Digital Plagiarism

Digital plagiarism involves copying text (paragraphs, sentences, a single sentence or significant parts of a sentence), tables graphs, diagrams and / or images from digital sources, without using correct referencing to acknowledge the creator.

Jia is copying and pasting images from the Internet directly into her design journal without citing the source of the images.

  • How can I detect digital plagiarism?

    In the past, staff have suspected digital plagiarism where students have used unreferenced online images and diagrams to communicate:

    • Design research and / or stages of project development.
    • Spatial qualities and / or design details of the project.
    • Building systems including technical details such as ESD features.

    NB: It is becoming increasingly common for students to limit academic research to online sources. Students can unintentionally plagiarise through over reliance on the ‘copy and paste’ function, combined with poor record keeping about what content was sourced from where.

  • What steps should I take?
    1. If you are a Tutor, advise the Senior Tutor or Subject Coordinator of your suspicions about the authenticity of a submission.
    2. Collect evidence of the suspected misconduct, without accusing the student of engaging in misconduct. This should include:
    • A copy of the student’s submission that highlights the suspicious content, and
    • The original source* and / or
    • Notes from a meeting with the student where they were asked to explain the formation of ideas and/or conclusions.
    1. The Senior Tutor or Subject Coordinator should contact the ABP Academic Support Office, with evidence, for advice on next steps. Please refer to this page for details and links.

    *Via Google search / reverse image search