Guidelines for avoiding plagiarism

1. Know what your lecturer expects

• Check what is written in the Subject Outline.
• Check that you understand the various referencing standards used in different study areas, and clarify which ones your lecturer expects you to use for your assignment.
• If the assignment is a group project, you may need to identify/demonstrate which elements are your own work and identify and acknowledge the contribution of other group members. If unsure, ask your lecturer.

2. Take care when making notes from books, papers or the web

• Make sure you place the quote marks correctly.
• Note down all the necessary details of the source for the References or Bibliography section.

3. Use the correct referencing standard

Make sure you use the correct citation or referencing standard that your lecturer has advised for your assignment. The JCU Library’s LibGuide about Referencing includes detailed instructions on using the main standards such as Harvard, Chicago, APA and  MLA.

4. Check that your references are complete

Check that you have included a complete reference, using a consistent format, for each source you have cited in the body of your assignment.

5. Check your draft using SafeAssign

You can check your draft assignment for plagiarism provided your subject in LearnJCU includes a Draft SafeAssign Drop Box as well as a Final SafeAssign drop box.

• Submit your draft assignment to the Draft SafeAssign Drop Box in your subject’s site in LearnJCU.
• Note that there can be a delay in receiving the report, so the sooner you finish your draft and submit it through SafeAssign, the more chance there is that you will get the report back in time to make the necessary revision.
• Analyse the SafeAssign report.
• Correct anything that has been incorrectly acknowledged before submitting your final assignment in the Final SafeAssign Drop Box.