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Unit 8: Is plagiarism just about writing?

People tend to associate plagiarism with writing but you can be accused of plagiarising other things, for example music, images and even code!.

Example

George Harrison (My Sweet Lord) versus The Chiffons (He’s So Fine)

Harrison was found to have committed ‘unconscious' copying and had to pay royalties.

Click here to see examples of cases of music plagiarism that went to court.

Images

Images are also the products of other people's work and should be treated in the same way as a piece of writing. Many people assume that if an image is made available on the internet, then it is all right to download and use it. This is not so! However, there is a source of copyright cleared images which are free to use. It is called a creative commons search. Look for this symbol: creative commons search icon

Code

Programming code should be treated as writing. Even though it does not look the same, people still work hard to create it. Every programmer has his or her own style of coding, and experienced lecturers can spot a sudden change of style immediately! If one of your classmates allows you to use a portion of their code, and you do so without crediting them, then this counts as collusion and you can be penalised for it. So, if you use code from a classmate, or an open web site, you should always credit the source in your written work and in the coding screen itself.

Creative Commons License
SMILE by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License