Academic Integrity: A person who has academic integrity understands and follows the rules and conventions of academic professional work. This means that they always cite and reference the sources of ideas and facts used in their own work. See the academic skills guide “Referencing your sources” for advice http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/integrity/index.htm

Bibliography/References: A list of all the sources used and cited in a work. It is typically presented in alphabetical order of author for ease of reference. It can of course include journal articles, conference papers, websites and other sources as well as books. The precise formatting of the list is determined by the citation style used (e.g. ACM, IEEE, Harvard, LNCS). In some conventions the references are used to identify work which is explicitly cited in the text, while the bibliography acknowledges works which have been used to inform the design and structure of the whole document. For example this may be the case in lab reports where some work will be directly referenced by the report, but you may have used a textbook to help you write the report as a whole.

Cheating: Any activity which a student deliberately uses to gain an unfair advantage. Examples include copying the work of another student, buying essays from the Internet and colluding with other students on an individual assignment.

Citation: A citation is a note in the text, such as (Miller, 2002) which identifies the source of an idea or fact and acts as a link to a more detailed reference in the Bibliography or References section of the work.

Collusion: Collusion occurs when two or more students work together on what is supposed to be an individual assignment. See the guide “When does helping becomes cheating?” for advice on avoiding accidental collusion. http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/integrity/index.htm

Copying: A form of collusion where a student simply copies or paraphrases another student’s work. This type of cheating can be detected fairly easily.

Common knowledge: Facts and ideas that are so widely known that they can be used without including a reference. The problem is knowing what is and isn’t “common knowledge”. See the section on figures, tables and equations for more details.

Ghosting: submitting as your own work a piece of work produced in whole or part by another person on your behalf, (eg the use of ‘ghost writing’ services), or deliberately seeking to make available material to another student with the intention that the other student should present the work as his or her own (Note: this does not include the use of an amanuensis in examinations, or legitimate input from University study skills tutors and/or mentors).

Harvard style: One of a number of ‘citation styles’ which define exactly how different types of sources should be referenced. You may be asked to work with a variety of citation styles and should always check the coursework specification to to be sure you understand what is required. If you are not sure seek clarification from your lecturer.

Paraphrasing: This is simply reworking material into a form of words which explains the ideas contained in a piece of text. In its simplest form copying which ‘re-writes’ a text by re-arranging or substituting words may count as plagiarism if you do not refer to your sources as an acknowledgement. In its best form paraphrasing express ideas in your own words and offers additional insight or understanding.

Patch-work: Patch-work essays are made of paragraphs copied from books, journals and websites, joined together with a few sentences by the ‘author’. This type of plagiarism is easy to detect and will only gain low grades in any case.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using the work of other people in your own work, for example by copying or paraphrasing their words. You can avoid plagiarism by
a) clearly indicating which ideas and words are not your own,
b) include a correctly formatted reference to acknowledge the source of the material or ideas.
See the academic skills guide “Referencing your sources” for advice:http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/integrity/index.htm

References/Bibliography: A list of all the sources used and cited in a work. It is typically presented in alphabetical order of author for ease of reference. It can of course include journal articles, conference papers, websites and other sources as well as books. The precise formatting of the list is determined by the citation style used (e.g. ACM, IEEE, Harvard, LNCS). In some conventions the references are used to identify work which is explicitly cited in the text, while the bibliography acknowledges works which have been used to inform the design and structure of the whole document. For example this may be the case in lab reports where some work will be directly referenced by the report, but you may have used a textbook to help you write the report as a whole.

Referencing: Referencing means acknowledging (citing) the sources of ideas and facts that you use in your work so that a reader can check those sources and see if they really support the conclusions you made. It is the foundation of academic work, which is why Universities are so concerned with academic integrity and plagiarism.

This Glossary was adapted from the University of Southampton Academic Skills Guide http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/integrity/glossary.htm