plagiarism dissertation uk

Information about what plagiarism is, and how you can avoid it.

The University defines plagiarism as follows:

“Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition, as is the use of material generated wholly or in part through use of artificial intelligence (save when use of AI for assessment has received prior authorisation e.g. as a reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability). Plagiarism can also include re-using your own work without citation. Under the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.”

The necessity to acknowledge others’ work or ideas applies not only to text, but also to other media, such as computer code, illustrations, graphs etc. It applies equally to published text and data drawn from books and journals, and to unpublished text and data, whether from lectures, theses or other students’ essays. You must also attribute text, data, or other resources downloaded from websites.

Please note that artificial intelligence (AI) can only be used within assessments where specific prior authorisation has been given, or when technology that uses AI has been agreed as reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability (such as voice recognition software for transcriptions, or spelling and grammar checkers).

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good academic practice from the beginning of your university career. Avoiding plagiarism is not simply a matter of making sure your references are all correct, or changing enough words so the examiner will not notice your paraphrase; it is about deploying your academic skills to make your work as good as it can be.

Students will benefit from taking an  online course  which has been developed to provide a useful overview of the issues surrounding plagiarism and practical ways to avoid it.

Forms of plagiarism

Verbatim (word for word) quotation without clear acknowledgement Quotations must always be identified as such by the use of either quotation marks or indentation, and with full referencing of the sources cited. It must always be apparent to the reader which parts are your own independent work and where you have drawn on ideas and language from another source.

Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement Information derived from the Internet must be adequately referenced and included in the bibliography. It is important to evaluate carefully all material found on the Internet, as it is less likely to have been through the same process of scholarly peer review as published sources.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their order, or by closely following the structure of their argument, is plagiarism if you do not give due acknowledgement to the author whose work you are using.

A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough; you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words, indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising. You must also properly attribute all material you derive from lectures.

Collusion This can involve unauthorised collaboration between students, failure to attribute assistance received, or failure to follow precisely regulations on group work projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entirely clear about the extent of collaboration permitted, and which parts of the work must be your own.

Inaccurate citation It is important to cite correctly, according to the conventions of your discipline. As well as listing your sources (i.e. in a bibliography), you must indicate, using a footnote or an in-text reference, where a quoted passage comes from. Additionally, you should not include anything in your references or bibliography that you have not actually consulted. If you cannot gain access to a primary source you must make it clear in your citation that your knowledge of the work has been derived from a secondary text (for example, Bradshaw, D. Title of Book, discussed in Wilson, E., Title of Book (London, 2004), p. 189).

Failure to acknowledge assistance You must clearly acknowledge all assistance which has contributed to the production of your work, such as advice from fellow students, laboratory technicians, and other external sources. This need not apply to the assistance provided by your tutor or supervisor, or to ordinary proofreading, but it is necessary to acknowledge other guidance which leads to substantive changes of content or approach.

Use of material written by professional agencies or other persons You should neither make use of professional agencies in the production of your work nor submit material which has been written for you even with the consent of the person who has written it. It is vital to your intellectual training and development that you should undertake the research process unaided. Under Statute XI on University Discipline, all members of the University are prohibited from providing material that could be submitted in an examination by students at this University or elsewhere.

Auto-plagiarism You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this, or any other, university, unless this is specifically provided for in the special regulations for your course. Where earlier work by you is citable, i.e. it has already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.

Why does plagiarism matter?

Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity. It is a principle of intellectual honesty that all members of the academic community should acknowledge their debt to the originators of the ideas, words, and data which form the basis for their own work. Passing off another’s work as your own is not only poor scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the degrees it issues.

Why should you avoid plagiarism?

There are many reasons to avoid plagiarism. You have come to university to learn to know and speak your own mind, not merely to reproduce the opinions of others - at least not without attribution. At first it may seem very difficult to develop your own views, and you will probably find yourself paraphrasing the writings of others as you attempt to understand and assimilate their arguments. However it is important that you learn to develop your own voice. You are not necessarily expected to become an original thinker, but you are expected to be an independent one - by learning to assess critically the work of others, weigh up differing arguments and draw your own conclusions. Students who plagiarise undermine the ethos of academic scholarship while avoiding an essential part of the learning process.

You should avoid plagiarism because you aspire to produce work of the highest quality. Once you have grasped the principles of source use and citation, you should find it relatively straightforward to steer clear of plagiarism. Moreover, you will reap the additional benefits of improvements to both the lucidity and quality of your writing. It is important to appreciate that mastery of the techniques of academic writing is not merely a practical skill, but one that lends both credibility and authority to your work, and demonstrates your commitment to the principle of intellectual honesty in scholarship.

What happens if you are thought to have plagiarised?

The University regards plagiarism in examinations as a serious matter. Cases will be investigated and penalties may range from deduction of marks to expulsion from the University, depending on the seriousness of the occurrence. Even if plagiarism is inadvertent, it can result in a penalty. The forms of plagiarism listed above are all potentially disciplinary offences in the context of formal assessment requirements.

The regulations regarding conduct in examinations apply equally to the ‘submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, or other coursework not undertaken in formal examination conditions but which counts towards or constitutes the work for a degree or other academic award’. Additionally, this includes the transfer and confirmation of status exercises undertaken by graduate students. Cases of suspected plagiarism in assessed work are investigated under the disciplinary regulations concerning conduct in examinations. Intentional plagiarism in this context means that you understood that you were breaching the regulations and did so intending to gain advantage in the examination. Reckless, in this context, means that you understood or could be expected to have understood (even if you did not specifically consider it) that your work might breach the regulations, but you took no action to avoid doing so. Intentional or reckless plagiarism may incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree or expulsion from the university.

If plagiarism is suspected in a piece of work submitted for assessment in an examination, the matter will be referred to the Proctors. They will thoroughly investigate the claim and call the student concerned for interview. If at this point there is no evidence of a breach of the regulations, no further disciplinary action will be taken although there may still be an academic penalty. However, if it is concluded that a breach of the regulations may have occurred, the Proctors will refer the case to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

If you are suspected of plagiarism your College Secretary/Academic Administrator and subject tutor will support you through the process and arrange for a member of Congregation to accompany you to all hearings. They will be able to advise you what to expect during the investigation and how best to make your case. The Oxford SU Student Advice Service can also provide useful information and support. 

Does this mean that I shouldn’t use the work of other authors?

On the contrary, it is vital that you situate your writing within the intellectual debates of your discipline. Academic essays almost always involve the use and discussion of material written by others, and, with due acknowledgement and proper referencing, this is clearly distinguishable from plagiarism. The knowledge in your discipline has developed cumulatively as a result of years of research, innovation and debate. You need to give credit to the authors of the ideas and observations you cite. Not only does this accord recognition to their work, it also helps you to strengthen your argument by making clear the basis on which you make it. Moreover, good citation practice gives your reader the opportunity to follow up your references, or check the validity of your interpretation.

Does every statement in my essay have to be backed up with references?

You may feel that including the citation for every point you make will interrupt the flow of your essay and make it look very unoriginal. At least initially, this may sometimes be inevitable. However, by employing good citation practice from the start, you will learn to avoid errors such as close paraphrasing or inadequately referenced quotation. It is important to understand the reasons behind the need for transparency of source use.

