Current Students
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Definition
Plagiarism is defined as “the use of another person's work (including but not limited to any materials, creations, ideas and data) as if one’s own without due acknowledgement, whether or not such work has been published and regardless of the intent to deceive” (see Regulation 6 of the “Regulations Governing Students' Academic Conduct Concerning Assessment”). Furthermore,effective from 2019-20, the definition of plagiarism also includes self-plagiarism, which is “the reuse of one’s own work without acknowledging that such work has been submitted elsewhere” (Section 2 of “Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricula”). All references to plagiarism herein should be understood to include self-plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a very serious offense. Coursework or dissertations submitted for assessment and examination purposes must be the student’s own work and properly acknowledge all sources. Any passages quoted must be clearly marked as quotations and properly attributed to the authors concerned (according to established academic conventions). Paraphrases or summaries of other people’s work or ideas must also be properly acknowledged and documented.
Students are responsible for keeping themselves informed of the Faculty's policy and protocol, and to ensure that any work submitted for grading is free of plagiarism.
Good Citation Practice
Student submissions should properly acknowledge all sources referenced within through citation. The main function of citation is to inform the reader that quotes and ideas found in a piece of submitted work originated from another source. Failure to properly credit a source constitutes plagiarism.
There are several widely-used formats for citation. When unsure, students should confirm with their teachers which style is the most appropriate for their purpose.
Bibliographical Information
It is common practice to provide a full list of works cited at the end of any submitted work. Below are examples of entries in a Works Cited section, in accordance with the guidelines established in the eighth edition of the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style.
- For a printed work with a single author
Bogg, Daisy. Report Writing for Social Workers. 2nd ed., Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education, 2016.
- For a printed work with more than one author
Cummins, Chris, and Napoleon Katsos. The Oxford Handbook of Experimental Semantics and Pragmatics. First ed., Oxford University Press, 2019.
- For an online article on a web page
Strochlic, Nina. “The Race to Save the World’s Disappearing Languages.” National Geographic. 16 Apr. 2018. news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/saving-dying-disappearing-languages-wikitongues-culture/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2018.
For more information, students may refer to this guide to the MLA citation style.
In-text Citation
Aside from the bibliographical information, it is also necessary to indicate referenced sources in the body of the text, whether quoting directly or paraphrasing. The reader should be able to discern whether this idea is an original thought, or the work of someone else. In-text citation should be used in conjunction with a bibliography.
In-text citation can be achieved in several ways:
- With direct quotations, it is necessary to provide both the last name and the page number in the sentence.
According to Smith, “X comprises Y and Z” (201).
or
X must be greater than Y or Z since “X comprises Y and Z” (Smith 201).
- It is also necessary to cite the source when paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s ideas:
This can be due to the fact that Y is a part of X (Smith 201).
By providing both the name and the page number in the body of the text, the reader is able to locate the origin of the idea.
Bear in mind that this is simply a brief list of examples. There are many ways for a student to cite a source in the body of the text. For discipline-specific practices, your teachers will be able to provide you with more guidance. Always consult a teacher or tutor when in doubt.
Other Resources
School of Chinese
School of Humanities (Art History) - Section "Writing Guidelines"
HKU Libraries
- ILT01 Information Literacy Training: Academic Honesty - an online training course with information on proper citation styles
HKU Teaching & Learning
- What is plagiarism? - learn more about what constitutes plagiarism and how you can avoid it
Citation practices may vary from discipline to discipline. Students with questions concerning Programme-specific citation style should consult the course teacher(s) involved.