Ex. 1. Answer the questions.

Plagiarism

All work submitted by a student as part of the requirements for any degree or examination must be expressed in the student's own words and must incorporate his or her own ideas and judgements. Plagiarism—the presentation of another person's thoughts or words as one's own—must be avoided. Direct quotations from the published or unpublished work of others must always be clearly identified as such by being placed inside quotation marks, and a full reference to their source must be provided in the proper form. Remember that a series of short quotations from several different sources, if not clearly identified as such, constitutes plagiarism just as much as does a single unacknowledged long quotation from a single source. Equally, if you summarise another person's ideas or judgements, you must refer to that person in your text, and include the work referred to in. If you are in any doubt about what is permissible, consult your tutor. Recourse to the services of ‘ghost-writing’ agencies is strictly forbidden, and students who make use of the services of such agencies render themselves liable for an academic penalty.

Simply put, plagiarism is a form of fraud. That is why the University takes it extremely seriously. Even if it was unintentional, plagiarism may, if detected, lead at the very least to a mark of zero on the assessed work and at most to suspension from all further study in the University.

How can you avoid plagiarism?

1. Always attribute quoted words. It does not matter if the quote is long or short, every quoted passage taken directly from the work of another should be clearly marked as such by the use of quotation marks. The full reference, including page number, should be given for each quotation, either in a footnote or endnote.

2. Always give full references for paraphrases of others' ideas or judgments. Simply rewriting a passage in your own words does not avoid plagiarism. Paraphrases or summaries of the ideas or judgements of others should be referenced fully.

3. Give references to support purely factual claims where necessary. Plagiarism is mainly about the appropriation of others' ideas and judgements. Factual references are less sensitive. You certainly do not need to include references for facts that are well established (the date of the battle of Waterloo, for example). However, where the facts are less well known and some other investigator has persuasively established some claim of fact, you should acknowledge this in your references, as well as the sources for any quantitative data you might use.

4. Include a reference to any source used in a paragraph. One way to find yourself sailing rather too close to the wind is to include a single reference at the end of a long passage of more than one paragraph that gives the source for the entire passage. This can give the reader the impression that the reference refers only to the last paragraph or so, rather than the whole passage. If for some reason you wish to avoid repeating references to the same source, then include a statement or footnote early on indicating that the discussion that follows is drawn from such-and-such a source. For example: “Except where indicated otherwise, the account of overseas trade set out in this section is drawn from Davis, English overseas trade, pp. 35-42”.

5. Remember that a full bibliography is necessary. You should be at pains to include every source on which you have relied in your bibliography.

Ultimately, the golden rule should be: when in doubt, give the reference. This not only protects you from unintended plagiarism, it is also good manners: credit should be given to sources where and when they are used. That is why it is not unusual to find academic articles of 10,000 words or so that have anywhere from 50 to 150 references. Students sometimes worry that giving full references throughout will make it appear as though their papers are just compilations of other people's views. However, even if there are 100-odd references in a medium-length article, the author's own contribution to the discussion should be clear to the reader. If it is not, then the paper is probably not a very strong one. This means that thorough referencing will provide a good check on the substance of your dissertations: if the finished product looks like nothing more than a cut-and-paste job full of others' ideas and data, it probably needs to be rewritten.

Note that you are required to submit a signed statement that you understand what plagiarism is, and have not committed it, and that you agree to make available an electronic copy of your essay for testing by the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) plagiarism detection service.

1. How to choose a thesis topic?
2. What should the dissertation consist of?
3. What is plagiarism and why is it penalized as a serious disciplinary matter?
4. How can you avoid the last-minute problem of chasing up references?
5. Students in many countries are supposed to sign up a plagiarism declaration. In your opinion, should we do the same in Russia?

Ex. 2. Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones.

1. The dissertation requires time and much intellectual effort.

2. Any work found to contain plagiarism will automatically be assigned a mark of zero.

3. It almost always takes some time before the topic of the dissertation finally takes shape.

4. Dissertations must include a full bibliography listing all the sources you have consulted.

5. The copy of the submitted dissertation must have a title page, main body, bibliographical apparatus and table of content.

6. It is up to the student to choose his or her dissertation topic and supervisor.

7. Supervised by an experienced faculty member, an MA student is not expected to undertake a lot of individual initiative in conducting research.

8. Plagiarism will normally result in the failure of the dissertation regardless of any merit it may have.

9. Students have extra three days to submit their dissertations for formal assessment after the published deadline.

10. Don’t use footnotes in the text of a MA dissertation.

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