Qualitative Research Methods

Unit 5.4
Avoiding Plagiarism
 Key Points
01 What is Plagiarism?

02 Avoiding Plagiarism
 What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism means pretending that we, ourselves, wrote
what others actually wrote.

Plagiarism might be accidental:

• not using quotation marks for direct quotes
• forgetting to cite a source in the text
• misquoting the source text/author
Plagiarism might not be seen for what it is:

• recycling our own material from previously

submitted work
• not referencing ourselves as the author of our own
older work
Plagiarism is always a crime, since it destroys the
foundations of the research ethics.

Plagiarizing your work will result in serious

consequences:
• Failing an assignment
• Failing a course
• Suspension/expulsion from the university
 Avoiding Plagiarism

• Paraphrase the source text effectively.

• Summarize the source text appropriately.
• Acknowledge the source text through citations and reference
list using APA style
 References
Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford
University Press.