Plagiarism - What I learnt from PLATO

For my Level 5 Module I have had to revisit Plagiarism. The University of Derby has a great introductory system called PLATO (PLAgiarism Teaching Online) that talks you through the different types of plagiarism. The task once you have completed the training is to write down what you did not know that you have learnt.

When i signed up for my HNC in Mechanical Engineering at Solihull College and University Centre i was well aware (and quite paranoid) of the requirements surrounding plagiarism. Because of this I extensively researched plagiarism and referencing, hence why the list of things that I have learnt is small in relation to the amount taught. 

1) There are 3 types of plagiarism. 

I knew that all of the types were plagiarism, just not that the majority of plagiarism can be categorised under one of the following:

Collusion: Working with others to submit an individual piece of work. This may be 2 people actively sharing work or 1 person stealing work from a classmate. 

Copying: This is where work is copied verbatim without quotation marks and correct referencing. 

Paraphrasing: When larger extracts of work is written in different forms or words where the main body of work is along the same theme. 

2) Something that I already knew was the protocol for how to reference in the 'Harvard Style,' this is something that I did need a refresher on. The types of reference was included too which I found very useful. 

Direct Quote: (Author, Year, Page No)

Paraphrased: (Author, Year)

References: Author (Year) Title of work

3) I also got a refresher on 'TurnItIn' the assignment checking software. I didn't realise the amount of education organisation that used this particular software until taking PLATO. 

4) I did not realise that there are actual companies (called Essay Banks and Paper Mills) that generate assignments for students wishing to commit plagiarism. 

5) I also did not know that Universities can ask for staged submissions to see the progress that students make. They can also ask for an oral assessment after submission to test the ability of the students in attempts to make plagiarism more visible.