All academic texts, even student essays, are multi-voiced, which means they are filled with references to other texts. Rather than attempting to synthesise these voices into one narrative account, you should make it clear whose interpretation or argument you are employing at any one time - whose ‘voice’ is speaking.

If you are substantially indebted to a particular argument in the formulation of your own, you should make this clear both in footnotes and in the body of your text according to the agreed conventions of the discipline, before going on to describe how your own views develop or diverge from this influence.

On the other hand, it is not necessary to give references for facts that are common knowledge in your discipline. If you are unsure as to whether something is considered to be common knowledge or not, it is safer to cite it anyway and seek clarification. You do need to document facts that are not generally known and ideas that are interpretations of facts. 

Does this only matter in exams?

Although plagiarism in weekly essays does not constitute a University disciplinary offence, it may well lead to College disciplinary measures. Persistent academic under-performance can even result in your being sent down from the University. Although tutorial essays traditionally do not require the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes and referencing, it is still necessary to acknowledge your sources and demonstrate the development of your argument, usually by an in-text reference. Many tutors will ask that you do employ a formal citation style early on, and you will find that this is good preparation for later project and dissertation work. In any case, your work will benefit considerably if you adopt good scholarly habits from the start, together with the techniques of critical thinking and writing described above.

As junior members of the academic community, students need to learn how to read academic literature and how to write in a style appropriate to their discipline. This does not mean that you must become masters of jargon and obfuscation; however the process is akin to learning a new language. It is necessary not only to learn new terminology, but the practical study skills and other techniques which will help you to learn effectively.

Developing these skills throughout your time at university will not only help you to produce better coursework, dissertations, projects and exam papers, but will lay the intellectual foundations for your future career. Even if you have no intention of becoming an academic, being able to analyse evidence, exercise critical judgement, and write clearly and persuasively are skills that will serve you for life, and which any employer will value.

Borrowing essays from other students to adapt and submit as your own is plagiarism, and will develop none of these necessary skills, holding back your academic development. Students who lend essays for this purpose are doing their peers no favours.

Unintentional plagiarism

Not all cases of plagiarism arise from a deliberate intention to cheat. Sometimes students may omit to take down citation details when taking notes, or they may be genuinely ignorant of referencing conventions. However, these excuses offer no sure protection against a charge of plagiarism. Even in cases where the plagiarism is found to have been neither intentional nor reckless, there may still be an academic penalty for poor practice.

It is your responsibility to find out the prevailing referencing conventions in your discipline, to take adequate notes, and to avoid close paraphrasing. If you are offered induction sessions on plagiarism and study skills, you should attend. Together with the advice contained in your subject handbook, these will help you learn how to avoid common errors. If you are undertaking a project or dissertation you should ensure that you have information on plagiarism and collusion. If ever in doubt about referencing, paraphrasing or plagiarism, you have only to ask your tutor.

Examples of plagiarism

There are some helpful examples of plagiarism-by-paraphrase and you will also find extensive advice on the referencing and library skills pages.

The following examples demonstrate some of the common pitfalls to avoid. These examples use the referencing system prescribed by the History Faculty but should be of use to students of all disciplines.

Source text

From a class perspective this put them [highwaymen] in an ambivalent position. In aspiring to that proud, if temporary, status of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society. Yet their boldness of act and deed, in putting them outside the law as rebellious fugitives, revivified the ‘animal spirits’ of capitalism and became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force. Therefore, it was not enough to hang them – the values they espoused or represented had to be challenged.

(Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213. [You should give the reference in full the first time you use it in a footnote; thereafter it is acceptable to use an abbreviated version, e.g. Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 213.]

Plagiarised

• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, posing a serious threat to the formation of a biddable labour force. (This is a patchwork of phrases copied verbatim from the source, with just a few words changed here and there. There is no reference to the original author and no indication that these words are not the writer’s own.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen exercised a powerful attraction for the working classes. Some historians believe that this hindered the development of a submissive workforce. (This is a mixture of verbatim copying and acceptable paraphrase. Although only one phrase has been copied from the source, this would still count as plagiarism. The idea expressed in the first sentence has not been attributed at all, and the reference to ‘some historians’ in the second is insufficient. The writer should use clear referencing to acknowledge all ideas taken from other people’s work.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen ‘became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London [and] a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force’.1 (This contains a mixture of attributed and unattributed quotation, which suggests to the reader that the first line is original to this writer. All quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and adequately referenced.)
• Highwaymen’s bold deeds ‘revivified the “animal spirits” of capitalism’ and made them an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London.1 Peter Linebaugh argues that they posed a major obstacle to the formation of an obedient labour force. (Although the most striking phrase has been placed within quotation marks and correctly referenced, and the original author is referred to in the text, there has been a great deal of unacknowledged borrowing. This should have been put into the writer’s own words instead.)
• By aspiring to the title of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, highwaymen did not challenge the unfair taxonomy of their society. Yet their daring exploits made them into outlaws and inspired the antagonistic culture of labouring London, forming a grave impediment to the development of a submissive workforce. Ultimately, hanging them was insufficient – the ideals they personified had to be discredited.1 (This may seem acceptable on a superficial level, but by imitating exactly the structure of the original passage and using synonyms for almost every word, the writer has paraphrased too closely. The reference to the original author does not make it clear how extensive the borrowing has been. Instead, the writer should try to express the argument in his or her own words, rather than relying on a ‘translation’ of the original.)

Non-plagiarised

• Peter Linebaugh argues that although highwaymen posed no overt challenge to social orthodoxy – they aspired to be known as ‘Gentlemen of the Road’ – they were often seen as anti-hero role models by the unruly working classes. He concludes that they were executed not only for their criminal acts, but in order to stamp out the threat of insubordinacy.1 (This paraphrase of the passage is acceptable as the wording and structure demonstrate the reader’s interpretation of the passage and do not follow the original too closely. The source of the ideas under discussion has been properly attributed in both textual and footnote references.)
• Peter Linebaugh argues that highwaymen represented a powerful challenge to the mores of capitalist society and inspired the rebelliousness of London’s working class.1 (This is a brief summary of the argument with appropriate attribution.) 1 Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213.

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• Schools & departments

What plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

The University takes plagiarism very seriously and is committed to ensuring that so far as possible it is detected and dealt with appropriately.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of copying or including in one’s own work, without adequate acknowledgement, intentionally or unintentionally, the work of another or your own previously assessed original work.

How to avoid plagiarism

You must ensure that any work you submit for assessment is your own. Where your work includes quotations, theories, ideas, data or any other materials which are the work of another person or persons, you must ensure that you have taken all reasonable steps to acknowledge the source. You should ensure that you are familiar with the referencing requirements for your programme of study.

Guidance and factsheets on good academic practice and avoiding plagiarism are available from the Institute for Academic Development.

www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/undergraduate/good-practice

Plagiarism software

Many areas of the University now use ‘Turnitin’ plagiarism detection software to assist in detecting possible cases of plagiarism. ‘Turnitin UK’ is an online service which searches the World Wide Web and extensive databases of reference material, as well as content previously submitted by other users.

