plagiarism thesis references

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• What Constitutes Plagiarism?

In academic writing, it is considered plagiarism to draw any idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. It doesn't matter whether the source is a published author, another student, a website without clear authorship, a website that sells academic papers, or any other person: Taking credit for anyone else's work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident.

The ease with which you can find information of all kinds online means that you need to be extra vigilant about keeping track of where you are getting information and ideas and about giving proper credit to the authors of the sources you use. If you cut and paste from an electronic document into your notes and forget to clearly label the document in your notes, or if you draw information from a series of websites without taking careful notes, you may end up taking credit for ideas that aren't yours, whether you mean to or not.

It's important to remember that every website is a document with an author, and therefore every website must be cited properly in your paper. For example, while it may seem obvious to you that an idea drawn from Professor Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct should only appear in your paper if you include a clear citation, it might be less clear that information you glean about language acquisition from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website warrants a similar citation. Even though the authorship of this encyclopedia entry is less obvious than it might be if it were a print article (you need to scroll down the page to see the author's name, and if you don't do so you might mistakenly think an author isn't listed), you are still responsible for citing this material correctly. Similarly, if you consult a website that has no clear authorship, you are still responsible for citing the website as a source for your paper. The kind of source you use, or the absence of an author linked to that source, does not change the fact that you always need to cite your sources (see Evaluating Web Sources ).

Verbatim Plagiarism

If you copy language word for word from another source and use that language in your paper, you are plagiarizing verbatim . Even if you write down your own ideas in your own words and place them around text that you've drawn directly from a source, you must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.

The passage below comes from Ellora Derenoncourt’s article, “Can You Move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration.”

Here is the article citation in APA style:

Derenoncourt, E. (2022). Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. The American Economic Review , 112(2), 369–408. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20200002

Source material

Why did urban Black populations in the North increase so dramatically between 1940 and 1970? After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland. Of the six million Black migrants who left the South during the Great Migration, four million of them migrated between 1940 and 1970 alone.

Plagiarized version

While this student has written her own sentence introducing the topic, she has copied the italicized sentences directly from the source material. She has left out two sentences from Derenoncourt’s paragraph, but has reproduced the rest verbatim:

But things changed mid-century. After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland.

Acceptable version #1: Paraphrase with citation

In this version the student has paraphrased Derenoncourt’s passage, making it clear that these ideas come from a source by introducing the section with a clear signal phrase ("as Derenoncourt explains…") and citing the publication date, as APA style requires.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, the wartime increase in jobs in both defense and naval shipyards marked the first time during the Great Migration that Black southerners went to California and other west coast states. After the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Acceptable version #2 : Direct quotation with citation or direct quotation and paraphrase with citation

If you quote directly from an author and cite the quoted material, you are giving credit to the author. But you should keep in mind that quoting long passages of text is only the best option if the particular language used by the author is important to your paper. Social scientists and STEM scholars rarely quote in their writing, paraphrasing their sources instead. If you are writing in the humanities, you should make sure that you only quote directly when you think it is important for your readers to see the original language.

In the example below, the student quotes part of the passage and paraphrases the rest.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, “after a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940” (p. 379). Derenoncourt notes that after the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Mosaic Plagiarism

If you copy bits and pieces from a source (or several sources), changing a few words here and there without either adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly, the result is mosaic plagiarism . Even if you don't intend to copy the source, you may end up with this type of plagiarism as a result of careless note-taking and confusion over where your source's ideas end and your own ideas begin. You may think that you've paraphrased sufficiently or quoted relevant passages, but if you haven't taken careful notes along the way, or if you've cut and pasted from your sources, you can lose track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those of your sources. It's not enough to have good intentions and to cite some of the material you use. You are responsible for making clear distinctions between your ideas and the ideas of the scholars who have informed your work. If you keep track of the ideas that come from your sources and have a clear understanding of how your own ideas differ from those ideas, and you follow the correct citation style, you will avoid mosaic plagiarism.

Indeed, of the more than 3500 hours of instruction during medical school, an average of less than 60 hours are devoted to all of bioethics, health law and health economics combined . Most of the instruction is during the preclinical courses, leaving very little instructional time when students are experiencing bioethical or legal challenges during their hands-on, clinical training. More than 60 percent of the instructors in bioethics, health law, and health economics have not published since 1990 on the topic they are teaching.

--Persad, G.C., Elder, L., Sedig,L., Flores, L., & Emanuel, E. (2008). The current state of medical school education in bioethics, health law, and health economics. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 36 , 89-94.

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. In fact, even though they were not created specifically for education, these programs can be seen as an entertainment-education tool [43, 44]. In entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content in entertainment contexts, using visual language that is easy to understand and triggers emotional engagement [45]. The enhanced emotional engagement and cognitive development [5] and moral imagination make students more sensitive to training [22].

--Cambra-Badii, I., Moyano, E., Ortega, I., Josep-E Baños, & Sentí, M. (2021). TV medical dramas: Health sciences students’ viewing habits and potential for teaching issues related to bioethics and professionalism. BMC Medical Education, 21 , 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02947-7

Paragraph #1.

All of the ideas in this paragraph after the first sentence are drawn directly from Persad. But because the student has placed the citation mid-paragraph, the final two sentences wrongly appear to be the student’s own idea:

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. In the more than 3500 hours of training that students undergo in medical school, only about 60 hours are focused on bioethics, health law, and health economics (Persad et al, 2008). It is also problematic that students receive this training before they actually have spent time treating patients in the clinical setting. Most of these hours are taught by instructors without current publications in the field.

Paragraph #2.

All of the italicized ideas in this paragraph are either paraphrased or taken verbatim from Cambra-Badii, et al., but the student does not cite the source at all. As a result, readers will assume that the student has come up with these ideas himself:

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. It doesn’t matter if the shows were designed for medical students; they can still be a tool for education. In these hybrid entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content that triggers an emotional reaction. By allowing for this emotional, cognitive, and moral engagement, the shows make students more sensitive to training . There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

The student has come up with the final idea in the paragraph (that this type of ethical training could apply to other professions), but because nothing in the paragraph is cited, it reads as if it is part of a whole paragraph of his own ideas, rather than the point that he is building to after using the ideas from the article without crediting the authors.

