Unfair Practice

1
Unfair Practice

•  
• Ronan Fitzpatrick
• School of Computing
• Dublin Institute of Technology

2
Introduction

• Unfair practice
• Plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Including verbatim quotes
• Misrepresentation
• Consequences
• Tips of the masters

3
Unfair Practice

• What is it?
• Cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation, bribery,
  falsification, impersonation and other forms of
  deception, including the possession of
  examination papers in advance of the examination,
  whether carried out alone or with others are
  instances of unfair practice.
• DIT General Assessment Regulations (2006)

4
Plagiarism

• The action or practice of taking someone else's
  work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's
  own literary theft.
• Oxford English Dictionary (2006)

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Plagiarism
elected

• Avoid regrets
• 1820 W. HAZLITT Lect. Dramatic Lit. 257 If an
  author is once detected in borrowing, he will be
  suspected of plagiarism ever after.
• 1978 E. BLISHEN Sorry, Dad III. ii. 107,
  I..elected to copy a sketch from a book I'd
  borrowed from the public library. By doing so I
  broke all the rules. The work was supposed to be
  original. I remember now the loving unease with
  which I set about my plagiarism.
• Oxford English Dictionary (2006)

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Avoiding plagiarism

• Give credit to your research sources by citation.
• Every time you make a statement give the source
  of that statement.
• Cite multiple sources if the statement is key to
  your paper or chapter.
• Cite multiple sources at the end of a paragraph.

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Avoiding plagiarism

• Make it clear from your text that uncited
  statements are yours as a result of your
  argument, analysis, synthesis or inference.
• Cite sources for all tables and figures that you
  use. If they are your own creation cite yourself.

8
Avoiding plagiarism

• Paraphrase
• rephrase or write in your own words
• interpret (explain)
• clarify with examples
• summarise
• Write in your own words.

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Substantiated statements

• You should avoid unsubstantiated statements.
• A substantiated statement can be made based on
• 1) an authoritative reference (by an acknowledged
  expert in the area)
• 2) an informed reasoned argument
• 3) a critical interpretation of a less reliable
  source (e.g. a web page or a newspaper article)
• 4) a self evident truth e.g. no system is
  perfect.
• Pat Browne, 2007 - (DT249 Course slides)

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Verbatim text

• Special rules apply to the inclusion of text
  verbatim from other sources.
• To help readers to understand that the text is a
  direct transcript and is not your own
• It must be identified by the use of italics
• It must be bounded by quotation marks
• The source must be cited.
• This practice must be kept to a minimum and
  should only apply to definitions, quotations or
  very significant points.

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Verbatim text

• For a typical paper, report, manual, dissertation
  or thesis, it is not permitted to include a
  lengthy passage of text verbatim from a source
  you have read. Sometimes, in very special
  circumstances, it might be essential to use this
  method of reporting your research but it is the
  exception. It must also be clear that it is not
  your own.

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Misrepresentation

• What you submit must be your own work.
• It must be original and never published before.
• Your dissertation will required you to sign a
  statement that confirms that the work is your
  own.

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Consequences

• If you have stolen someone elses Intellectual
  Property then there is a legal implication in
  that.
• Sanctions at the Institute Read the General
  Assessment Regulations.

14
Tips of the masters

• Preserve the integrity of what you write.
• Be confident that you can bring your paper to an
  international forum and defend it as your
  contribution.
• Be worthy of a Master.

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Tips of the masters

• Just dont do it.

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Conclusion

• Unfair practice
• Plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Including verbatim quotes
• Misrepresentation
• Consequences
• Tips of the masters

17
Questions