Library

Academic Integrity, Referencing and Citation

Email Address: library@uzlib.uz.ac.zw
Learning Objectives

The unit seeks to fulfil the following objectives:

1. To discuss the importance of authorship in academic writing
2. To discuss the fundamental aspects of academic integrity
3. To suggest strategies of avoiding plagiarism
4
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this Unit, students will able to:

1. Understand the importance of academic integrity in a learning
environment
2. Understand what constitutes plagiarism and apply strategies of
preventing plagiarism
 Structure of the Unit
1. Introduction
Intellectual property
Authorship
2. Academic integrity
 Introduction to academic integrity
Plagiarism and Causes of plagiarism
Plagiarism detection software
Consequences of Plagiarism
How to avoid plagiarism
Referencing and Citation
Definition
Key considerations in referencing and citation
How to cite
 Unit Requirements and Duration

This unit will comprise of the following learning material and activities
1.Lecture notes
2.Recorded lecture
3.Recommended reading material
4.Quiz
5.Discussion forum [Post or reply to posts in the discussion forum]
6.Practical demonstration
The unit requires 5 hours to go through the lecture, assigned reading material and
completing assigned activities
Introduction

Scenarios:
1. You are conducting research on the impact of COVID-19 on human rights. You
come across two sources. One contains a list of references consulted in the write up
and the other one is just an opinion piece without any references. Which one do you
consider and why?

2. Tatenda has an assignment that is due tomorrow. He has done his own research and
has his own information, but he does not know how to organise the assignment
correctly. He finds a paper on the same subject online and copies the exact order of the
main points for his own assignment. He submits the assignment without acknowledging
the source
 Intellectual Property

Information has value

The value of information is manifested in various contexts, including publishing practices,
access to information, the commodification of personal information, and intellectual
property laws
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic
works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce (WIPO, 2021)
Virtually all the information used or required in academic writing is based on literary works
The work is protected by copyright- which is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators
have over their literary and artistic works (WIPO, 2021)
In Zimbabwe, literary works are protected under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act
Authorship

Authorship confers credit and has important academic, social, and financial
implications (ICMJE, 2021)
 Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for published work
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity,
as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of
negotiating and understanding the world (ACRL, 2016)
 Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and
dissemination.
Academic Integrity

Students are involved in diverse activities in Education 5.0

Students are expected to uphold academic integrity in all academic activities
One of the University of Zimbabwe’s core values is Integrity
Academic integrity refers to the values, behaviour and conduct of students  in all aspects
of their practice (learning, research, innovation, community service and industrialisation)
Every institution has policies and guidelines on academic integrity
◦ General academic regulations for undergraduate degrees of the university of
Zimbabwe
Failing to uphold academic integrity has dire effects to the institution and the individual
 Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty can be defined as academic behaviour that does not comply
with stated assessment requirements and other institutional policies;
 when students behave in ways intended to gain undue benefit in relation to their
assessment
academic dishonesty compromises the quality of teaching and learning processes
and undermines the credibility of the student, the academic and the institution
 Academic Dishonesty...Cont’d

Academic dishonesty comes in different forms that include:

Copying portions or the whole of another person’s assignment or work
Find and replace – replacing words to try to bypass plagiarism detectors
Citing sources incorrectly or fabricating sources
Plagiarism
Paying online services or someone else to complete an assignment for you
Taking unauthorised material to the examination room
Fabrication of research data
Academic Dishonesty

https://www.enago.com/academy/fraud-research-many-types-
plagiarism/
 Plagiarism
Plagiarism involves:
-taking a chunk of text from a book
or an electronic source or
putting someone else’s words into
your own words (paraphrasing)
WITHOUT
ACKNOWLEDGING THE
SOURCE

Webley, 2016

University of Zimbabwe General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Degrees,

2020
Causes of Plagiarism

Lack of knowledge regarding plagiarism

Lack of knowledge regarding citing sources
Poor time management
A lack of confidence in one’s ability to write a paper/assignment
Problems to evaluate Internet sources
Types of Plagiarism

There are different types of plagiarism

Exercise
Discuss the different types of plagiarism. Submit your contributions in
the discussion forum in eLMS (compulsory)
 Plagiarism Detection Software
This is a software programme that is used to compare a student’s
assignment against a database of the text of books, articles, websites and
previous student assignments, and provides a marked-up version of the
student’s work showing matches with text stored in the database.
There are different
systems that can be
used to detect
plagiarism or
similarity
Turnitin Simcheck is
used at the University
of Zimbabwe
 Consequences of Plagiarism
Every institution has a
policy concerning
plagiarism and the
penalties may include
the following:
a failing grade for
your assignment;
a failing grade for the
subject;
probationary status;
expulsion from the
institution. University of Zimbabwe General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Degrees, 2020
 How to Avoid Plagiarism

Provide a citation whenever you incorporate someone else’s ideas in

your paper
Keep a record of all the sources used in your research (manually in a
separate document or use a reference manager)
Make attempts to use the original sources of information
Avoid using materials that you do not understand their source
How to Avoid Plagiarism...Cont’d

Develop a topic based on previously written material but write

something new and original
Rely on opinions of experts on a topic but improve upon those
opinions
Give credit to researchers while making your own contribution
Manage your time and plan your work appropriately
 Activity

Congratulations for going through the first part of Unit 6 Academic

Integrity, Referencing and Citation!
You are now expected to finish the Unit by doing the following:
1. Attend a lecture on Referencing and Citation
2. Read the sources provided in the Unit Package
3. Complete the quiz
4. Participate in online discussion provided in eLMS
5. Attend the lecture on the specific citation style used in your Faculty
6. Attend the lecture on electronic reference management systems
 References and Recommended Reading
List
Macfarlane,B., Zhang, J. & Pun, A.  (2014). Academic integrity: a review of the literature. Studies in Higher Education, 39:2, 339-
358, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2012.709495
Harish, H.T. 2018. Referencing! Preventing Plagiarism of Academic Research in 21st Century: Why, When and How. Available:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348871096
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 2021. Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors. Available:
http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
Stephen Elias, and Editors of Nolo. 2018. Legal Research : How to Find & Understand the Law. Vol. 18th edition. Berkley, California: NOLO.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1801721&site=ehost-live. Available in EBSCO Ebooks
Van Dyk, T and Coetzee, M. 2010. Make sense of referencing-The Havard, APA and Vancouver methods and the footnote system. Stellenbosch:
Stellenbosch University Language Centre
Webley, L. 2016. Legal Writing. London: Routledge. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1163641&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 27 September, 2021).
WIPO. 2021. What is intellectual property?. Available: https://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en