Acceptable version

In the first paragraph, the student uses signal phrases in nearly every sentence to reference the authors (“According to Persad et al.,” “As the researchers argue,” “They also note”), which makes it clear throughout the paragraph that all of the paragraph’s information has been drawn from Persad et al. The student also uses a clear APA in-text citation to point the reader to the original article. In the second paragraph, the student paraphrases and cites the source’s ideas and creates a clear boundary behind those ideas and his own, which appear in the final paragraph.

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. According to Persad et al. (2008), only about one percent of teaching time throughout the four years of medical school is spent on ethics. As the researchers argue, this presents a problem because the students are being taught about ethical issues before they have a chance to experience those issues themselves. They also note that more than sixty percent of instructors teaching bioethics to medical students have no recent publications in the subject.

The research suggests that medical dramas may be a promising source for discussions of medical ethics. Cambra-Badii et al. (2021) explain that even when watched for entertainment, medical shows can help viewers engage emotionally with the characters and may prime them to be more receptive to training in medical ethics. There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

Inadequate Paraphrase

When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source's ideas in your own words. It's not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.

In order to make sure that you are using your own words, it's a good idea to put away the source material while you write your paraphrase of it. This way, you will force yourself to distill the point you think the author is making and articulate it in a new way. Once you have done this, you should look back at the original and make sure that you have represented the source’s ideas accurately and that you have not used the same words or sentence structure. If you do want to use some of the author's words for emphasis or clarity, you must put those words in quotation marks and provide a citation.

The passage below comes from Michael Sandel’s article, “The Case Against Perfection.” Here’s the article citation in MLA style:

Sandel, Michael. “The Case Against Perfection.” The Atlantic , April 2004, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-pe... .

Though there is much to be said for this argument, I do not think the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The deeper danger is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean aspiration to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifted character of human powers and achievements.

The version below is an inadequate paraphrase because the student has only cut or replaced a few words: “I do not think the main problem” became “the main problem is not”; “deeper danger” became “bigger problem”; “aspiration” became “desire”; “the gifted character of human powers and achievements” became “the gifts that make our achievements possible.”

The main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The bigger problem is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible (Sandel).

Acceptable version #1: Adequate paraphrase with citation

In this version, the student communicates Sandel’s ideas but does not borrow language from Sandel. Because the student uses Sandel’s name in the first sentence and has consulted an online version of the article without page numbers, there is no need for a parenthetical citation.

Michael Sandel disagrees with the argument that genetic engineering is a problem because it replaces the need for humans to work hard and make their own choices. Instead, he argues that we should be more concerned that the decision to use genetic enhancement is motivated by a desire to take control of nature and bend it to our will instead of appreciating its gifts.

Acceptable version #2: Direct quotation with citation

In this version, the student uses Sandel’s words in quotation marks and provides a clear MLA in-text citation. In cases where you are going to talk about the exact language that an author uses, it is acceptable to quote longer passages of text. If you are not going to discuss the exact language, you should paraphrase rather than quoting extensively.

The author argues that “the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency,” but, rather that “they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible” (Sandel).

Uncited Paraphrase

When you use your own language to describe someone else's idea, that idea still belongs to the author of the original material. Therefore, it's not enough to paraphrase the source material responsibly; you also need to cite the source, even if you have changed the wording significantly. As with quoting, when you paraphrase you are offering your reader a glimpse of someone else's work on your chosen topic, and you should also provide enough information for your reader to trace that work back to its original form. The rule of thumb here is simple: Whenever you use ideas that you did not think up yourself, you need to give credit to the source in which you found them, whether you quote directly from that material or provide a responsible paraphrase.

The passage below comes from C. Thi Nguyen’s article, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles.”

Here’s the citation for the article, in APA style:

Nguyen, C. (2020). Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Episteme, 17 (2), 141-161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32

Epistemic bubbles can easily form accidentally. But the most plausible explanation for the particular features of echo chambers is something more malicious. Echo chambers are excellent tools to maintain, reinforce, and expand power through epistemic control. Thus, it is likely (though not necessary) that echo chambers are set up intentionally, or at least maintained, for this functionality (Nguyen, 2020).

The student who wrote the paraphrase below has drawn these ideas directly from Nguyen’s article but has not credited the author. Although she paraphrased adequately, she is still responsible for citing Nguyen as the source of this information.

Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. While epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

In this version, the student eliminates any possible ambiguity about the source of the ideas in the paragraph. By using a signal phrase to name the author whenever the source of the ideas could be unclear, the student clearly attributes these ideas to Nguyen.

According to Nguyen (2020), echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. Nguyen argues that while epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

Uncited Quotation

When you put source material in quotation marks in your essay, you are telling your reader that you have drawn that material from somewhere else. But it's not enough to indicate that the material in quotation marks is not the product of your own thinking or experimentation: You must also credit the author of that material and provide a trail for your reader to follow back to the original document. This way, your reader will know who did the original work and will also be able to go back and consult that work if they are interested in learning more about the topic. Citations should always go directly after quotations.

The passage below comes from Deirdre Mask’s nonfiction book, The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.

Here is the MLA citation for the book:

Mask, Deirdre. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021.

In New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.

It’s not enough for the student to indicate that these words come from a source; the source must be cited:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.”

Here, the student has cited the source of the quotation using an MLA in-text citation:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive” (Mask 229).

Using Material from Another Student's Work

In some courses you will be allowed or encouraged to form study groups, to work together in class generating ideas, or to collaborate on your thinking in other ways. Even in those cases, it's imperative that you understand whether all of your writing must be done independently, or whether group authorship is permitted. Most often, even in courses that allow some collaborative discussion, the writing or calculations that you do must be your own. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't collect feedback on your writing from a classmate or a writing tutor; rather, it means that the argument you make (and the ideas you rely on to make it) should either be your own or you should give credit to the source of those ideas.

So what does this mean for the ideas that emerge from class discussion or peer review exercises? Unlike the ideas that your professor offers in lecture (you should always cite these), ideas that come up in the course of class discussion or peer review are collaborative, and often not just the product of one individual's thinking. If, however, you see a clear moment in discussion when a particular student comes up with an idea, you should cite that student. In any case, when your work is informed by class discussions, it's courteous and collegial to include a discursive footnote in your paper that lets your readers know about that discussion. So, for example, if you were writing a paper about the narrator in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and you came up with your idea during a discussion in class, you might place a footnote in your paper that states the following: "I am indebted to the members of my Expos 20 section for sparking my thoughts about the role of the narrator as Greek Chorus in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried ."

