Print this chapterPrint this chapter

Student Handbook 2024/25

11. Plagiarism and Referencing

In line with its core values, Queen Mary expects that students will act with integrity and to the highest ethical standards in all matters related to their studies. It is therefore incumbent on students to avoid engaging in academic misconduct.

Academic misconduct includes any activity that undermines the integrity of a formative or summative assessment or attempts to gain undue advantage in a formative or summative assessment. Academic misconduct includes, among other things, plagiarism, including self-plagiarism; falsification or fraudulent reporting of any aspect of an assessment, including source material; collusion; the use or attempted use of a third party, including a ghost-writing service, for the completion of any part of an assessment; and the impersonation of another student in an assessment or the employment of an impersonator in an assessment.

‘Plagiarism’ is presenting someone else’s work as your own, irrespective of intention. Close paraphrasing; copying from the work of another person, including another student; using the ideas of another person without proper acknowledgement; and repeating work that you have previously submitted – at Queen Mary or at another institution – without properly referencing yourself (known as ‘self-plagiarism’) also constitute plagiarism.

‘Collusion’ is any illegitimate cooperation between students in the preparation or production of submitted work, irrespective of intention. Unless such joint work is explicitly permitted by the relevant assessment guidance, students are obliged to ensure that any work submitted for individual assessment is entirely their own. Legitimate academic cooperation between students, such as study groups, is not considered to be collusion.

In the absence of module-specific instructions to the contrary, students may use generative artificial intelligence programmes only in the same way as they would use ordinary internet searches, i.e., as a research tool. Unless explicitly permitted, students may not incorporate text generated by artificial intelligence programmes in assessments. If explicitly permitted to do so, the text must be referenced, and students must save both their original prompts and the machine-generated output to support the reference and make the prompts and output available to the module convenor upon request for verification purposes. Any use or attempted use of generative artificial intelligence for assessed work that violates these principles will be treated as an assessment offence, specifically as the use of a ghost-writing service.

Academic misconduct is a serious offence, and students suspected of academic misconduct will be subject to investigation. For students found guilty of academic misconduct, the possible penalties include a formal reprimand, failing the module, the module mark being capped at the minimum pass mark, suspension from the programme or expulsion from Queen Mary.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand plagiarism and how to avoid it. The recommendations below can help you in avoiding plagiarism.

  • Be sure to record your sources when taking notes, and to cite these if you use ideas or, especially, quotations from the original source. Be particularly careful if you are cutting and pasting information between two documents, and ensure that references are not lost in the process.
  • Be sensible in referencing ideas – commonly held views that are generally accepted do not always require acknowledgment to particular sources. However, it is best to be safe to avoid plagiarism.
  • Be particularly careful with quotations and paraphrasing. Quotations need to be recorded accurately, and references are required when paraphrasing someone else’s ideas.
  • Be aware that technology, such as Turnitin, is now available at Queen Mary and elsewhere that can automatically identify possible plagiarism.
  • Ensure that all works used are referenced appropriately in the text of your work and fully credited in your bibliography.
  • If in doubt, ask for further guidance from your module convenor, LLM Programme of Study Academic or PG law tutors (pglaw-tutors@qmul.ac.uk)
  • There is an Academic Integrity Module, QM+ to assist you in understanding and avoiding plagiarism. (Completed by 8 November).

For further information on the policy click here: Academic Misconduct 2024-25