ucl dissertation plagiarism

Arts Sciences

Academic Integrity

High academic standards are fundamental to ensuring continued trust and confidence in UCL’s world-leading research and teaching, as well as the individuals who work and study at UCL. UCL takes Academic Integrity very seriously, and expects students to familiarise themselves with UCL’s referencing and citation requirements. A good starting point is the UCL Library Guide to References, Citations and Avoiding Plagiarism . You should also ensure that you are familiar with the specific referencing requirements of their discipline, as these may vary.

Candidates for written examinations should also familiarise themselves with the requirements set out in the UCL Examination Guide for Candidates , which is published annually on the Examinations and Awards website. It is also very important that you are aware of what items you are permitted to bring into the Examination Halls, so you can ensure you do not unintentionally breach the examination rules.

UCL has a zero tolerance approach to the use of essay mills and contract cheating, as they go against every principle that UCL stands for. These types of service disadvantage honest students and devalue standards in our universities.

The vast majority of students at UCL will maintain their Academic Integrity throughout their studies, but it is important to be aware that UCL may consider breaches to your Academic Integrity as an instance of Academic Misconduct. When Academic Misconduct occurs there can potentially be penalties imposed, and it is important to note that repeated breaches will be taken very seriously and could result in exclusion from UCL (see Academic Manual, Chapter 6, Section 9.3, web-link provided below). For students who are unsure of what may be considered as Academic Misconduct, the procedures in Chapter 6 of the Academic Manual define all such behaviour and how this is taken forwards. UCL also has online tools available to help students identify what behaviours may be considered as Academic Misconduct.

Academic Integrity in the discipline

UCL has a Moodle site on Plagiarism and Academic Writing , in which you should enrol. Check this site regularly to see that you are doing things correctly and to maximise your progress.

For BASC-coded modules, students who have a similarity score of over 15% will be reviewed by the module leader to determine if a plagiarism offence has taken place. If the module leader feels that an offence has taken place, the s tudent may be asked to attend an Academic Integrity panel meeting with the Chair of the BASc Exam Board and two other academic members of staff. Details of possible penalties if the plagiarism allegation is upheld can be viewed in the Academic Manual .

UCL will use plagiarism detection software to scan coursework for evidence of plagiarism against billions of sources worldwide (websites, journals etc. as well as work previously submitted to UCL and other universities). Most departments will require you to submit work electronically via these systems and ask you to declare that submissions are the work of you alone.

Any student suspected of examination misconduct, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, falsification, contract cheating, ghost writing (paying and / or instructing someone to write an assignment for you) or any other form of academic misconduct which is likely to give an unfair advantage to the candidate and / or affect the security of assessment and / or compromise the academic integrity of UCL will be investigated under the Student Academic Conduct procedures. If misconduct is found, students are likely to be failed for that assignment and / or module. Serious or repeated offences may lead to failure of the whole year, suspension or even expulsion. A breach of copyright or intellectual property laws may also lead to legal action.

Self-plagiarism

As well as ensuring all your essays and coursework are your own work, you must also avoid self-plagiarism, i.e. you cannot submit the same piece of work (either with or without stylistic variation) in order to gain credit more than once. The same criteria apply to self-plagiarism as to other forms of plagiarism and so will incur a penalty. This could be a mark of zero or a reduction in the overall mark.

Reuse of material

Any work submitted by you is presumed to be original work that has not previously been submitted for another module. You should therefore, as a rule, avoid writing on topics that you have written on previously. If you consider that there is good reason for you to revisit a topic, or to overlap with previously submitted work, then you must consult, and obtain prior written approval from, the Departmental Tutor Dr Wendy Sims-Schouten . If permission is granted, the onus will nevertheless remain on you to avoid mere duplication. This is to ensure that the same work is not double counted for different modules.