It is important to note that collaboration policies can vary by course, even within the same department, and you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with each course's expectation about collaboration. Collaboration policies are often stated in the syllabus, but if you are not sure whether it is appropriate to collaborate on work for any course, you should always consult your instructor.

• The Exception: Common Knowledge
• Other Scenarios to Avoid
• Why Does it Matter if You Plagiarize?
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Harvard University Plagiarism Policy

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• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Online Library and Citation Tools

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References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

Referencing styles.

• Getting Started
• Assignments
• Independent research
• Understanding a reference
• Managing your references
• How to reference
• Acknowledging and referencing AI
• Harvard referencing
• Vancouver referencing
• APA referencing
• Chicago referencing
• OSCOLA referencing
• MHRA referencing
• MLA referencing
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Further help

There are many different conventions, or approaches, to effective referencing, depending on the referencing style being used, and these can be separated into three standard systems for citing sources:

• Author-date system, e.g. Harvard.
• Numeric system, e.g. Vancouver.
• Notes and bibliography system, e.g. MHRA.

There are different versions of each of these approaches, some of which are discipline-specific.  For example, APA is an author-date system that is specific to Psychology, and OSCOLA is a notes and bibliography system only used in Law. 

Be aware, there are many versions of the Harvard and Vancouver referencing styles, there is no single 'correct' style.  If you refer to more than one source for guidance on Harvard, for example, you may notice inconsistencies so always try to stick to one source for guidance. The most important thing is to remain consistent.

Which referencing style should I use?

Recognising different referencing styles.

UCL does not have a standard referencing style for use across the university, but some UCL departments, or even individual academic programmes, may have a preferred referencing style. 

Consult your programme handbook or ask your UCL department which style you should use.

If you are writing for publication, you will find the journal or publisher will have its own style and guidelines

​ Here is an example of an in-text citation in an author-date style:

In their review of the literature (Knapik et al., 2015) some themes emerge …

This style uses an approach in which an author-date are located / identified directly within the text when a source is used, which then allows the reader to find the full reference to the source at the end of the essay on a separate references list (or bibliography).

Here is an example of an in-text citation in a numeric style:

In their review of the literature (1) some themes emerge …

This style uses a numbering system, where an alpha-numeric figure identifies that a source has been used/referenced. The reader can then locate the full reference in the reference list at the end of the essay.

Here is an example of an in-text citation in a notes and bibliography style:

In their review of the literature 1  some themes emerge …

This style uses footnotes or endnotes, where the full details of the source are given in the footnote (at the bottom of the current page), or in the endnotes (at the end of the essay). If the same reference occurs again an abbreviated form is used in the footnote/endnote. All references also appear in full on a separate references list (or bibliography) at the end of the essay.

Key messages

• Find out which style you are required to use in your work.
• Ensure you are consistent in your use of that style.

Referencing style guides

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References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

This guide provides methods to refer sources in your work and the benefits this brings, ensuring you adhere to the UCL policy on plagiarism.

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Research Skills: Referencing and plagiarism

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Overview - Managing Information: Referencing & Plagiarism

This guide provides support for students, supervisors, authors and teaching staff around referencing and plagiarism. It covers:

• Guidance for students:  An overview of the importance citing your references, alongside guides and resources for students to help with referencing in your work.
• Guidance for Supervisors:  A brief overview of the expectations on academic tutors and doctoral supervisors.
• Guidance for publishing:  A brief overview for authors covering guidance from publishers on ethical practice and plagiarism.

Referencing & Plagiarism

• Guidance for Students: Basic Principles
• Guidance for Supervisors

Guidance for Publishing

Understanding referencing: basic principles.

To find useful sources of information for your work it is important to be able to interpret references correctly. Knowing the difference between a reference to a book chapter or one for a journal article can save you time in getting straight to the resource you need.  Cite Them Right Online  is an essential guide to referencing which explains the basics of how to reference not just books and journal articles but also online resources, newspaper articles, reports, and more.There are also plenty of examples of different citation styles included e.g. author/date systems such as Harvard and numerical systems such as Vancouver.

• Library Presentation: construct references for different resources
• Library Guide: Writing your Bibliography and Citing References

Why cite references?

• it is important to acknowledge the resources created by other people which you refer to or use in order to complete your assignments or research. These resources can include books, journal articles, web pages, newspaper articles, lectures, images, etc.
• it is a very serious academic offence (known as plagiarism) to pretend that someone else's work has been created by you. This applies even if you copy just a few sentences. Learning to cite references correctly will help to ensure that you do not commit plagiarism by accident.

Basic Terms

• Reference - details of any item (e.g. book, chapter, video, web page, article) used as a source which enables that source to be found by someone else.
• Bibliography - a list of references at the end of a document e.g. essay, thesis, journal article.
• Citation - brief details about a reference given in the text of a document e.g. (author:date)
• Style - the exact way in which references and citations are laid out. There are many different styles e.g. Harvard, British Standard (Numeric), Author/Date, Vancouver. Find out which style is preferred by your Department or lecturer and use it consistently in your work.

Guidance for supervisors of research students

We have attempted to collect below guidance for supervisory teams around supporting research students around an awareness of plagiarism, and managing suspected cases of plagiarism. Please note that your department may have additional, or specific guidance or procedures to follow

At the beginning of a Research Project

Learning and Teaching Handbook: Section 8.1.4

"8. The  departmental Induction programme should include : ...  plagiarism ;"

Learning and Teaching Handbook: Section 8.5.2

"2.f.  draw the student's  attention to plagiarism awareness training available within the University , and to the nature, unacceptability and consequences of plagiarism."

During the Research Project

" Regarding Personal & Skills Development, the supervisory team are responsible for:

9.  giving guidance on matters including : the nature of research; the standard expected at the level of study; attendance at generic Doctoral Training Programme or other relevant classes; requisite techniques and methods of work; the presentation of data, footnotes and bibliography;  the issue of plagiarism ; and other ethical and legal issues as appropriate (e.g. copyright, Data Protection);"

Useful information

In addition to any department specific guidance, training and procedures, please refer to the following:

• Epigeum Online Course: Plagiarism and how to avoid it   (Please follow the instructions for embedding this module within your course on Learn Ultra)
• Learning and Teaching Handbook: Section 6.2.4 - university Guidance on Procedures in respect of Assessment Irregularities
• University General Regulations (General Regulation VIII - Examinations: (C) Plagiarism)

To provide guidance to students on tools to help them manage their references, and to help them create bibliographies to a recognised referencing style:

• Academic Skills Programme (for guidance and workshops including plagiarism and referencing)
• Reference Management Software (for guidance on using tools such as Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley)

It is worth being aware that most publishers will regularly use plagiarism detection software to verify the originality of papers which are submitted to their journals. Most major publishers are members of Crossref's "similarity Check" service, which uses  iThenticate  to check against a database of over 155 million content items, including 49 million published academic works.

