submitted texts are checked against a very large database of material taken from the internet, published material and student material.

Plagiarism-check of publications at a higher scientific level and theses, can be done using Similarity Check which check against academic sources such as journal articles and the internet. For further details, contact Peter Berkesand.

Urkund
Similarity Check