• Arts and Sciences Student Handbook (UCL username and password are required)
• Online reading lists
• UCL 24/7 Student Support Line

Library Services

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES

• Guides and databases
• Library skills
• A-Z of Harvard references
• Citing authors with Harvard
• Page numbers and punctuation
• References with missing details
• Secondary referencing
• Example reference list
• Journal article
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Online video
• Radio and internet radio
• Television advertisement
• Television programme
• Ancient text
• Bibliography
• Book (printed, one author or editor)
• Book (printed, multiple authors or editors)
• Book (printed, with no author)
• Chapter in a book (print)
• Collected works
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedia entries
• Multivolume work
• Religious text
• Thesis or dissertation
• Translated work
• Census data
• Financial report
• Mathematical equation
• Scientific dataset
• Book illustration, Figure or Diagram
• Inscription on a building
• Installation
• Painting or Drawing
• Interview (on the internet)
• Interview (newspaper)
• Interview (radio or television)
• Interview (as part of research)
• Act of the UK parliament (statute)
• Bill (House of Commons/Lords)
• Birth/Death/Marriage certificate
• British standards
• Command paper
• European Union publication
• Government/Official publication
• House of Commons/Lords paper
• Legislation from UK devolved assemblies
• Statutory instrument
• Military record
• Film/Television script
• Musical score
• Play (live performance)
• Play script
• Song lyrics
• Conference paper
• Conference proceedings
• Discussion paper
• Minutes of meeting
• Personal communication
• PowerPoint presentation
• Published report
• Student's own work
• Tutor materials for academic course
• Unpublished report
• Working paper
• Referencing glossary

Introduction to referencing using Harvard

Welcome to the UCL guide to referencing with Harvard. This site contains guidance on how to reference a range of different types of source using (a form of) Harvard. Watch the video above for an overview of Harvard referencing, and some of the basic principles to follow when using Harvard.

Essentials for referencing with Harvard

Harvard referencing uses in-text citations, in an author-date format. This means that when citing a source in your work you will include:

• author(s) or editor(s) surname or family name.
• year of publication.
• page number(s) if needed.

For example:

There is a broadly accepted view of the secondary school Maths classroom as one in which the didactic method reigns: an expert/teacher communicates subject-specific information and a room of pupils ‘sit in rows passively absorbing knowledge’ (Wright, 2020, p. 735).  However this view is one that Wright challenges ...

The full reference to each source that you cite in your work should be included in a References section, at the end of the essay. This will list each source referenced, ordered alphabetically by author's surname. 

The information included will vary depending on the type of source, but will broadly include:

• Who has ‘made’ the item (the author, creator, compiler…)?
• What is it called?
• If part of a larger work, what is that called?
• Where was (is) it disseminated/published?
• Who is responsible for the dissemination/publishing?
• When was it disseminated/published?
• A direct quotation, or allusion, should always include the page number(s).

Common examples

An example of a reference for a book:

Ronson , J. (2012). The psychopath test: a journey through the madness industry. London: Picador.

An example of a reference for a journal article

Skelton, A. (2011). ‘Value conflicts in higher education teaching’, Teaching in Higher Education, 17(3), pp.257-268. doi : 10.1080/13562517.2011.611875.

A References list, that includes the three examples above, will look as follows:

References Ronson, J. (2012). The psychopath test: a journey through the madness industry . London: Picador. Skelton, A. (2011). ‘Value conflicts in higher education teaching’,  Teaching in Higher Education , 17(3), pp.257-268. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2011.611875. Wright, P. (2020). ‘Visible and socially-just pedagogy: implications for mathematics teacher education', Journal of Curriculum Studies , 52(6), pp.733-751. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2020.1790667.

Harvard Versions

This guide supports the UCL Library Services Harvard style, which has been developed for UCL staff and students. However, there are many variations of the Harvard style. Be sure to match the Harvard style that best suits the style recommended in your course handbook, and always ask your tutor which referencing style they want you to use in your academic work.

Referencing examples in this guide are based on the 9th Edition of Cite them right: the essential referencing guide by Pears and Shields (2013). Other examples in this guide have been adapted from online support produced by Sue Stevens and Alex Jubb at the University of Birmingham.

The content in this guide is available under a CC-BY-NC-SA License.

This guide will be reviewed and updated annually.

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Quick links

• Harvard references A-Z

Related guides

• References, citations and avoiding plagiarism
• Reference management software
• Referencing and managing information
• Referencing and avoiding plagiarism tutorial

Referencing and managing information training sessions

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• Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024 12:08 PM
• URL: https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/harvard