It is also worth highlighting that many publishers will not accept, or may subsequently retract articles which have been simultaneously, submitted to multiple journals for consideration for publication. They may also take similar action if an author is found to have submitted articles which are deemed to similar to previous articles published. This activity may result in "duplicate" or "redundant" publications, or be seen as "self-plagiarism."

Below are some examples of major publisher's policies and guidance around plagiarism:

• Elsevier FAQs for Editors: Plagiarism and Duplicate publications
• Springer: Publishing Ethics for Journals
• Wiley: Policy on Dual Publication, Plagiarism and Defamation
• Sage: Manuscript Submission Guidelines: 4, Publishing Policies
• Public Library of Science: Ethical Publishing Practice

Cite them Right Online

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• Last Updated: May 15, 2024 4:31 PM
• URL: https://libguides.durham.ac.uk/research_skills

SBL Harvard Referencing Style: Introduction to Referencing and Plagiarism

• Introduction to Referencing and Plagiarism
• Introduction to In-text Citations
• Reference Management Tools
• Journal Articles
• Dissertations and Theses
• Publications and Reports of Corporate Bodies and International Organisations
• Conference Proceedings and Papers
• Government Publications
• Statutes and Acts
• Court Cases
• Newspaper Articles
• Unisa Study Guides and Lecture Notes
• Company Reports
• Case studies
• Internet Sources
• Personal Communications
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Images or Diagrams
• Standards and Patents
• Software Programs
• Secondary Referencing

Printed Copy of this website

• SBL Harvard Referencing Style
• Introduction
• Concept clarification
• Paraphrasing
• List of References
• Example of a List of References
• Secondary referencing

The Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) at Unisa uses the Harvard referencing method. This method has been internationally accepted and standardised, and is a widely accepted referencing method in many higher education institutions worldwide.

It is very important that you use the contents of this guide when writing your assignments, research proposals and research reports to add in-text citations where you use another author’s work or idea, and to compile a list of cited references at the end of your document. You will be penalised if you do not use the correct referencing technique and if your list of references is not of a high academic standard.

An author’s idea is acknowledged by adding an in-text citation where you refer to such author’s work and by including the complete reference in the list of references at the end of your document. Sources are acknowledged whether you quote directly from it, summarise ideas from it, or base an argument on it.

Works are cited for the following reasons:

• to indicate the source of any statements made;
• to acknowledge authors’ work;
• to enable the reader to locate and consult your sources. The reader must be able to go to the sources you have consulted to judge whether each source is credible and whether you have interpreted and transmitted the facts and ideas correctly;
• to add weight to your argument by citing authoritative sources; and
• most students do not intend to commit plagiarism but may do so unintentionally due to ignorance, because they are in a hurry, or they might have careless study habits. Failure to provide references discredits the integrity of your research and exposes you to a charge of plagiarism.

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM ?

The acknowledgement of another author's work is called a reference, and the failure to provide references discredits the integrity of the research and exposes the writer to a charge of  plagiarism .

Plagiarism is when you present another person’s ideas as your own, without properly acknowledging the source of the ideas. It is regarded as a criminal offense.

You are plagiarising if you are:

• Turning is someone else's work as your own
• Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, irrespective of the fact that you gave credit or whether you used quotation marks
• Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit Source:  https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM

Whenever you use a fact, phrase, chart or quotation from someone else in your work, you must acknowledge the original source

Keep careful notes of every source you consult, so that no sources are used without proper acknowledgment

Never copy and paste anything from the Internet without also copying the URL where you found it to ensure that you can provide a full citation for the source

Do not use the work of fellow students

Consider using  Mendeley  as a personal database  for all your references

THE UNISA LIBRARY GUIDELINES FOR AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Be wise-... don't plagiarise

WRITING FOR ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Please refer to these guidelines on  Writing for  Academic Integrity

Please refer to the following Unisa policy document:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A bibliography is far more comprehensive than a list of references, as it is an alphabetical list of all materials consulted, in addition to those cited in the text http ://www.apastyle.org/faqa.html

A line that identifies the source of a statement, and occurs in the body of a paper. It is also called an in-text citation, for example

(Author(s), publication year:pages)

(Palmer, 2010:12)

CITATION STYLES

​ ​A citation style shows the format you need to use when presenting your in-text citations and bibliographies  There are a number of citation styles, e.g. APA, Harvard, Chicago etc. and which one is used can depend on the academic discipline. They all convey the same information,  but they present it differently. 

HARVARD REFERENCING STYLE

This method involves name-and-date references in the text, with an alphabetically arranged list of sources

Unisa uses the Augmented Harvard Reference Style

It is the prerogative of the promoter/ supervisor to prescribe the style to be used

Always consult with your supervisor first

This presentation is based on the Bibliographic Style & Reference Techniques by Marlene Burger

LIST OF REFERENCES

A list of references is an alphabetical  list of all the sources that you cited in the text of your paper . This means that all the publications cited in your work must be contained in the list of references.

The SBL requires a single list of reference s at the end of the written work that provides accurate details of all the sources cited. It should provide enough information to allow your reader to identify and locate the source that you used and distinguish it from other versions of the same material. An example of a List of References has been included at the end of this guide.

PARAPHRASING

Paraphrasing is when you make use of someone else’s ideas, but put them into your own words, and according to your personal style of writing (thus avoiding plagiarism)

Generally, it is better to paraphrase than to quote

Ensure that you formulate others’ ideas in such a way that it blends in nicely with your own writing style

Do not misrepresent the other person’s ideas in order to suit your purposes

As with quotations, acknowledge the source of your ideas using the prescribed referencing method

Source: http:// www.unisa.ac.za/contents/library/docs/Plagiarism.pdf

PRIMARY SOURCE

Refers to a specific source that an author has written

When you quote the exact words of an author

Use inverted commas (“ “) directly before and after the quoted text

Acknowledge the source of the quotation in line with the referencing method prescribed by your department or subject field

           "... describes how services marketing works in practice"  (Palmer, 1998: 23)

Quotations can not be an entire paragraph that was copied and pasted word for word. A quotation is a short excerpt surrounded by your own words.