Once work has been submitted to the system, it becomes part of the ever-growing database of material against which subsequent submissions are checked. Turnitin makes no decisions about whether a student has plagiarised, it simply highlights sections of text which are duplicated in other sources. In most cases, the text will have been correctly cited. Where highlighted sections are relevant and appropriate cited, the course tutor will be able to see this.

Further information on Turnitin is available from Information Services.

www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/learning-technology/assessment/assignments/turnitin

Current students

Plagiarism is the inclusion of any idea or language from someone else without giving credit by citing and referencing the source in your work.

On this page

What is plagiarism, plagiarism examples, how to avoid plagiarism, how we check for plagiarism, if you are suspected of plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the act of reproducing someone else's work, content or idea without giving them credit for it.

This applies to works that are:

• printed or electronic
• published or unpublished
• written by a person or an organisation
• created by AI, like ChatGPT ( we consider this cheating ).

Examples of plagiarism include:

• using AI (like Chat GPT) to create text and presenting it as your own. This is also considered cheating .
• copying another student’s work or idea, with or without their consent
• copying or summarising text from a source without referencing it
• using statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams or images without referencing it
• handing in material downloaded directly from the internet
• submitting, in whole or in part, work that has previously been submitted at Bristol or elsewhere without permission or citation
• buying or commissioning work, such as essays or software programs
• resubmitting your own work from a different module, university or course.

This list is not exhaustive. More examples can be found on Cite Them Right’s website.

To avoid plagiarism, you should:

• use citations and reference ideas or work that are not yours
• write your essay in your own words
• only include other people’s ideas within your work when they support your argument or to prove a point.
• use direct quotations only if necessary; focus on ideas instead
• if you use quotations, paraphrases, statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams or images, you must reference them
• never cut/ copy and paste from the internet
• improve your research skills with our University Library’s resources. 

Refer to your faculty, school or course handbook for any specific referencing requirements You can also contact your subject librarian for help .

We use Turnitin UK (PDF) to check if plagiarism may have occurred. If so, the assignment is also reviewed by the academic department. They decide if the work has been correctly cited or whether there is evidence of plagiarism.

If we suspect you have plagiarised, you will be asked to attend an interview with senior members of your school to discuss this.

Any obviously plagiarised work is unacceptable and will be penalised according to the University regulations.

If you are being investigated for plagiarism, you can contact Bristol SU Academic Advice for free and impartial advice and support.

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• How It Works

Check your work for plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's ideas or words as your own.

What you need to do

Step 1 : read the overview and support guide hide details.

The University uses SafeAssign to help identify plagiarism. You can submit your work to SafeAssign before your final submission. This may give you an indication as to the level of originality of your work. However, please read interpreting the SafeAssign report , as a high percentage (%) does not necessarily mean you have plagiarised and a low percentage (%) does not necessarily mean you haven't plagiarised.

Please read our Blackboard support guide for the SafeAssign tool before submitting for the first time.

Step 2 : Submit your work Hide details

Visit the SafeAssign tool .

Select 'enrol' to submit your work and check your work for plagiarism. Use this before your actual summative submission on the Coursework tab/module section on Blackboard.

Advice and regulations

• Attend our 'How to reference and avoid plagiarism' workshop.  View study skills events on the Events Diary .
• How to reference and avoid plagiarism  online workbook: Follow citing and referencing rules to acknowledge your sources, avoid plagiarism and identify effective paraphrasing (source: UWE Bristol Library).
• Reference and avoid plagiarism  reading list: This resource list complements the library workshop and online workbook.
• Managing your references : This online workbook will introduce you to referencing management software that will help you to store and organise your references (source: UWE Bristol Library).
• Decisions, Decisions : This online resource helps you to discover how and why to avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism.

University regulations

The University takes cheating, collusion, plagiarism and other breaches of assessment regulations very seriously.

Our assessment offences information includes UWE Bristol's Assessment Offence Policy and Procedures, examples of assessment offences, and advice for students.

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Copyright is used to protect the rights of the creators or legal owners of literature, art, music, recordings and broadcasts.

View information and guidance for students and staff to help you comply with copyright law .

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Self-Plagiarism in PhD thesis

I am a final year PhD in UK in a scientific discipline and I am writing my thesis. I have already published 2 journal papers and I have submitted 2 more papers for publications. My department does not allow a "publications-based" thesis so I need to write a thesis in the context of a book etc.

As I write my thesis in a couple of places, especially in the literature review, I tend to reuse sentences from my publications. I try to restate them a bit, maybe change some words for their synonyms etc. but it is practically me writing about what I wrote before. It goes without saying that I cite/quote me at the end of a passage if I say something non-obvious (I found that slightly funny. :) ). The problem is that occasionally I am just explaining for instance how a certain estimation technique works; in that case I cite the original authors and not myself. The syntax in those occasions though is practically the same as the original passage I used in my publication; as I have explained it once and was consider good, I find no reason to reinvent myself (I do a mild rewording as I mentioned but that is quite insignificant). Same things goes for listings. I do cite my paper in the beginning of a big list as the list's source but the list itself is almost identical as the one in "my" paper; in those cases I don't use quotations, just attribution "[]".

Is there an obvious guideline? The basic definition of plagiarism " reproducing the work of another person's as your own " is not (directly) applicable to me because I am the other person (almost *); if I am using other people's work I do cite them but I don't cite myself, citing them, in quotation marks!

I am a bit "fuzzy" about how not to plagiarize myself in my thesis (I have had no problem regarding my journal publications).

(* In all publications mentioned I am the first -but not sole- author.)

• self-plagiarism

• Did you look at the other question ? –  Nobody Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 4:30
• @scaaahu: This is a slightly different question, asking about how to use papers when a "stapler" or "sandwich" thesis is not allowed, although the answer is similar. –  aeismail Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 4:32
• 27 This is one reason why this entire "self-plagiarism" notion is ridiculous. The word has been usurped to mean something which it is not, stealing another's work. It should be called what it is, duplicate publication. There are issues with copyright when reusing ones own work, however the ethics should be clear, plagiarism is stealing another's work and presenting it as one's own, which is far worse than duplicate publication, or passing off past work as new. The latter is unethical, but it is not plagiarism! –  daaxix Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 22:40
• 9 Additionally, companies like iThenticate are now capitalizing on this trend. As a scientist, I want a concise, clear, and well worded paragraph describing some method, phenomenon, or mathematical model. For many scientists, such paragraphs are often reproduced over and over again since they work in narrow subfields, even when the meat of a publication is new, the introduction, methods, etc. may be refined to a point where it is about the best it can be. Should this then be re-worded just to avoid being flagged by iThenticate and clones? I don't think so, but it appears that we are headed there –  daaxix Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 22:47

7 Answers 7

Even if your department does not allow a "stapler" thesis, it is entirely reasonable to expect that you should be able to freely use this material in a thesis. In general, I would expect that you would have to include a copyright statement similar in form to hose that would be used were you to copy the entire paper outright.

To cover against charges of plagiarism, I would simply acknowledge something like "Some passages have been quoted verbatim from the following sources," and list them. Also, when you reuse figures, I'd include the "reprinted with permission" tag.

