Glossary

The attitude of approaching your academic work honestly, by completing your own original work, attributing and acknowledging your sources when necessary and not relying on dishonest means to gain advantage.

Bibliographical list (ie a list of materials giving full bibliographical details) which includes a paragraph outlining the contents and main points of the item listed.

Formal acknowledgement of source used to support your arguments, backed up with an accurate reference.

The publication details of the source used. These details vary depending on the type of source, but will include the author and title of the work plus publication information so that the exact source can be found again.

List of all sources used in preparing your work, including those that inspired you but which you did not cite in your work. Sometimes this term is used interchangeably with the term reference list. Check with your tutor.

The short, formal acknowledgement of a source within your work (how this is done exactly depends on the particular referencing style you are using) whenever you paraphrase, quote, make use of an idea expressed by somebody else or refer to a specific body of work. Also used to mean the reference.

Students working together on a group assignment where this is expressly permitted. See also collusion.

Students working together where this is not permitted, with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage or cheating in the preparation of coursework. A form of plagiarism. See also collaboration.

Information that is widely accessible and well-known, i.e. that London is in the southeast of England . What constitutes common knowledge may vary across subject areas.

Notes at the end of your paper, to acknowledge a source or give additional information (depending on the referencing style used).

Notes at the bottom of the page, to acknowledge a source or give additional information. Use of footnotes depends on the referencing style used.

The process of completing your academic work independently, honestly and in an appropriate academic style, using good referencing and acknowledging all of your sources. Good academic practice involves developing:

• study skills (eg reading, note-taking, research etc)
• critical enquiry and evaluation (eg balanced opinion, reasoning and argument)
• appropriate academic writing (eg essays, reports, dissertations etc)
• referencing skills (eg when and how to reference)
• exam techniques (eg preparation, timing, etc).

In general this refers to the act of taking someone else's words, ideas or writings as your own without acknowledgement. In an academic context (see page What is is plagiarism?). This includes taking another person's work intentionally or unintentionally in order to gain an academic advantage. The University of Kent gives this definition of plagiarism in the General Regulations Appendix A:

• reproducing in any work submitted for assessment or review(for example, examination answers, essays, project reports, dissertations or theses) any material derived from work authored by another without clearly acknowledging the source.

Restate a text in your own words. This does not need to be placed in quotation marks but it must be fully referenced. Go to Working with text-based sources.

A quote is the word for word repetition of the original text. Quoted sources need to be either shown in quotation marks or indented depending on whether the quote is long or short. What is considered a long quote or a short quote and exactly how to present these depends on your particular referencing style. For information on particular referencing styles, see the referencing style guides. For more information on using sources, go to Working with text-based sources.

A reference (noun) means the full bibliographical details of a source. This should include: name, initial, date of publication, publisher, publishing location and title, but may also include subtitle, chapter, editor, edition, date accessed etc. depending on the source and the referencing style you are using. The sequence in which this information is presented is also determined by the particular referencing style. To reference (verb) means to acknowledge your sources by giving an in-text reference or citation in the body of your work plus the full bibliographic details of the source (the reference) in your list of sources.

List of only those sources cited in your work. Sometimes this term is used interchangeably with the term bibliography. Check with your tutor.

There are three basic formats for referencing (i.e. numbered, in-text and footnote styles) with many variations on these basic styles. Several different styles are in use at Kent, e.g. Harvard, MLA, MHRA, APA, Chicago. Ask your department or lecturer for the preferred style and for guidance on how to use it. You should also be able to find information about the preferred style for presenting your work in your handbook or on the department's website. For information on particular referencing styles, see the referencing style guides. Referencing styles differ in the layout of the bibliography, in-text citations, what is considered a long or short quotation and how to indicate these in your work. Whichever style you use, you must be consistent and ensure that you acknowledge all of your sources fully and appropriately.

Citing an author or work which has been cited in another author's work. This practice is not recommended. You should find the original work and cite that. In this way, you can be sure that you fully understand the original work and that you are not relying on someone else's interpretation of the particular work you wish to cite.

Sources can be books, articles, reports, websites, newspapers, video/DVD, pod casts, radio or TV programmes, interviews/conversations, lectures, data, graphs, pictures, maps, questionnaires, performance art, productions, leaflets, brochures, plus work of other scholars, including yourself and other students (it does not matter whether these are published or unpublished).

A summary, when used in the context of referencing sources, means that you are writing a shorter version of the original work, in your own words. This does not need to be placed in quotation marks, but it must be fully referenced. See Working with text-based sources.

In full this refers to the Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Software supplied under license from Turnitin UK . Submitted work is matched against a database of previously submitted work from every institution which subscribes to Turnitin, (including international institutions); current and archived internet pages and databases of journals and periodicals (Gale and Emerald). Turnitin does not detect plagiarism: it is a text-matching software which provides a report on whether a student's work is original (no matching text) or unoriginal. All instances of matching text should be checked for full and correct referencing. Information about Gale and Emerald databases can be found at http://www.gale.com/onefile/ and http://www.emeraldinsight.com/.