How to avoid plagiarism

Avoiding plagiarism is simple when you follow these guidelines:

Keep careful records when you take notes. Many students find themselves in difficulty when it comes to the writing-up stage because they have not kept track of their sources.
Know when and how to cite sources. (Guidance in this area can be found in the Citation section.)
Know how to paraphrase. Paraphrasing is the presentation in your own words of information or ideas from another source. When paraphrasing, the aim should be to keep the essential meaning of the original while organising and expressing this information through your own interpretation and words. Changing just a couple of words is not enough. A useful strategy can be to read through the original and write down the author's main points using your own words, and then use these points to compose your version. The end result will be your own expression of the original meaning.
Take care when using online sources. Copying and pasting makes it dangerously easy to lose track of what you have written and what you have taken from somewhere else. If you are copying source material for later use, it is a good idea to save this in a font that is different from the font you will use for your assignment, to avoid confusion.
Be honest. Never attempt to pass off another person's work off as your own, either in part or in full. Do not copy other students' work or ask others (students or non-students) to prepare work for you. Never include made-up data, quotes or sources in your work.
Be careful. Take care to protect your work from being copied by others. Do not allow other students to copy your work or help them to copy the work of others.