Finally, ask your advisor or other members of your department for guidance! Since you're not the only person subject to this restriction, they've gone through this situation before, and can provide you with information on how former students have handled this.

The letter of the copyright law is extremely weird in such cases (formally you may need to request a permission from the journal editor to reproduce something, especially a picture, you made and submitted there yourself a few years ago, if you have assigned copyrights-some journals require copyright transfer, some do not). However, the spirit of the law is that you are free to use your own work several times even if you assigned your copyright away as long as you clearly state that it is not the first time you present (this is not required if you both retain all the rights and no originality expected) it and that the previous publications are such and such. To be on the safe side, write to the editors and request a permission to reprint (it is automatic unless the editor is an evil villain having personal grudge against you). However anyone trying to accuse you of using your own work without his permission will make such a fool of himself in the scientific world that his reputation there will plummet to negative infinity, so I don't think the chances of trouble are above those that some crank will accuse you of plagiarizing his work or that the outcome of the accusation, if it occurs, will be essentially different.

• Thanks, given your answer and that of Peter's I guess I need to come in contact with an editor indeed. –  user8448 Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 17:48
• 1 Correction: you are mostly right about plagiarism issues, but not about copyright. Self-plagiarism is a real thing (and misconduct in some cases)—but reusing your papers in your thesis (with citation!) is completely fine. "The spirit of the law is that you are free to use your own work several times even if you assigned your copyright away" seems wrong about copyright. Publishers' copyright transfers can have specific provisions for theses (ACM has), but I strongly believe they're needed. –  Blaisorblade Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 6:23

I use sentences like "The results described in this chapter have been published as [xx]." or "This chapter gives the argumentation published in [yy]".

However, my primary reason for this is less concern about self-plagiarism (papes and thesis are in different languages) than pointing out that these findings/developments have passed peer-review during a publication process. But if you give the appropriate citations also to your paper, I think it is important to make it easy for the reader to see whether the citation is your contribution or not.

slightly off-topic: I even go one step further and at the very beginning (in a section about abbreviations, symbols and conventions) explain that papers [1 - x] were written in direct connection with the thesis, and are put to the front of the literature list to allow the reader to easily detect my contributions to the field. You could also solve this by giving reference lists "my contributions" and "other people's contributions" (similar to how some fields give primary literature lists and secondary literature lists).

• Interesting suggestion (about the literature lists), thank you. –  user8448 Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 17:46
• With regard to your slightly off-topic comment, that only works in fields where the norm is for the bibliography to be sorted in order of citation. In many fields (e.g., pure maths and computer science), the bibliography is normally sorted alphabetically by first author so this trick wouldn't work. –  David Richerby Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 9:29

The papers you have published and that my be under review in a journal require permission to rproduce. It is therefore necessary to write to the journals and ask for permission to reproduce the contents in a thesis. I have heard of journals that refuse but they are very few. What you should remember, however, is that the copyright usually covers the final product or versions of the manuscript that have been altered as a result of work done within the journal, in other words gone through or in some stage of review. It would therefore be safe to reproduce your original submitted manuscript. You will need to acknowledge the permissions in your thesis (e.g. if you include a list of published paers and manuscripts in prep.).

All this may seem complicated but I have not experienced any publisher that has refused reproduction (either of a reprint or the text itself) in a thesis. After all, publishers live off of scientists writing papers and a PhD candidate (and scientists involved with her/him) is another "customer" to put it bluntly. It would therefore potentially be pretty self-destructive to refuse use of materials for a thesis with very limited distrubution.

Under any circumstances, please contact publishersand tell them what you intend to do andaskfor permission. Also check on the copyrights (which you usually sign at some point during the publication process. It is "better safe that sorry" that applies. And, I repeat, I would be surprised if you are given a no.

EDIT: A good way to find out what "your" journal adheres to is ot use the SHERPA/RoMEO site classification for self-archiving. They use a four part classification as follows:

green - can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF blue - can archive post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF yellow - can archive pre-print (i.e. pre-refereeing) white - archiving not formally supported

The level or archiving indcates what also falls under the copyright agreement of each journal and hence also what you may be free to reproduce in a thesis, and what you are not.

• 11 Most of the copyright transfer agreements I met so far explicitly say that you retain the right to reuse your paper for a thesis. Depending on the exact wording, you may not even need to ask for permission. –  cbeleites Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 13:44
• 6 and that my be under review — Huh? Transfer of copyright only happens after the paper is accepted. What am I missing? –  JeffE Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 15:24
• @JeffE The fact that one may easily sign the transfer without reading after all passages are reproduced but before the thesis appears in print, i.e., that human beings are forgetful and lazy by nature (I am, at least). However you are 100% right from the formal standpoint. –  fedja Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 16:07
• Also, many publishers have either explicitly posted policies stating exactly what is required or "clearance websites" where such permissions can be obtained. –  aeismail Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 17:27
• 1 Thank you for the SHERPA/RoMEO website, it was really helpful. (Apparently my currently submitted work is on "green" journals, my published one on a "yellow" and a "white" one...) I will look the copyright agreements in detail. –  user8448 Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 17:44

Are your papers really your own papers, or maybe you have some coauthors? That's when it becomes complicated. It will be hard to claim that the text you copied is exclusively your own work when the original paper is drafted and signed off by other people. On the other hand the thesis should be your own work exclusively.

• 1 That is the primary difference between "stapler thesis" style and the reuse discussed here -- in the stapler method the thesis will contain contributions of coauthors. But repeating one's own contributions is still perfectly fine, and the automatic assumption will be that the parts so used are the portions which the thesis author was responsible in the earlier work; only the coauthors themselves will have any basis for thinking otherwise. So it's worth noting that one shouldn't claim the work of coauthors as one's own, but that possibility hardly disqualifies use of prior published work. –  Ben Voigt Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 14:58

If you quote from your own paper, you may have to justify to the degrees committee how much of the paper was your work. If you are first author, it should be no problem, otherwise can you put a figure on what percentage was your own work ? Even if not all your own work, if the actual research was done by you, it should be possible to put a different slant on it. Having your ideas published already helps with the defence, as you can demonstrate successful peer review

Talk to your advisor/sponsor of your thesis!!!

Read your school's and department's policy of plagiarism. Some will include "self-pgagiarism" some don't.

It is all up to the advisor and school. If they accept it, then it is fine. If they do not accept it, it is not fine.

If you are the copyright holder (or have rights), then there is no legal issue. Even if you aren't the holder, there are provisions in the law for academic references.

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What Is Plagiarism and How Do I Avoid Plagiarizing?

25th August 2022

What Is Plagiarism?

Why is plagiarism wrong or harmful.

Aside from being dishonest, one of the main problems with academic plagiarism is that it undermines the scholarly process. Plagiarism steals from the hard work of previous scholars without given credit where it is due. Your dissertation is meant to be an original piece of scholarship that offers new insights into your field of study. While your dissertation will be supported and corroborated by a wealth of previous literature, it must be clear exactly how your dissertation is situated within the scholarship of your field.

What Are The Risks of Being Caught Plagiarizing?

Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism’s risks far outweigh any possible benefit. While unintentional plagiarism may just bring a stiff reprimand from your doctoral advisor, if the plagiarism is proven to be intentional, you stand to be expelled from your university and barred from ever realizing your dream of earning your PhD.

How to Avoid Accidental Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a danger even if you don’t mean to do it. Lazy practices such as not using quotations marks around unique phrases can leave you vulnerable to what can best be termed “accidental plagiarism.” The verdict is still out on whether the late historian Stephen Ambrose intentionally used identical phrases from another historian. Ambrose apologized publicly, though he argued that he was merely guilty of sloppy research practices rather than academic dishonesty. His reputation has forever been tarnished as a result. Don’t let something similar happen to your dissertation after years of grueling doctoral research—be careful to cite ALL your sources.

Don’t plagiarize! It might seem like a little plagiarism or sloppy source work increases the efficiency of the dissertation process, but aside from being intellectually deceitful and putting you in danger of expulsion, it is also counterproductive to your long-term career viability. Pulitzer Prize winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin had to resign from the Pulitzer committee and from PBS MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour after it came to light that she had used significant portions of another book in her 1987 work on the Kennedy family. She is not the first prominent scholar to lose credibility, and she most certainly won’t be the last. Luckily, with some careful effort, plagiarism is easy to avoid.

Need More Help to Avoid Plagiarism?

Are you struggling with identifying potential plagiarism issues in your dissertation? Are you nervous about whether or not some of your writing might be considered plagiarism? At thesis-editor.co.uk , we can help to make sure that your dissertation or thesis is completely original. Feel free to call or e-mail us at any time to discuss your concerns directly with a dissertation consultant—free of charge! We can review your dissertation in depth and show you exactly which portions will need to be rephrased to ensure the academic integrity of your dissertation. In addition, we can review your citations and references and ensure that they are complete and in the proper citation style (including APA 6 th Ed ., Chicago Manual of Style , MLA, and many more ).

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• Cambridge Libraries

Physical & Digital Collections

Theses & dissertations: home, access to theses and dissertations from other institutions and from the university of cambridge.

This guide provides information on searching for theses of Cambridge PhDs and for theses of UK universities and universities abroad. 

For information and guidance on depositing your thesis as a cambridge phd, visit the cambridge office of scholarly communication pages on theses here ., this guide gives essential information on how to obtain theses using the british library's ethos service. .

On the last weekend of October, the British Library became the victim of a major cyber-attack. Essential digital services including the BL catalogue, website and online learning resources went dark, with research services like the EThOS collection of more than 600,000 doctoral theses suddenly unavailable. The BL state that they anticipate restoring more services in the next few weeks, but disruption to certain services is now expected to persist for several months. For the latest news on the attack and information on the restoration of services, please follow the BL blog here:  Knowledge Matters blog  and access the LibGuide page here:  British Library Outage Update - Electronic Legal Deposit - LibGuides at University of Cambridge Subject Libraries

A full list of resources for searching theses online is provided by the Cambridge A-Z, available here .

University of Cambridge theses

Finding a cambridge phd thesis online via the institutional repository.

The University's institutional repository, Apollo , holds full-text digital versions of over 11,000 Cambridge PhD theses and is a rapidly growing collection deposited by Cambridge Ph.D. graduates. Theses in Apollo can be browsed via this link . More information on how to access theses by University of Cambridge students can be found on the access to Cambridge theses webpage.   The requirement for impending PhD graduates to deposit a digital version in order to graduate means the repository will be increasing at a rate of approximately 1,000 per year from this source.   About 200 theses are added annually through requests to make theses Open Access or via requests to digitize a thesis in printed format.

Locating and obtaining a copy of a Cambridge PhD thesis (not yet available via the repository)

Theses can be searched in iDiscover .  Guidance on searching for theses in iDiscover can be found here .   Requests for consultation of printed theses, not available online, should be made at the Manuscripts Reading Room (Email:  [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)1223 333143).   Further information on the University Library's theses, dissertations and prize essays collections can be consulted at this link .

Researchers can order a copy of an unpublished thesis which was deposited in print form either through the Library’s  Digital Content Unit via the image request form , or, if the thesis has been digitised, it may be available in the Apollo repository. Copies of theses may be provided to researchers in accordance with the  law  and in a manner that is common across UK libraries.  The law allows us to provide whole copies of unpublished theses to individuals as long as they sign a declaration saying that it is for non-commercial research or private study.

How to make your thesis available online through Cambridge's institutional repository

Are you a Cambridge alumni and wish to make your Ph.D. thesis available online? You can do this by depositing it in Apollo the University's institutional repository. Click here for further information on how to proceed.    Current Ph.D students at the University of Cambridge can find further information about the requirements to deposit theses on the Office of Scholarly Communication theses webpages.

UK Theses and Dissertations

Electronic copies of Ph.D. theses submitted at over 100 UK universities are obtainable from EThOS , a service set up to provide access to all theses from participating institutions. It achieves this by harvesting e-theses from Institutional Repositories and by digitising print theses as they are ordered by researchers using the system. Over 250,000 theses are already available in this way. Please note that it does not supply theses submitted at the universities of Cambridge or Oxford although they are listed on EThOS.

Registration with EThOS is not required to search for a thesis but is necessary to download or order one unless it is stored in the university repository rather than the British Library (in which case a link to the repository will be displayed). Many theses are available without charge on an Open Access basis but in all other cases, if you are requesting a thesis that has not yet been digitised you will be asked to meet the cost. Once a thesis has been digitised it is available for free download thereafter.

When you order a thesis it will either be immediately available for download or writing to hard copy or it will need to be digitised. If you order a thesis for digitisation, the system will manage the process and you will be informed when the thesis is available for download/preparation to hard copy.

See the Search results section of the  help page for full information on interpreting search results in EThOS.

EThOS is managed by the British Library and can be found at http://ethos.bl.uk . For more information see About EThOS .

World-wide (incl. UK) theses and dissertations

Electronic versions of non-UK theses may be available from the institution at which they were submitted, sometimes on an open access basis from the institutional repository. A good starting point for discovering freely available electronic theses and dissertations beyond the UK is the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) , which facilitates searching across institutions. Information can also usually be found on the library web pages of the relevant institution.

The DART Europe etheses portal lists several thousand full-text theses from a group of European universities.

The University Library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses  (PQDT) database which from August 31 2023 is accessed on the Web of Science platform.  To search this index select it from the Web of Science "Search in" drop-down list of databases (available on the Documents tab on WoS home page)

PQDT includes 2.4 million dissertation and theses citations, representing 700 leading academic institutions worldwide from 1861 to the present day. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The University Library only subscribes to the abstracting & indexing version of the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database and NOT the full text version.  A fee is payable for ordering a dissertation from this source.   To obtain the full text of a dissertation as a downloadable PDF you can submit your request via the University Library Inter-Library Loans department (see contact details below). NB this service is only available to full and current members of the University of Cambridge.

Alternatively you can pay yourself for the dissertation PDF on the PQDT platform. Link from Web of Science record display of any thesis to PQDT by clicking on "View Details on ProQuest".  On the "Preview" page you will see an option "Order a copy" top right.  This will allow you to order your own copy from ProQuest directly.