This refers to a document consulted in your research. It should include all the bibliographic details needed to trace the document, for example    

 Author’s Surname, Initials. Year of publication.  Title of book (in italics) . Edition. Place of  publication: Publisher.

 Palmer,  A. 1998. Principles of services marketing . 2nd ed. New York: McGraw- Hill

SECONDARY SOURCE

Refers to material which is written as an interpretation, criticism or research about an author or subject

• Read the original passages from more than one quality source carefully to ensure that you understand the concepts clearly
• Ensure that you understand all the concepts clearly by looking up synonyms for words in the passage that you are reading
• Take notes by writing down each idea presented in the passage in a few words, not in a complete sentence
• If you have to paraphrase a long passage, it might be helpful for you to make a brief outline
• Write your paraphrased section from your notes without consulting the original sources
• Compare your paraphrased section with the original and ensure that you didn't copy words or sentence structures too similarly
• Ensure that you present the original meaning accurately and that you neither add new ideas nor remove any important parts from the original
• Finally, add a reference at the end of the paraphrased section, and don't forget to include the sources in your reference list.

Source:  https://www.eliteediting.com.au/how-to-paraphrase/

A list of references is an alphabetical list of all the sources that you have cited in the text of your work . This means that all the publications cited in your work must be contained in the list of references.

A bibliography , on the other hand, is far more comprehensive, as it is an alphabetical list of all materials consulted , in addition to those cited in the text.

CEMS requires a single list of references at the end of the written work that provides accurate details of all the sources cited . It should provide enough information to allow your reader to identify and locate the source that you have used and to distinguish it from other versions of the same material. An example of a list of references is included at the end of this guide. General rules of referencing  

• Be consistent throughout your list of references!
• The reference list is always arranged in alphabetical order by the author’s surname.
• References must not be numbered.
• The layout, punctuation and capitalisation of all references should be consistent throughout the list of references.
• Capitalise the first letter of all personal names, corporate authors and place names.
• Only capitalise the first letter of the first word in the title of a book or journal article, e.g. Cases in services marketing. In the case of a book, the title should be in italics. The title of an article is neither in italics nor in inverted commas (see examples in the list at the end of this guide).
• Capitalise the first letter of all the words other than conjunctions (and, or, of, etc.) for names of journals, e.g. Management Review Quarterly (name of journal in italics).
• Use italics as shown in this guide when using a word processor and underlining when you are writing or using a typewriter. The titles of unpublished works are not italicised.
• For in-text citations, use round brackets ().
• Do not use brackets around the date in your list of references, but use square brackets [ ] for the date on which you accessed an online resource.
• If there is no date, use (n.d.). If no place of publication is given, use (s.l.) and if no author is given, use Anon.
• Always use the ampersand, i.e. & instead of ‘and’, except in cases where the author is cited as part of a sentence, e.g. According to Wiid and Cant (2021) …
• Page ranges must be written as: 78–80.
• The year of publication always follows the author(s).
• Editions of books are always written in full, e.g., 2nd edition. A first edition is never referred to as such in the reference list.

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REFERENCING SECONDARY SOURCES

You may wish to quote a piece of work that has been referred to in something you have read. This is called ‘secondary referencing’ because you have not read the original piece of work. In other words, you are relying on the author you are reading to give a fair reflection of the contents of the original work. Wherever possible, it is important to read the original work, but this may be difficult in some instances. If you must refer to a secondary reference, your text should make it clear that you have not read the original.

This is only acceptable under extreme circumstances. It is important to consult the original material to ensure that you understand the context of what was discussed.

Research used by Smith (2000) regarding services marketing, shows that the indicators formulated by Grant (1994) in his PhD thesis entitled   Services marketing in transportation (Dunhill University) are applicable to the airline industry.

The work by Smith (2000) will be included in your bibliography, as this is where you read about Grant’s research.  However, the work by Grant (1994) is  not  included. You cannot include details about the original study, as you have not consulted it.

Another example:

A process project might consist of a number of stages including experimentation and production (Rondinelli 1983, cited in Potts, 2002:37). List the source you actually read, i.e. Potts.

Turnitin - Plagiarism Detection Software - for staff and students

• Access to Turnitin

Please consult your research supervisor with regard to the plagiarism detection tools at the University

Turnitin  is an internet based anti-plagiarism detection software that is aimed at promoting quality academic writing within learning Institutions. This allows students to develop quality writing skills as it facilitates rich, significant feedback on their submitted work. Hence in this process, they are able to improve their academic writing.

Instructors/Lecturers require students to submit their written assignments to Turnitin. The system then checks the submitted document for non-originality (possible plagiarism) by comparing submitted papers to several databases/repositories on the world wide web. Instructors/Lecturers are then able to monitor a student's similarity index.

Make use of the Turnitin website for more information.

Queries regarding Turnitin

All queries regarding the use of Turnitin can also be emailed to  T [email protected]

Please find the attached Turnitin guide and the Turnitin form for your information. 

The completed form must be sent to:  [email protected] if you are not able to access the Turnitin. 

Kindly note that the University does not support private email addresses.  You may ONLY use your myLife email account for Turnitin at Unis a . You can claim your myLife e-mail at  :    http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/ Claim-UNISA-Login

• Turnitin UNISA Student Guide
• Turnitin table/form
• Turnitin Student Access Video
• Next: Introduction to In-text Citations >>
• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2023 3:04 PM
• URL: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/c.php?g=1260430

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Easily check your paper for missing citations and accidental plagiarism with the EasyBib plagiarism checker. The EasyBib plagiarism checker:

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• Identifies text that may be flagged for plagiarism.
• Provides you with a plagiarism score.

You can submit your paper at any hour of the day and quickly receive a plagiarism report.

What is the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Most basic plagiarism checkers review your work and calculate a percentage, meaning how much of your writing is indicative of original work. But, the EasyBib plagiarism checker goes way beyond a simple percentage. Any text that could be categorized as potential plagiarism is highlighted, allowing you time to review each warning and determine how to adjust it or how to cite it correctly.

You’ll even see the sources against which your writing is compared and the actual word for word breakdown. If you determine that a warning is unnecessary, you can waive the plagiarism check suggestion.

Plagiarism is unethical because it doesn’t credit those who created the original work; it violates intellectual property and serves to benefit the perpetrator. It is a severe enough academic offense, that many faculty members use their own plagiarism checking tool for their students’ work. With the EasyBib Plagiarism checker, you can stay one step ahead of your professors and catch citation mistakes and accidental plagiarism before you submit your work for grading.

