Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own. It often happens accidentally when students are still learning how to use sources in academic writing, but it can be serious if the issue continues.

 

How to avoid plagiarism

You can reduce the risk of plagiarism by developing good habits in your study and writing process:

 

While reading

  • Keep clear notes that separate your own ideas from source material. Record the author, year, and enough detail to find the source again.
  • Avoid copying text into your draft with the intention of rewriting it later.

 

While writing

  • Check that your paraphrasing uses different wording and sentence structure from the original.
  • Combine ideas from multiple sources rather than relying on a single one.
  • Check that you have referenced any information from sources.

 

For referencing support, visit Referencing@Portsmouth – How can I get help?

 

 

Why plagiarism matters

Your work needs to show your understanding and how you have used sources to support your ideas. Acknowledging sources helps readers identify which ideas and evidence come from other authors and which are yours.

Presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own may be treated as academic misconduct.

 

 

Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarising

To avoid plagiarism, there are three main methods for using sources in your writing:

  • Quoting

    • Uses the original wording exactly, inside quotation marks.
    • Without reference to your source, this is plagiarism.
    • Even if cited correctly, large amounts of quoting can damage the quality of your work. It shows you can find useful information, but not that you understand it.

  • Paraphrasing

    • Uses your own words and sentence structure to describe someone else's work.
    • Requires more than swapping words for synonyms.
    • Unlike quoting, paraphrasing shows that you have understood the idea, not just the wording.

     

    Our guide on paraphrasing describes this process step-by-step.

  • Summarising

    • Condenses the main points of a source into a much shorter form.
    • Uses your own wording throughout.
    • Allows you to refer to a source's overall argument without quoting or paraphrasing at length.

 

 

Common ways accidental plagiarism happens

Plagiarism is often accidental and happens because of misunderstandings about how to use and reference sources. Common reasons include:

  • copying phrases or sentence structures too closely when taking notes
  • changing a few words but keeping the same sentence structure
  • forgetting to acknowledge where an idea came from
  • believing that paraphrasing removes the need for acknowledgement
  • not knowing the difference between your own words and copied wording
  • using AI-generated text without acknowledging it

 

You can use AI tools to help with your work, but you must show clearly where you have used them. Our guidance on using AI at university explains what to declare.

If plagiarism issues are minor and accidental, the University may deal with them through a short, supportive process called Poor Academic Practice (section 5). If it happens again, it will be dealt with formally and there may be penalties.

Our Academic Misconduct Policy explains how plagiarism and academic misconduct are defined at the University.

 

 

Page last edited: 21 August 2026
Next review due: 20 July 2029