What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct. Plagiarism can be the result of inadequate referencing or inappropriate writing – but it is still plagiarism
“Plagiarism is the act of copying or including in one’s own work, without adequate acknowledgement, intentionally or unintentionally, the work of another or your own previously assessed original work.” (Academic Services, 2017)
Referencing sources is essential
In academia we give other people credit for what they have said and done as we use their work to inform our own analysis. 
The convention in academic work in the UK is that we reference everything that we use. This includes sources such as blog posts, images, data and presentations.
Always put a citation to the source, even when you are not quoting directly.
Inappropriate writing
Plagiarism includes using wording or sentence structure that is too close to the original. If there is a reason to keep the original words, then quote them clearly using quotation marks.
Using summarised notes when you write your draft, rather than writing directly from the original source, can help you to express the content of your sources in your own voice. 
Six ways to create the wrong impression
1.	You miss a citation out of your text, even if you include a reference at the end.
2.	You refer to the same thing more than once but do not cite it each time.
3.	You use an image and fail to make clear you did not create the image yourself.
4.	You use the same words without quotation marks and hope no-one will notice.
5.	You put a citation in your text but it is unclear exactly which part of your writing it relates to, or how much of your writing.
6.	You paraphrase by just changing a few words here and there.
Reference
Academic Services (2024) Academic misconduct: Plagiarism, July 27 2024. Retrieved Mar 17 2025, from University of Edinburgh: http://www.ed.ac.uk/academic-services/students/conduct/academic-misconduct/plagiarism 

www.ed.ac.uk/iad