Why use a plagiarism checker? 

Imagine – it’s finals week and the final research paper of the semester is due in two days. You, being quite familiar with this high-stakes situation, hit the books, and pull together a ten-page, last-minute masterpiece using articles and materials from dozens of different sources.

However, in those late, coffee-fueled hours, are you fully confident that you correctly cited all the different sources you used? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally forget any? Are you confident that your teacher’s plagiarism tool will give your paper a 0% plagiarism score?

That’s where the EasyBib plagiarism checker comes in to save the day. One quick check can help you address all the above questions and put your mind at ease.

What exactly is plagiarism? 

Plagiarism has a number of possible definitions; it involves more than just copying someone else’s work. Improper citing, patchworking, and paraphrasing could all lead to plagiarism in one of your college assignments. Below are some common examples of accidental plagiarism that commonly occur.

Quoting or paraphrasing without citations

Not including in-text citations is another common type of accidental plagiarism. Quoting is taking verbatim text from a source. Paraphrasing is when you’re using another source to take the same idea but put it in your own words. In both cases, it’s important to always cite where those ideas are coming from. The EasyBib plagiarism checker can help alert you to when you need to accurately cite the sources you used.

Patchwork plagiarism

When writing a paper, you’re often sifting through multiple sources and tabs from different search engines. It’s easy to accidentally string together pieces of sentences and phrases into your own paragraphs. You may change a few words here and there, but it’s similar to the original text. Even though it’s accidental, it is still considered plagiarism. It’s important to clearly state when you’re using someone else’s words and work.

Improper citations

Depending on the class, professor, subject, or teacher, there are multiple correct citation styles and preferences. Some examples of common style guides that are followed for citations include MLA, APA, and Chicago style. When citing resources, it’s important to cite them accurately. Incorrect citations could make it impossible for a reader to track down a source and it’s considered plagiarism. There are EasyBib citation tools to help you do this.

Don’t fall victim to plagiarism pitfalls. Most of the time, you don’t even mean to commit plagiarism; rather, you’ve read so many sources from different search engines that it gets difficult to determine an original thought or well-stated fact versus someone else’s work. Or worse, you assume a statement is common knowledge, when in fact, it should be attributed to another author.

When in doubt, cite your source!

Time for a quick plagiarism quiz! 

Which of the following requires a citation?

• A chart or graph from another source
• A paraphrase of an original source
• Several sources’ ideas summarized into your own paragraph
• A direct quote
• All of the above

If you guessed option E than you’d be correct. Correct punctuation and citation of another individual’s ideas, quotes, and graphics are a pillar of good academic writing.

What if you copy your own previous writing?

Resubmitting your own original work for another class’s assignment is a form of self-plagiarism, so don’t cut corners in your writing. Draft an original piece for each class or ask your professor if you can incorporate your previous research.

What features are available with the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Along with providing warnings and sources for possible plagiarism, the EasyBib  plagiarism checker works alongside the other EasyBib tools, including a grammar checker  and a spell checker . You’ll receive personalized feedback on your thesis and writing structure too!

The  plagiarism checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online so that it detects plagiarism at every level. You’ll be notified of which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation. You’ll also get feedback on your paper’s inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

And speaking of citations, there are also  EasyBib citation tools  available. They help you quickly build your bibliography and avoid accidental plagiarism. Make sure you know which citation format your professor prefers!

Great! How do I start? 

Simply copy and paste or upload your essay into the checker at the top of this page. You’ll receive the first five grammar suggestions for free! To try the plagiarism checker for free, start your EasyBib Plus three-day free trial.* If you love the product and decide to opt for premium services, you’ll have access to unlimited writing suggestions and personalized feedback.

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Visit www.easybib.com for more information on helpful EasyBib writing and citing tools.

For informational guides and on writing and citing, visit the EasyBib guides homepage .

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How to avoid plagiarism?

Proper citation style.

Avoid plagiarism by always listing the source and formatting it correctly when you are note-taking. Take care of the proper formatting and citation style when using content from outside sources.

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Former University of Southern Mindanao professor apologizes for plagiarizing her student’s thesis

By Yoniel Acebuche Published May 08, 2024 12:46 am

It's hard to imagine having someone claim your research work as their own—even more so if that someone is your adviser.

That's what happened to an AB English graduate named Jemima Atok, whose adviser Riceli Mendoza—former professor at the University of Southern Mindanao (USM)—issued a public apology on social media for plagiarizing her thesis. It's been making the rounds online since it was posted on the USM Department of English Language and Literature's Facebook page on Monday, May 6.

In the viral letter, she said sorry to Atok for the "emotional pain" she caused her and her family.

"I am very sorry to publish your thesis in my name. I am truly sorry that I failed to recognize you as the author and the owner of the published paper/article. Instead, I claimed it as my own," she wrote. "I honestly acknowledge my fault and rest assured that this may never happen again in the history of academic endeavor. I earnestly implore your forgiveness. Please accept my sincere apology, Jemima and family."

How the incident happened remains unclear, though it's evident in the scanned document that Mendoza is no longer part of the USM faculty.

What is plagiarism?

Citing Black's Law Dictionary, the Supreme Court defines plagiarism as the "deliberate and knowing presentation of another person's original ideas or creative expressions as one's own." 

Among the most common types of plagiarism, according to research platform Research Square , are direct plagiarism with and without citation, self-plagiarism, single and multiple source plagiarism, blended plagiarism, wholesale or partial plagiarism of ideas, unoriginal work as plagiarism, incidental plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism.

Thesis work as intellectual property

Chapter 10, Section 193 of the Republic Act No. 8293 , known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, discusses the right "to require the authorship of the works be attributed to him, in particular, the right that his name, as far as practicable, be indicated in a prominent way on the copies, and in connection with the public use of his work."

In an interview with PhilSTAR L!fe , intellectual property lawyer Daniel Fordan said the law clearly provides that the author's name should be prominently mentioned when his or her work is used publicly.

"Thesis advisers should know that their advisee's works are not theirs. Should they wish to publish it, the most that they can be is a co-author subject to the rules of the institution in which the same would be published. In any case, it cannot be published without the consent of the advisee," Fordan noted.

"Nothing prevents students, of course, from indicating their adviser's name in the publication as an adviser. But if they want to make them co-authors, there may be certain requirements that they would need to comply with. Otherwise, there may be academic dishonesty again for misattribution," he added.