Dissertations and theses submitted at non-UK universities may also be requested on Inter-Library Loan through the Inter-Library Loans department (01223 333039 or 333080, [email protected] )

• Last Updated: Dec 20, 2023 9:47 AM
• URL: https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/theses

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Dissertation Writing Services

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Dissertation Proposal

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Dissertation

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• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation

What Is a Dissertation? | 5 Essential Questions to Get Started

Published on 26 March 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

A dissertation is a large research project undertaken at the end of a degree. It involves in-depth consideration of a problem or question chosen by the student. It is usually the largest (and final) piece of written work produced during a degree.

The length and structure of a dissertation vary widely depending on the level and field of study. However, there are some key questions that can help you understand the requirements and get started on your dissertation project.

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Table of contents

When and why do you have to write a dissertation, who will supervise your dissertation, what type of research will you do, how should your dissertation be structured, what formatting and referencing rules do you have to follow, frequently asked questions about dissertations.

A dissertation, sometimes called a thesis, comes at the end of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. It is a larger project than the other essays you’ve written, requiring a higher word count and a greater depth of research.

You’ll generally work on your dissertation during the final year of your degree, over a longer period than you would take for a standard essay . For example, the dissertation might be your main focus for the last six months of your degree.

Why is the dissertation important?

The dissertation is a test of your capacity for independent research. You are given a lot of autonomy in writing your dissertation: you come up with your own ideas, conduct your own research, and write and structure the text by yourself.

This means that it is an important preparation for your future, whether you continue in academia or not: it teaches you to manage your own time, generate original ideas, and work independently.

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During the planning and writing of your dissertation, you’ll work with a supervisor from your department. The supervisor’s job is to give you feedback and advice throughout the process.

The dissertation supervisor is often assigned by the department, but you might be allowed to indicate preferences or approach potential supervisors. If so, try to pick someone who is familiar with your chosen topic, whom you get along with on a personal level, and whose feedback you’ve found useful in the past.

How will your supervisor help you?

Your supervisor is there to guide you through the dissertation project, but you’re still working independently. They can give feedback on your ideas, but not come up with ideas for you.

You may need to take the initiative to request an initial meeting with your supervisor. Then you can plan out your future meetings and set reasonable deadlines for things like completion of data collection, a structure outline, a first chapter, a first draft, and so on.

Make sure to prepare in advance for your meetings. Formulate your ideas as fully as you can, and determine where exactly you’re having difficulties so you can ask your supervisor for specific advice.

Your approach to your dissertation will vary depending on your field of study. The first thing to consider is whether you will do empirical research , which involves collecting original data, or non-empirical research , which involves analysing sources.

Empirical dissertations (sciences)

An empirical dissertation focuses on collecting and analysing original data. You’ll usually write this type of dissertation if you are studying a subject in the sciences or social sciences.

• What are airline workers’ attitudes towards the challenges posed for their industry by climate change?
• How effective is cognitive behavioural therapy in treating depression in young adults?
• What are the short-term health effects of switching from smoking cigarettes to e-cigarettes?

There are many different empirical research methods you can use to answer these questions – for example, experiments , observations, surveys , and interviews.

When doing empirical research, you need to consider things like the variables you will investigate, the reliability and validity of your measurements, and your sampling method . The aim is to produce robust, reproducible scientific knowledge.

Non-empirical dissertations (arts and humanities)

A non-empirical dissertation works with existing research or other texts, presenting original analysis, critique and argumentation, but no original data. This approach is typical of arts and humanities subjects.

• What attitudes did commentators in the British press take towards the French Revolution in 1789–1792?
• How do the themes of gender and inheritance intersect in Shakespeare’s Macbeth ?
• How did Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia influence nineteenth century utopian socialist thought?

The first steps in this type of dissertation are to decide on your topic and begin collecting your primary and secondary sources .

Primary sources are the direct objects of your research. They give you first-hand evidence about your subject. Examples of primary sources include novels, artworks and historical documents.

Secondary sources provide information that informs your analysis. They describe, interpret, or evaluate information from primary sources. For example, you might consider previous analyses of the novel or author you are working on, or theoretical texts that you plan to apply to your primary sources.

Dissertations are divided into chapters and sections. Empirical dissertations usually follow a standard structure, while non-empirical dissertations are more flexible.

Structure of an empirical dissertation

Empirical dissertations generally include these chapters:

• Introduction : An explanation of your topic and the research question(s) you want to answer.
• Literature review : A survey and evaluation of previous research on your topic.
• Methodology : An explanation of how you collected and analysed your data.
• Results : A brief description of what you found.
• Discussion : Interpretation of what these results reveal.
• Conclusion : Answers to your research question(s) and summary of what your findings contribute to knowledge in your field.

Sometimes the order or naming of chapters might be slightly different, but all of the above information must be included in order to produce thorough, valid scientific research.

Other dissertation structures

If your dissertation doesn’t involve data collection, your structure is more flexible. You can think of it like an extended essay – the text should be logically organised in a way that serves your argument:

• Introduction: An explanation of your topic and the question(s) you want to answer.
• Main body: The development of your analysis, usually divided into 2–4 chapters.
• Conclusion: Answers to your research question(s) and summary of what your analysis contributes to knowledge in your field.

The chapters of the main body can be organised around different themes, time periods, or texts. Below you can see some example structures for dissertations in different subjects.

• Political philosophy

This example, on the topic of the British press’s coverage of the French Revolution, shows how you might structure each chapter around a specific theme.

This example, on the topic of Plato’s and More’s influences on utopian socialist thought, shows a different approach to dividing the chapters by theme.

This example, a master’s dissertation on the topic of how writers respond to persecution, shows how you can also use section headings within each chapter. Each of the three chapters deals with a specific text, while the sections are organised thematically.

Like other academic texts, it’s important that your dissertation follows the formatting guidelines set out by your university. You can lose marks unnecessarily over mistakes, so it’s worth taking the time to get all these elements right.

Formatting guidelines concern things like:

• line spacing
• page numbers
• punctuation
• title pages
• presentation of tables and figures

If you’re unsure about the formatting requirements, check with your supervisor or department. You can lose marks unnecessarily over mistakes, so it’s worth taking the time to get all these elements right.

How will you reference your sources?

Referencing means properly listing the sources you cite and refer to in your dissertation, so that the reader can find them. This avoids plagiarism by acknowledging where you’ve used the work of others.

Keep track of everything you read as you prepare your dissertation. The key information to note down for a reference is:

• The publication date
• Page numbers for the parts you refer to (especially when using direct quotes)

Different referencing styles each have their own specific rules for how to reference. The most commonly used styles in UK universities are listed below.

You can use the free APA Reference Generator to automatically create and store your references.

APA Reference Generator

The words ‘ dissertation ’ and ‘thesis’ both refer to a large written research project undertaken to complete a degree, but they are used differently depending on the country:

• In the UK, you write a dissertation at the end of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and you write a thesis to complete a PhD.
• In the US, it’s the other way around: you may write a thesis at the end of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and you write a dissertation to complete a PhD.

The main difference is in terms of scale – a dissertation is usually much longer than the other essays you complete during your degree.

