Plagiarism and collusion

The following advice is drawn from the University's Plagiarism Policy, Procedures and supporting documentation:

Intentional plagiarism amounts to cheating in terms of Monash University Statute 4.1 – Discipline.

Plagiarism: means to take and use another person’s ideas and or manner of expressing them and to pass these off as one’s own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement. This includes material from any source, staff, students or the Internet – published and unpublished works.

Collusion: is unauthorised collaboration with another person or persons.

Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that intentional plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this will be reported to the Chief Examiner, who may disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or refer the matter to the faculty manager.

Where the act of plagiarism involves copying someone else's work without a citation indicating the original author/creator, this act of plagiarism would also be a breach of the original author's moral rights (the right to be correctly attributed as the original author) which is a legal requirement under the Copyright Act.

For a student, the consequences of plagiarism can include disciplinary actions such as suspension of privileges, fines or exclusion from the University.

Refer to these Monash University policies and procedures:

Discipline policy - regulations Chapter 4 Statute 4.1 Discipline;
sections 1(interpretation and definitions) and 3 (Academic misconduct)
The Plagiarism policy and plagiarism procedures which are to be implemented by all faculties .

Refer also to information about the University's Plagiarism Education and Prevention program.

How to avoid plagiarism and collusion: learning skills support

Information on what is plagiarism , on how to avoid plagiarism, on proper citation techniques and acknowledging your sources can be found at Monash Language and Learning Online and the Monash Library Tutorials page.

Faculties also have information about the operation of the University's plagiarism and collusion policies, and can provide direction and advice to help students avoid engaging in plagiarism and collusion. Contact your Faculty Manager or Faculty Associate Dean of Teaching.

Using Creative Commons licensed images or other content? You still need to provide correct source and author attribution! Read this article 'How to attribute a Creative Commons photo'(links to external site) by Bobbi L. Newman of librarianbyday.net, for a good model on citing CC licensed content.