What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism means that you publish other people’s work as your own. Plagiarism is regarded as cheating and is strictly forbidden. It is also considered a violation of academic integrity. Plagiarism can result in failing and expulsion from the university indefinitely.

This means that copying from books, articles, etc. or using “copy and paste” from the Internet without referencing is not allowed. You must write where you found the information, that is – referring to the source. See more: Cheating on exams

Self-plagiarism

Self-plagiarism, meaning the reuse of text you have already used in previous contexts, is a topic where there is considerable disagreement and discussion. Most agree that self-plagiarism is a lesser offence to academic honesty than "real" plagiarism, but there is no consensus on how the rules and regulations should be interpreted. Some of the disagreement on this topic is on whether or not a recycling of ones own text is breaching the originality principle. 

In Prop. 126 L (2022-2023) [Norwegian], The Ministry of Research and Higher Education suggests that we should separate between reusing work that has been rewarded and preparatory work within the same project. This means that if you have submitted a text and been rewarded study points for that, you cannot reuse the text as is, but if you have only submitted or drafted text as a preparatory work for a larger project (for instance an obligatory lab report or a written assignment that has only received a "pass" or "approved" grade and that has not given you study points), then you can reuse the text. Simplified, you cannot be rewarded twice for the same content. 

The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is a framework that also separates between plagiarism and self-plagiarism. It defines plagiarism as dishonest conduct, while self-plagiarism is referred to as simply "unacceptable". 

Due to the contention and doubt in this area, the NTNU University Library cannot give a clear answer on where we draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in reusing your work. We suggest that you take it up with the faculty/ teaching staff in each case. 

Some general tips on how to avoid self-plagiarism: 

• Rewrite your text. You don't have to read every source again. Use what you learned when you wrote the original text and see whether you can fold that into the new things you have learned so that you adhere to the originality principle
• Cite all your sources well, and be honest and open about recycled texts. The various reference styles solve the issue of unpublished materials (such as written assignments) in different ways, so make sure you check the rules for your reference style. 

How to avoid plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, you must cite the sources you used in your work. Learn how to cite sources.

You should keep a good overview of the sources while working on your paper. Write down important information about the sources as you work. If you are writing a paper with many references, you could use a reference management tool to gather and save references.

Checking for plagiarism

Plagiarism detection tools have been developed. NTNU uses the Ouriginal tool.

Reference: Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2016) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 10th edn. London: Palgrave.