Another key difference is that you are given much more independence when working on a dissertation. You choose your own dissertation topic , and you have to conduct the research and write the dissertation yourself (with some assistance from your supervisor).

Dissertation word counts vary widely across different fields, institutions, and levels of education:

• An undergraduate dissertation is typically 8,000–15,000 words
• A master’s dissertation is typically 12,000–50,000 words
• A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000–100,000 words

However, none of these are strict guidelines – your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided by your university to determine how long your own dissertation should be.

At the bachelor’s and master’s levels, the dissertation is usually the main focus of your final year. You might work on it (alongside other classes) for the entirety of the final year, or for the last six months. This includes formulating an idea, doing the research, and writing up.

A PhD thesis takes a longer time, as the thesis is the main focus of the degree. A PhD thesis might be being formulated and worked on for the whole four years of the degree program. The writing process alone can take around 18 months.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). What Is a Dissertation? | 5 Essential Questions to Get Started. Scribbr. Retrieved 19 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/what-is-a-dissertation/

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• Knowledge Base

Best Plagiarism Checkers Compared

Published on May 20, 2024 by Koen Driessen . Revised on July 11, 2024.

The best plagiarism checker should be able to detect plagiarism the most accurately, even if the original phrasing has been altered. The tool should also provide a clear, comprehensive plagiarism report.

To identify which plagiarism checker is best, we conducted in-depth research comparing the performance of 10 checkers. We uploaded plagiarized texts that were either directly copied and pasted or edited to varying degrees. In total, we used 140 sources to construct our test documents.

Overview of total scores per plagiarism checker, based on the amount of detected plagiarism:

Table of contents

Our process for comparing checkers, 1. scribbr review , 2. plagaware review, 3. quetext review, 4. viper review, 5. grammarly review, 6. plagiarism detector review, 7. copyleaks review, 8. smodin review, 9. compilatio review, 10. writer review, frequently asked questions about plagiarism checkers.

In order to find the best plagiarism checker, we analyzed different aspects of the tools, focusing on both depth and breadth.

We based our analysis on the following factors:

• Access to the biggest and most varied database
• Ability to detect the most plagiarism for the most source types
• Ability to detect plagiarism when the plagiarized texts have been paraphrased
• Highest quality of matches
• Level of user-friendliness and trustworthiness

We used the same test documents, test date, evaluation criteria, and data analysis for each tool in order to objectively compare the plagiarism results side by side. This ensured that the results required very little interpretation on our part.

Also see our list of the best free plagiarism checkers and the best AI detectors .

“Catches plagiarism more accurately than any other checker”

• Finds the most plagiarism and works for edited texts, too
• Does not store or sell documents
• Offers a happiness guarantee and live support
• Offers a Self-Plagiarism Checker to check for self-plagiarism
• Offers a limited free version
• Quality comes at a price
• Cannot work directly in the tool

Quality of matches

Scribbr performed well for all source types relevant to students, such as journal articles and dissertations.

Most importantly, Scribbr’s checker was the most successful at detecting plagiarism in source texts that had been heavily edited to mimic accidental paraphrasing plagiarism.

Scribbr was also able to find full matches. This means the entire plagiarized portion is matched correctly to just one source, rather than multiple incorrect sources.

The results are presented in a clear, downloadable overview. Different colors are used for different sources, making it easy for users to assess each plagiarism issue separately.

Issues can be fixed with Scribbr’s free citation generator , which generates proper citations for any missed or improperly cited sources.

Users can also choose to combine the Plagiarism Checker with the Self-Plagiarism Checker , which is unique to Scribbr. This tool allows users to upload their own unpublished documents in addition to the public database.

Instead of requiring users to subscribe to their services, Scribbr charges per plagiarism check ($19.95–$39.95, depending on the word count).

However, users are unable to work directly in the tool, and it is not possible to re-check your document for free.

Trustworthiness

Scribbr does not store the uploaded documents, sell them to third parties, or share them with academic institutions. Data is automatically deleted after 30 days, or students can opt to manually delete their document after the check.

Scribbr has live and responsive customer support to assist students in multiple languages. There is easy access to a plagiarism checker guide and other free resources about plagiarism.

Scribbr also has a happiness guarantee, where students receive a new check or refund if they aren’t satisfied for any reason.

Try Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker now

• Detects most of the plagiarism
• Documents not stored in database
• Multiple support options, but no live support
• Difficult to read PDF reports
• Does not work well for scholarly sources

Plagaware was often able to find full matches and attribute the text to the correct source. However, it performed poorly with heavily edited texts.

Sometimes, the tool did not correctly distinguish between separate plagiarized sources (i.e., it incorrectly attributed two consecutive paragraphs to the same source).

The website report is easy to navigate as it uses different colors for sources. The tool has a function that tells you how many words a plagiarized section has and gives a similarity percentage.

Unfortunately, the downloadable report is confusing to read as it uses only one color and doesn’t clearly link plagiarized text with a source.

Plagaware does not store files and does not sell uploaded content. Their website contains a contact form and phone number.

Discover Plagaware’s plagiarism checker

• Users can work directly in the tool
• Offers a citation assistant that helps with adding missing citations
• Partial matches where one source text is matched to multiple sources
• Reports are hard to read

Quetext detected about half the plagiarized text but was often unable to fully match the entire source text to one source. Instead, individual sentences get attributed to different sources.

The website states that Quetext checks against webpages and academic sources, but the tool does not in fact perform well for academic sources.

The website report sometimes did not correctly distinguish between plagiarized paragraphs and attributed them to the same source.

Quetext differentiates by severity of plagiarism in its online report: orange for partial matches and red for full matches. Otherwise, the same colors are used for different sources.

Users can work directly in the tool, and Quetext offers a citation assistant that helps generate the missing citations.

The original layout of the text is lost in both the website report and the downloadable report.

The tool does not store or re-upload your text, and it offers a help center with FAQs. There is no live support, but users can submit a help request on the website.

Discover Quetext’s plagiarism checker

• Ability to compare your newest document with previously uploaded documents
• Different colors for different source types
• Documents get published on external websites if you use the free version
• Performs poorly for scholarly sources
• Report can be hard to read, due to partial matches

Viper found about half of the plagiarism when the source text was directly copied or lightly edited, but it struggled to find plagiarism in moderately and heavily edited texts.

The tool had average performance for most source types but struggled specifically with scholarly source types such as journal articles and dissertations. This makes this tool less useful for students.

When Viper flagged plagiarism, it often matched the entire passage to one source. While the downloadable report was somewhat difficult to read, it helpfully uses different colors for different sources.

Viper also allows users to check their text against their own previously uploaded documents, which may help to catch instances of self-plagiarism.

Viper stores previous submissions and shows matches with those texts.

The tool does not sell your document if you use the paid version (prices start at $3.95 per 5,000 words). However, if you use the free version, the document is uploaded to an internal database. After three months, the text is published on an external website as an example for other students. This is not good if the content of your text is confidential.

Viper does not have live support, but there is a contact form on the website.

