Your scientific work is an extension of the work of those who went before you: You build on other people’s work to create your own (paper, journal article, report, presentation, educational materials, etc.). But when you use someone else’s work without referencing, you are plagiarizing: You are giving the impression that their work is your own, which is forbidden. In the light of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity 2018, referencing is of utmost importance.
Avoiding plagiarism
At the University of Twente and in the academic world as a whole, plagiarism is seen as a very serious act of ethical misbehaviour. If you get caught plagiarizing intentionally as a student, usually the examination board and programme director will be notified by the examiner. When plagiarism is discovered in your academic output, this will likely have a strong negative impact on your career as an academic, and on the reputation of your research unit and the University of Twente.
Proper Referencing
One important skill in preventing plagiarism is referencing. Proper referencing means giving due credit to all your sources and making sure these sources are retraceable via a reference list. If you want to learn more about proper referencing to avoid plagiarism, please consult this guide on using information.
Detecting plagiarism
Plagiarism-detection software lets you verify that a document does not (unintentionally) contain plagiarism. UT teachers can detect plagiarism in their students’ work by using SimCheck in Canvas. UT researchers can use the stand-alone web application Turnitin. Request a SimCheck account.