Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else's work and presenting it as if it were your own, or taking a piece of your own past work and attempting to submit it as new.

Ask your departmental administrator if your department issues a handbook or style guide on how to reference. Find out if your department runs any classes on referencing. If so, it is worth going, even if you are confident you understand this area. If you are accused of plagiarism and haven’t familiarised yourself with departmental guidelines, you will not get any sympathy.

If you are unsure of how to reference something, ask your tutor.

If you have a problem before an exam which you think might affect your performance, such as ongoing illness or family problems, tell your tutor, fill in a Mitigating Circumstances Form (MCF) and return it to your department office. Include as much supporting evidence as you can, e.g. doctor’s certificate. KCLSU can help you with this.If you are unsure whether to reference a point or not, then reference it just in case: this way no-one can accuse you of plagiarism. Remember, you have to acknowledge ideas as well as direct quotations.

Remember, you are awarded marks for background reading, so don’t be afraid of putting lots of footnotes.

King's College London plagiarism documentation