Discover Viper’s plagiarism checker

• Offers a language and citation assistant
• Does not sell or share documents with other parties
• Finds quite a low percentage of plagiarism
• 100,000 character limit (14,000–25,000 words)
• Same colors for different sources

Grammarly found a relatively low amount of plagiarism. It performed best with lightly edited texts. However, it scored below 50% in all other rounds of testing.

When it did find plagiarism, the tool was often able to find the right source. However, the matches were usually only partial and rarely included the entire plagiarized section.

The design is not very clear. As the tool is primarily used as a language checker, the plagiarism checker function is somewhat difficult to find. The tool uses the same color for all sources, making it hard to read.

The subscription comes with a language and style tool and offers a citation assistant that helps generate the missing citations. In addition, there is a 100,000 character limit for both the monthly plan ($30 per month) and the yearly plan ($12 per month).

For more information, you can read our in-depth  Grammarly review .

Grammarly does not store, sell, or share documents with other parties.

There is a support page with tips, tutorials, and FAQs, and it is possible to submit a question via a form. However, there is no live support.

Discover Grammarly’s plagiarism checker

• Does not store or sell your document
• Difficult to find the plagiarized source in the report
• Same highlight colors for different sources
• Technical difficulties generating the report, and no live support

This tool had difficulty uploading the document for each round of testing (for the first round, it took over six hours to generate a report). It seems that Plagiarism Detector was unable to adequately process a document of this size, even though the document did not exceed their word limit of 25,000.

This tool was mostly only able to find partial matches, attributing individual sentences to one or more sources, rather than the entire section.

In the downloadable report, the format of the text is lost, making it hard to read. The list of sources is also difficult to cross-reference with the text above because the same colors are used for different sources.

Plagiarism Detector offers a rewrite tool to help resolve similarities, but the quality of this tool is questionable, and it does not help with the citation issues. You should resolve plagiarism by citing the relevant source, not by attempting to rewrite the text to disguise it.

Plagiarism Detector does not store or sell uploaded documents. There is no live support, but the website does offer a help request form.

Discover Plagiarism Detector’s plagiarism checker

• Text layout is kept intact in the online tool
• Difficult to read reports
• Performed poorly with academic sources
• Unclear data protection policy

Copyleaks performed relatively poorly with all source types. It lists multiple possible sources for flagged sentences. However, it was sometimes able to attribute an entire source block to the correct source.

The report distinguishes between text that is “identical” to a source, text that contains “minor changes,” and text that is “paraphrased.” However, its judgment is sometimes wrong.

The site report and downloadable report differed (the downloaded report flagged content that was not flagged on the site report). On the website report, the source information function did not always work correctly, so it was sometimes impossible to check the accuracy of the attributions.

The reports were also difficult to read, as they use the same color highlights for all sources. While the source formatting is maintained in the online tool, it is altered in the downloadable report.

Copyleaks claim that they “will never steal your work.” To permanently remove uploaded content from their database, users must contact customer support. The website has a chat option and a contact form.

Discover Copyleaks’ plagiarism checker

• Site has a citation generator
• Very low word limit
• Report is difficult to read
• Scans individual sentences rather than full texts

Smodin performed relatively poorly in all rounds of testing. While it got some sources correct, it struggled to get full matches and frequently attributed the same text to multiple different sources. It did particularly poorly with scholarly sources.

The tool has a very low limit of 2,000 words per scan.

Both the online report and the downloadable PDF report are difficult to read. The downloadable report displays the uploaded document, but it doesn’t highlight the text that it flags as plagiarized. Instead, below this, it includes the individual parts of the text that it recognizes as plagiarism.

However, it is difficult to read as the same text is repeated over and over again if multiple sources were found for it. The sources also do not seem to be in a logical order.

Their data protection policy suggests they can/might sell or repurpose uploaded content. There is no live support, but there is a contact form on the site.

Discover Smodin’s plagiarism checker

• You can use your credits for multiple documents
• Scans against other documents you have uploaded
• Doesn’t highlight the plagiarized parts in the text
• Hard to review and resolve instances of plagiarism

Compilatio was able to find a few of the plagiarized sources, but it struggled if the source text had been moderately or heavily edited. However, when it was able to identify a source, it was often correct.

It was not possible to determine how accurately Compilatio could match the source to a plagiarized source text, since the plagiarized parts were not highlighted. Instead, the report only shows the general area that matches the source. This may limit its helpfulness to users, since it’s hard to review and resolve potential instances of plagiarism.

As the report does not highlight the flagged text, it does not provide a good overview of the potential issues. Additionally, you cannot work in the tool, so it’s not possible to exclude similarities from the report.

The tool scans the text against other documents you have uploaded, which can help to avoid self-plagiarism.

Users can buy packages for 5,000 words for €3.99 (no $ value is available on the site), 25,000 words for €14.99, or 50,000 words for €24.99. These credits can be used for multiple documents and are valid for 12 months after purchase.

Compilatio does not share or sell submitted documents, and the documents are not used as comparison material for other users.

There is no live support available, but they do provide a helpdesk with FAQs and a request form.

Discover Compilatio’s plagiarism checker

• Part of a tool with many other useful functions
• Allows you to edit in the tool
• Text format is not altered
• Doesn’t find much plagiarism
• Doesn’t provide a downloadable report

Quality of matches 

This tool found very little plagiarism. It struggled particularly with scholarly sources like dissertations and academic journals.

It scans sentence by sentence, rather than whole paragraphs. As a result, the plagiarized text is often attributed to multiple sources, rather than just one.

The plagiarism checker function is part of a larger language tool that provides grammar and spelling checks. As the tool doesn’t display an overall plagiarism percentage, we couldn’t apply our normal testing methodology. 

The tool has a nice, clean design and was relatively easy to use. The format of the text remains intact, and you can work directly in the tool. However, it doesn’t provide a downloadable report, so you must work solely on the website.

Writer claims that its tool is secure and safe to use and that it won’t share your information with anybody. A detailed security policy is described on a separate page.

They provide a contact number and email address on the site, but no live support.

Discover Writer’s plagiarism checker

Go back to the best plagiarism checker

Plagiarism can be detected by your professor or readers if the tone, formatting, or style of your text is different in different parts of your paper, or if they’re familiar with the plagiarized source.

Many universities also use plagiarism detection software like Turnitin’s, which compares your text to a large database of other sources, flagging any similarities that come up.

It can be easier than you think to commit plagiarism by accident. Consider using a plagiarism checker prior to submitting your paper to ensure you haven’t missed any citations.

The accuracy depends on the plagiarism checker you use. Per our in-depth research , Scribbr is the most accurate plagiarism checker. Many free plagiarism checkers fail to detect all plagiarism or falsely flag text as plagiarism.

Plagiarism checkers work by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts. Their accuracy is determined by two factors: the algorithm (which recognizes the plagiarism) and the size of the database (with which your document is compared).

Yes, Scribbr offers a limited free version of its plagiarism checker in partnership with Turnitin. It uses Turnitin’s industry-leading plagiarism detection technology and has access to most content databases.

Run a free plagiarism check

If you’re a university representative, you can contact the sales department of Turnitin .

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages.
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Driessen, K. (2024, July 11). Best Plagiarism Checkers Compared. Scribbr. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/best-plagiarism-checker/

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