What can you do when someone claims your research work as their own?

When someone steals your research work, Atty. Susan Villanueva, an IP lawyer and professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, advised filing a complaint with the university so that the professor can be sanctioned in accordance with their policy on plagiarism of the university."

Atty. Emerson Cuyo, the IPOPhl's Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights director, said whenever someone exercises any of your economic or moral rights as copyright owner, the law provides remedies for copyright infringement.

"We often advise that they first write a demand letter letting the 'infringer' know of your demands. Should the first demand fail, we suggest another demand this time coming from your legal counsel," he said.

If nothing happens, Villanueva and Cuyo suggested pursuing legal action. "The author can file administrative (with the Bureau of Legal Affairs of the Intellectual Property Office), civil (with prayer for injunction and damages), or criminal cases against the infringer," said Villanueva. "It's up to the copyright owner which remedy she thinks is appropriate."

TAGS: research plagiarism Thesis intellectual property copyright infringement

Yoniel Acebuche

Yoniel Acebuche is a journalist by profession and a beauty queen by passion. She has constantly joined beauty pageants in different cities and fiestas across the Philippines ever since she was 15. Writing and pageantry are her empowering ways to connect to other people as well as to understand herself.

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House Committee Slams UCLA for 'Inadequate Response to Antisemitism'

Berkeley Caves to Anti-Israel Protesters and Launches Divestment Task Force

Mit hired six new diversity deans. two of them are serial plagiarists, complaint alleges., peace in our time at harvard, congress launches probe into groups funding 'pro-hamas' unrest on campus, david trone's $62 million senate campaign implodes in loss to dem challenger, in dissertation titled 'cite a sista,' tracie jones-barrett stole an entire passage on 'ethical considerations' from her classmate.

In June 2021, a year into the cultural aftershocks of George Floyd's death, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to meet the moment, as so many other schools had, by hiring more diversity officers.

MIT welcomed six new deans of diversity, equity, and inclusion, one for each of the institute's main schools , as part of a "DEI Strategic Action Plan" launched the previous year. Aimed at boosting the representation of women and minorities, in part by developing DEI criteria for staff performance reviews, the plan pledged to "make equity central" to the university "while ensuring the highest standards of excellence."

But according to a 71-page complaint filed with the university on Saturday, at least two of the six DEI officials may not be living up to those standards. The complaint alleges that Tracie Jones-Barrett and Alana Anderson are serial plagiarists, copying entire pages of text without attribution and riding roughshod over MIT's academic integrity policies.

In her 2023 dissertation titled "Cite a Sista," which explored how black women in the Ivy League "make meaning of thriving," Jones-Barrett, MIT’s deputy "equity officer," lifts a whole section on "ethical considerations" from Emmitt Wyche III, her classmate in Northeastern University's Graduate School of Education, without any sort of citation.

The section is one of several long passages taken from Wyche's 2020 thesis , "Boyz in the Hoods: (Re) Defining the Narratives of Black Male Doctoral Degree Completers," which does not appear in Jones-Barrett's bibliography. Wyche and Jones-Barrett did not respond to requests for comment.

Anderson, who served as the diversity czar for MIT's computer science college until last year, when she left to become Boston Beer Company's inclusion and belonging program manager, likewise copied copious material from other scholars. Her 2017 dissertation , "#BLACKONCAMPUS: A Critical Examination of Racial and Gender Performances of Black College Women on Social Media," lifts over a page of material from Mark Chae, a professor of counseling at Pillar College, who is not cited anywhere in her dissertation.

"It would have been nice to at least get a citation!" Chae told the Washington Free Beacon in an email. "Anderson seems quite comfortable in taking credit for large portions of another writer's scholarly work."

Anderson, who held DEI posts at Boston University and Babson College before coming to MIT, lifts another long passage from Jarvis Givens, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, without an in-text citation. The omissions appear to violate MIT's plagiarism policy , which states that scholars must cite their sources any time they "use the words, ideas, or phrasing of another person."

MIT did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In total, the two diversity deans lifted about 10 full pages of material without attribution, according to the complaint, as well as dozens of shorter passages sprinkled throughout their theses.

Like former Harvard University president Claudine Gay, who resigned in January amid her own plagiarism scandal, Anderson even stole language from another scholar's acknowledgments, copying phrases and sentences used by Khalilah Shabazz, now a diversity official at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, to thank her dissertation advisers.

Anderson's acknowledgments contain several typos not seen in Shabbaz's, including missing words and commas and a lack of subject-verb agreement.

Givens and Shabbaz did not respond to requests for comment. Anderson, who received her Ph.D. from Boston College's school of education, did not respond to a request for comment. Boston Beer Company did not respond to a request for comment.

Saturday's complaint, which was submitted to Boston College and Northeastern University alongside MIT, is the latest in a string of plagiarism allegations against campus diversity officials. Since Gay's resignation, DEI officers at Harvard , Columbia , the University of Wisconsin-Madison , and the University of California, Los Angeles , have been accused of research misconduct. Some, such as Columbia medical school's Alade McKen and UCLA medical school's Natalie Perry , copied pages of material from various sources—including Wikipedia—while others passed off old studies as new work .

The accused administrators have not been publicly sanctioned by their universities, which have either declined to comment on the allegations or issued statements in support of the officials. The complaint against Anderson and Jones-Barrett may be harder for MIT to brush aside, however, given the school's high-profile efforts to distance itself from DEI in the post-October 7 era.

The institute said this month that it would no longer require diversity statements from candidates applying to faculty positions, making it the first elite university to jettison the practice. It also led the way in restoring SAT requirements after many colleges went test-optional in an effort to boost diversity.

The pushback has come largely from MIT faculty and been driven, in part, by a sense that DEI programs excuse and even encourage anti-Semitism. An April article in MIT's faculty newsletter noted that an event on "Jewish inclusion" had whitewashed the rhetoric of the school's pro-Palestinian protesters, who have occupied campus buildings, called for "Intifada revolution," and allegedly chanted "death to Zionists."

"Jewish students," a blurb for the DEI event read, "are encountering much of the same discomfort that other minorities face on campus and in the world, in that they don't feel heard or acknowledged."

The two dissertations at issue are strikingly derivative, cobbled together from classmates, online sources, and even a book's dust jacket, and at times read like replicas of their unattributed source material.

