Plagiarism and Copyright
Plagiarism means presenting other people’s results, ideas or formulations as your own.
Plagiarism is considered intellectual theft under the Norwegian Copyright Act. At HVL it falls under the label of cheating. It may result in a failing grade and expulsion.
Avoid plagiarism
Presenting others' work as your own, regardless of whether you do it intentionally or not, is considered plagiarism. You must therefore always cite your sources accurately and use them in accordance with the norms for academic writing.
Guidance on how to cite correctly can be found at the Search & Write website and at the Citation Compass website.
Examples of plagiarism:
- The use of material published on the Internet or in printed sources without referencing it
- Copying other people's work while making minor adjustments to the wording, so that it looks like yours (reference in place but no quotation marks)
- Copying or altering a work from other students' assignments
- Students submitting assignments closely resembling one another
- Reuing your own previous assignments (self-plagiarism)
Copyright
Anyone who creates something owns the rights to it. In Norway, the Copyright Act regulates copyright. The Copyright Act entitles you to cite from published works without the permission from the author as long as it is done "in accordance with proper usage and to the extent necessary to achieve the desired purpose." (Norwegian Copyright Act, § 29).