Referencing and plagiarism: borrow don’t steal
Referencing and plagiarism:
borrow don’t steal
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Any piece of work you submit will be a mixture of your own words and those of others. Whether it’s a problem question, essay question or dissertation, you will need to make clear where those quotes, ideas and analysis came from originally.
When starting out at university you will find it tricky to weave your own ‘voice’ into the views of others in writing, but it is something that becomes easier with practice.
Each point you make will need to be ‘backed up’ with reference to a primary or secondary source. You may include a quote from a particular judge or the controversial view of an academic on a particular judgment. Each of these would require a note being made of where you found the original information (you may remember this from Chapter 4 on legal research).
There are several reasons for this; first it is good old-fashioned manners. If you borrow something, whether it be your sister’s favourite jacket, your mum’s car or your mate’s games console, you should really ask politely first. It’s unworkable to imagine all the law students in the UK asking permission of law reporters, judges and legal commentators, before submitting essays. The world would grind to a halt. So we have a system where we reference any sources within our essay, giving credit to the original authors.
The second reason is that by not doing so, you are leaving yourself exposed and at risk of being found guilty of something called plagiarism, which can have severe consequences.
As with most offences, there is a scale of plagiarism – from those who buy essays off the internet and submit them as their own work (yes, there really are people stupid enough to do this!) to those slapdash sorts who include the odd quote or concept that comes from ‘something they’ve read’ but they fail to acknowledge it. In Chapter 5 on legal writing you’ll see something useful on this in section 5.4 ‘Understanding your feedback’.
6.2 SO WHAT EXACTLY IS PLAGIARISM?
Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s ideas or words as your own, including them within a piece of work without any reference or credit given. This could be something textual – incorporating a quote from an article you’ve read into your essay without acknowledging the author, but it applies equally to other media too – data, graphs, illustrations, film, podcasts, computer code, even music.
In simple terms, it is pinching something good from someone else and inserting into your own work to make it sound better!
Lethally, it can even be done entirely innocently; you might read something and not make a note of it. Later, when writing the essay, you might include the idea; perhaps thinking it is your own insight. Or despite having a sneaking feeling it wasn’t entirely you, you can’t find a reference in your notes so you just pop it in and hope no one notices.
6.2.1 Sounds complicated – are there different types?
Not really and yes. (See Table 6.1 below for examples of different types of plagiarism.)
| Verbatim – word for word quotation | This is where you find a quote that just sums up perfectly what you want to say. You put it in your essay, surrounded by your own words, but don’t use quotation marks to distinguish the bits that aren’t yours, or reference the source. |
| Copy and paste | Common when researching on the internet, this is an easy trap to fall into. You find something useful, do a nifty ctrl-C and then paste it into your essay. Easy to forget you need to add a footnote, but without acknowledging the source this is plagiarism. Remember from Chapter 4 on legal research that information you find freely on the internet (rather than via published journals) needs to be treated with more caution anyway. |
| Paraphrasing | You’ll probably be familiar with this – you put another person’s work into your own words. This can vary in terms of the extent of paraphrasing: from just altering a couple of words and changing the order, to providing a summary of what you’ve read entirely in your own words. The latter option is far preferable. Remember, even though you are not using someone else’s words, you are using their ideas so you must credit them, making it clear within the text and footnote where this comes from. |
| Collusion | If you work with others you must declare this. Unless it is a group project all work you submit should be your own, and no one else’s. Do not try to deceive if this is not the case. |
| Self-plagiarism | This one is the most surprising: you can plagiarise yourself. Quite often students writing dissertations might decide to do this extended piece of work based on some element that interested them in an earlier essay. If they use any excerpt from the previous work then it must be referenced. |
6.2.2 Not convinced? Four facts for would-be plagiarists
1 Most universities now ask students to submit work online – it is then run through a tool that automatically checks for percentage of similarity to the work of others, both your peers and that found online.
2 Your lecturers are experienced researchers who often live and breathe their subject – they know all the key articles written in that area. Don’t try and pretend those words are yours! The flipside of this is that by avoiding plagiarism and acing your referencing your lecturers will be suitably impressed – they look to footnotes for an indication of the quality of your research.
3 There’s no shame in using the words of others – you are demonstrating your skill by the research you’ve done in finding them and the critical analysis you do in dissecting the sources and bringing them together in an engaging way.
4 Plagiarising can mean failing a module or in extreme cases being thrown off the course altogether. Most training contract applications want to know what you scored in individual modules – don’t jeopardise this!
6.2.3 University plagiarism policies
Every university will have their own policy on plagiarism, which will include a breakdown of types of plagiarism (some variation on the information given above) as well as details of the penalties that will follow if you are found to have fallen foul of this policy.
It is sensible to read this policy carefully; you need to have a good understanding of what rules are. Remember penalties can include losing marks, or being hauled in front of an academic misconduct panel – ignorance of plagiarism will not protect you, so make sure you understand.
6.2.4 Plagiarism and the legal profession
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) sets out its expectations of trainee solicitors and qualified lawyers in their Suitability Test,1 laying out the ten mandatory principles expected to be adhered to. Here they are:
1 uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice;
2 act with integrity;
3 not allow your independence to be compromised;
4 act in the best interests of each client;
5 provide a proper standard of service to your clients;
6 behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services;
7 comply with your legal and regulatory obligations and deal with your regulators and ombudsman in an open, timely and co-operative manner;
8 run your business or carry out your role in the business effectively and in accordance with proper governance and sound financial and risk management principles;
9 run your business or carry out your role in the business in a way that encourages equality of opportunity and respect for diversity; and
10 protect client money and assets.
You’ll see the reference to this Suitability Test in footnote 1 – go and look at the website; it goes on to note several points relevant here. Section 2 is about disclosure – failing to disclose information relevant to your application (e.g. being disciplined for plagiarism at university) will be seen as evidence of dishonesty. Section 4.1 concerns assessment offences:
Unless there are exceptional circumstances we will refuse your application if you have committed and/or have been adjudged by an education establishment to have committed a deliberate assessment offence which amounts to plagiarism or cheating to gain an advantage for yourself or others.
This is serious stuff – you might do something silly at university and it will prevent you from entering the profession. A guidance note clarifies ‘exceptional circumstances’ to infer that their focus will be on any activity classed as ‘cheating or dishonesty’, so incorrect referencing may not always fall under this. However, do you want to take this risk?
6.2.5 Plagiarism and the real world
Plagiarism isn’t just something that happens within the thrilling world of academia, passing someone else’s ideas off as your own happens out there in the real world too. Coldplay, Beyoncé and J.K. Rowling have all been accused of it in recent years in relation to their creative output. More recently, the writers of the biggest selling song of 2013, Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, were found to have copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song ‘Got to give it up’ in their massive hit ‘Blurred lines’.2
Journalists working at various international newspapers have been ‘found out’ for lifting quotes, borrowing content and fabricating events. Lawyers are not immune from this temptation either; an Iowa lawyer was found guilty of plagiarising verbatim 17 out of 19 pages of an article for his pre-hearing brief in 2007.3