Jones-Barrett's summary of her dissertation, for example, is nearly identical to the summary Wyche provides of his own. Both papers use "semi-structured interviews" to "gather insights" from black graduates of Ph.D. programs about their "subjective experiences" of "meaning-making," or, as Wyche misspells it, "mean-making." The primary difference is that Wyche's study deals with black men, while Jones-Barrett's deals with black women.

"This study, the first of its kind[,] uses Black Feminist Thought as a framework to explore and investigate how Black women at Ivy League graduate schools of education make meaning of thriving," reads the first sentence of Jones-Barrett's dissertation, which is missing a comma. "There are limited studies that center the voices of Black women at Ivy League graduate schools and there are no studies that look specifically at Ivy League graduate schools of education."

Jones-Barrett, who has taught courses at Harvard Extension School and was initially hired as the assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion for MIT's humanities school, also poached a passage on "potential research bias" from Wyche—now a DEI consultant who describes himself on LinkedIn as a "status quo disrupter"—which asserts that "it is nearly impossible for the researcher to isolate their experiences from the investigative process."

He's not the only classmate Jones-Barrett appears to have plagiarized: On the first page of her dissertation, she lifts an entire paragraph from Scott Fitzsimmons, who earned his Ph.D. in education from Northeastern in 2021, without attribution, swapping out "rural EMS leaders" for "Black women in graduate programs." Fitzsimmons declined to comment.

Anderson, meanwhile, lifts several paragraphs from a 2016 ThinkProgress article about her alma mater, Boston College, from which some of her study's interview subjects were drawn. That plagiarism undercuts her effort to prevent the school, to which she refers with a pseudonym, from being identified—a possible violation of the study's consent form, which promised participants that no "identifying information" would be disclosed.

Boston College and Northeastern University did not to requests for comment.

Anderson—who runs her own consultancy that offers "scientifically-based" DEI programming—also borrows three sentences from the dust jacket of Ebony and Ivy , a 2013 book by MIT historian Craig Wilder, who is only cited in one of the sentences and whose words do not appear in quotation marks.

Like many of the authors plagiarized by Gay, Wilder defended Anderson's decision to copy his work, writing in an email that he didn't think a citation was necessary.

"I cannot imagine why anyone would cite a dust jacket, nor do I see the urgency of criminalizing the failure to do so," Wilder told the Free Beacon . "I'm honored," he added, when other scholars "find inspiration from my publications."

Published under: Anti-Racism , Anti-Semitism , claudine gay , DEI , Diversity , Equity , MIT , plagiarism , Professors , Universities , Woke Schools

Two DEI deans at elitist MIT accused of being serial plagiarists

The “Didn’t Earn It” hall of shame gained two new nominees as a report singled out the latest elite university to get snared by allegations of plagiarism.

Policies and programs meant to deter faults in academic integrity at universities have appeared increasingly outside of the concern of hiring managers for those same institutions. Now, according to a 71-page complaint, the likes of since-resigned Harvard President Claudine Gay and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officials at other schools could count at least two of six DEI deans from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) among accused plagiarists.

Detailed by The Washington Free Beacon reporter Aaron Sibarium, MIT’s deputy “equity officer” Tracie Jones-Barrett and since departed diversity czar for the school’s Schwarzman College of Computing had both been hired in June 2021 as deans to fulfill a “DEI Strategic Action Plan.”

A thread from Sibarium on X broke down the complaint and began, “In 2021, MIT hired six high-level DEI officials. Two of them now appear to be serial plagiarists. One official, Tracie Jones-Barrett, copied an entire section on ‘ethical considerations’ from a classmate in her Ph.D program. Her dissertation’s title? ‘Cite A Sista.'”

NEW: In 2021, MIT hired six high-level DEI officials. Two of them now appear to be serial plagiarists. One official, Tracie Jones-Barrett, copied an entire section on “ethical considerations” from a classmate in her Ph.D program. Her dissertation’s title? “Cite A Sista.” pic.twitter.com/CygnMK3T7P — Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) May 14, 2024

A close look at the dissertation showed near matches between her 2023 work and others, including the 2020 work of a peer from Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Education, Emmitt Wyche III. She was also said to have pilfered content from Northeastern Ph.D. recipient Scott Fitzsimmons.

Meanwhile Anderson, who departed the school in 2023 to join the Boston Beer Company, was alleged to be caught similarly red-highlighted when her 2017 dissertation “#BLACKONCAMPUS: A Critical Examination of Racial and Gender Performances of Black College Women on Social Media” had swaths matching the work of Pillar College professor of counseling Mark Chae, Harvard Graduate School of Education professor Jarvis Givens and Indiana University-Purdue diversity official Khalilah Shabazz.

Her 2017 dissertation, “ #BLACKONCAMPUS : A Critical Examination of Racial and Gender Performances of Black College Women on Social Media,” lifts over a page of material from Mark Chae, a professor of counseling at Pillar College, who is not cited anywhere in her dissertation. pic.twitter.com/i3yi3KF0lk — Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) May 14, 2024

Reacting to the complaint, Chae told the Beacon, “It would have been nice to at least get a citation! Anderson seems quite comfortable in taking credit for large portions of another writer’s scholarly work.”

Much like Harvard’s policy which led to the resignation of Gay no matter corporate media’s attempt to spin outrage over the allegations as a “new conservative weapon,” the plagiarism policy for MIT states, “If you use the words, ideas, or phrasing of another person or from published material, you must…Use quotation marks around the words  and cite the source, or…Paraphrase or summarize acceptably  and cite the source.”

“You must always acknowledge your sources by citing them,” it continued. “In this way, you have the right to use another’s creative output by giving that person credit for the work s/he has done.”

The complaint against the DEI officials came only days after it was announced that MIT would be doing away with requiring a DEI statement for faculty applications.

University President Sally Kornbluth had said in a statement, “We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don’t work.”

INSIDER: Top university scraps DEI hiring requirements as the times they are a changing https://t.co/hp2121EfGq — BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 7, 2024

While statements from MIT, Northeastern and Boston College, Anderson’s alma mater, had not been provided to the Beacon regarding the complaint, Sibarium went on to note, “In total, the two diversity deans lifted about 10 full pages of material without attribution, according to the complaint, as well as dozens of shorter passages sprinkled throughout their theses,” as ample derision was piled atop the state of higher education.

DEI = Didn’t Earn It — Igor Kaplun (@IggyKap) May 14, 2024

DEI destroys all it touches. It must be dismantled. — Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) May 15, 2024

DEI is one big fraud. — Throttle_This (@Throttle_This) May 14, 2024

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