Ulysses
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2007
- Messages
- 5
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2006
After reading various universities’ plagiarism policies, it seems nigh impossible to avoid plagiarism to some extent. This has made me think.
(1) When writing study notes, is it common to use other sources —such as library books, articles, journals— or are these typically reserved for essays/assignments? Do textbooks and lecture notes suffice? (If this is this case, wouldn't most students have access to the same information, and therefore produce similar answers in exams?)
(2) Ergo, how do you make study notes without plagiarising? According to the UNSW Learning Centre, paraphrasing and summarising “must be attributed to the original source.” Doesn’t this make notes, and hence exam answers and essays, mostly filled with source references?
(3) Moreover, how does referencing in exams work? Surely using the Oxford or Harvard systems would be highly impractical.
(4) I guess what I’m getting at here, is how can a uni student have original ideas on any subject that has already been thoroughly researched and documented in countless textbooks? To learn in the first place, you have to have a source. Referencing overcomes this, but how can one write anything factual which has not been written before? I mean, do you have to source facts? For example, if I were to write “Law is an integral part of society”, “The sky is blue”, or “The area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” without referencing, would that be plagiarism even though these statements are just facts?
(5) If I read that, “the area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” in a book titled, let’s say, “Australian Geography,” by A. Smith, and I wrote in an exam or assignment, “the area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” —or even paraphrased it: “Australia’s area is 7,686,850 SQ KM”— without making a reference to A. Smith, would that amount to plagiarism?
Sorry if this sounds really random; I’m just confused. =P
(1) When writing study notes, is it common to use other sources —such as library books, articles, journals— or are these typically reserved for essays/assignments? Do textbooks and lecture notes suffice? (If this is this case, wouldn't most students have access to the same information, and therefore produce similar answers in exams?)
(2) Ergo, how do you make study notes without plagiarising? According to the UNSW Learning Centre, paraphrasing and summarising “must be attributed to the original source.” Doesn’t this make notes, and hence exam answers and essays, mostly filled with source references?
(3) Moreover, how does referencing in exams work? Surely using the Oxford or Harvard systems would be highly impractical.
(4) I guess what I’m getting at here, is how can a uni student have original ideas on any subject that has already been thoroughly researched and documented in countless textbooks? To learn in the first place, you have to have a source. Referencing overcomes this, but how can one write anything factual which has not been written before? I mean, do you have to source facts? For example, if I were to write “Law is an integral part of society”, “The sky is blue”, or “The area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” without referencing, would that be plagiarism even though these statements are just facts?
(5) If I read that, “the area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” in a book titled, let’s say, “Australian Geography,” by A. Smith, and I wrote in an exam or assignment, “the area of Australia is 7,686,850 SQ KM” —or even paraphrased it: “Australia’s area is 7,686,850 SQ KM”— without making a reference to A. Smith, would that amount to plagiarism?
Sorry if this sounds really random; I’m just confused. =P
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