Plagiarism in studies: How to avoid it and what are the benefits of plagiarism scanners?

Highlights: In academic writing, a strict distinction must be made between one's own and other people's content. Felix Hagenström is responsible for the issue of plagiarism at the "Ombudsman for Science" In the book "Scientific Fairness" he names six types:Copy-and-pasteexpand. Foreign ideas and texts are reformulated, without reference to the source. The severity of the offense usually depends on the type of work (doctorate, master's thesis or seminar paper)

The master's thesis has been submitted. Great relief. Or is it? Many students are haunted by the fear of having accidentally plagiarized. Whether the concern is justified and how plagiarism can be avoided.

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Mine – or yours? In academic writing, a strict distinction must be made between one's own and other people's content (symbolic image)

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Turned off the stove this morning? Blown out the candles? In the last term paper all sources correctly indicated? The fear of accidentally committing plagiarism causes some students sleepless nights. Especially when time was short and the notes were chaotic. Copied something over here, forgotten a few quotation marks there – it quickly becomes blurred which thought originated from one's own genius and which from specialist literature. (Ask Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.)

Two experts explain how much concern is really appropriate when it comes to student work, how to prevent plagiarism, and whether ChatGPT-generated texts are considered plagiarism.

What is plagiarism?

"Plagiarism in the field of science is understood as a mental or literal adoption of the ideas of others – without labeling," explains Felix Hagenström. He is responsible for the issue of plagiarism at the "Ombudsman for Science", a body that advises scientists.

In other words, plagiarism is about stealing words or ideas. By omitting the reference, it gives the impression that a text, an idea, or both is not of foreign origin. There are different subtypes. In the book "Scientific Fairness", published together with his colleagues, Hagenström names six types:

paneCopy-and-pasteexpand

The most well-known and easily recognizable form of plagiarism. Text passages are taken over without reference to the source. Literally or with minimal modifications.

Expand Pawn Sacrifice area

Also a literal takeover. In most cases, there is also a reference to the respective source. However, the reference is insufficient or misleading. For example, if it is not clear how much text has been taken over where exactly.

Translation plagiarism sectionExpand

A passage is translated from a source in another language and taken over without identification.

Expand idea plagiarism section

This is where an idea is adopted. Of course, this can mean anything – sometimes it's the research question, a certain method, or an original conclusion that is adopted without reference to the source.

SectionExpand structure plagiarism

The structure of a text is copied – for example, the structure or an original pattern in the argumentation.

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Foreign ideas and texts are reformulated, without reference to the source.

"Plagiarism" is not a uniformly defined legal term. It is defined differently depending on the country, discipline and university. Some points are controversial – for example, whether there can be any talk of plagiarism at all in the case of unintentional takeovers.

But regardless of whether it is intentional or negligent, in the end it is a problem if texts and ideas have been adopted without labeling. In doing so, students violate the declaration that they usually sign before submitting a thesis. In it, they confirm that they did not write the work independently with any aids other than those indicated. And: to have marked texts and contents of others as such.

Anyone who demonstrably violates the declaration must expect consequences, depending on the type and severity of the deception. These range from a "failed" to exmatriculation or a fine. The exact procedure is regulated in the higher education laws of the federal states and the respective study regulations of the university. From a legal point of view, each case must be evaluated individually according to quantity and quality. The severity of the offense usually depends on the type of work (doctorate, master's thesis or seminar paper) and the extent of the deception. It can also be decisive whether an intent can be recognized, whether it is a case of repetition or whether a title was obtained by fraud with the work.

How is plagiarism checked at university?

In the case of classic plagiarism, universities have been relying on testing software for some time. Currently, there are no uniform regulations on how many papers are checked via software. Random checks are often carried out and for suspicion. At the University of Vienna, for example, there is a nationwide standardised examination of all theses, but there is still little at German universities. In most cases, students can also use the programs online for a fee. Piece by piece, the software compares text fragments of a work with a database of texts from the Internet, books and magazines. At the end, the tool spits out a percentage and marks suspicious areas in color.

However, the test report alone has only limited use, says Monika Oertner. She is a writing consultant and lecturer for academic writing at the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz and advises teachers and students. The latter can submit term papers, reports and theses and have them checked for plagiarism by Oertner.

She also uses software for this purpose – as an aid. "The software cannot assess whether plagiarism has occurred or not," says Oertner. The program merely marks similarities to other texts. After that, it would have to be checked and assessed manually on an individual basis.

What percentage of plagiarism is okay?

Strictly speaking: zero percent. Intentional plagiarism or gross negligence always violates the declaration of independence. However, both Hagenström and Oertner advise against clinging to percentages as the software spits them out. These merely indicate how many similarities there are to other texts. A term paper can contain many linguistic similarities and still be plagiarism-free.

Again and again, Oertner students meet students who are working feverishly towards achieving zero percent agreement with other texts with the help of the software. There is "a huge misunderstanding" here. Also because the severity of the plagiarism can hardly be read from it. Those who plagiarize the key parts of their work may achieve a low percentage on such a test, but still commit serious plagiarism. If you copy your acknowledgments, you may get away with a reproachful look.

How much is too much, however, is always up to the assessment of the examiners, says Hagenström.

How do you recognize plagiarism?

Ultimately, the decisive factor for the evaluation is that someone has acted either intentionally or really grossly negligently. Both can be identified relatively clearly in context, says Oertner. In her opinion, there is no need to be afraid of truly coincidental similarities. The linguistic possibilities of expression are so rich that it is possible to clearly distinguish between one's own formulations and those that have been adopted.

Plagiarism of ideas is more difficult to identify, says Felix Hagenström. In the context of the entire work, however, it is easy to see whether an idea has been intentionally adopted. "If there have been other takeovers or if not just one idea, but an entire complex of ideas has been adopted, then the evidence thickens."

How do I avoid plagiarism?

Hagenström appeals to develop a feeling for scientific work. When is it expected to formulate one's own thoughts? When is it important and necessary to lean on others?

Exercise: In order to avoid plagiarism, you have to learn how scientific work works. Most faculties provide guidelines for this, and most universities have writing advice. But a look at other people's publications and texts can also help to develop the right feeling. Plagiarism expert Debora Weber-Wulff has also developed a free online course on plagiarism.

Marking: Marking is more important than plagiarism. Regardless of whether it is a meaningful or literal takeover: by making it recognizable, it becomes a (permitted) quote. This is the easiest way to avoid plagiarism.

Work cleanly: A lot of plagiarism is copy-and-paste plagiarism – even unintentional plagiarism. If you happily copy back and forth while taking notes, it's all too easy to forget to mark quotes as such. Unfortunately, the only thing that helps here is to remain careful and to create an orderly collection of material in which quotes are clearly separated from one's own thoughts.

If you have experience with scientific work and cite conscientiously, you don't have to go crazy.

Are ChatGPT texts plagiarism?

In the meantime, artificial intelligences have developed to such an extent that they can write student research papers themselves. The most well-known tool at the moment is probably ChatGPT. OpenAI's chatbot has been publicly available since November and writes texts of any type and length on command.

Felix Hagenström says artificial intelligence can be a useful tool for brainstorming ideas or checking spelling. If, on the other hand, you take over entire passages of text, you are not plagiarizing directly, but you are acting out of a similar motivation: to reach your goal faster by taking a shortcut. However, if you claim to have taken the regular route, you are violating the rules of the game, in this case the declaration of independence. This is because, in addition to ghostwriting and plagiarism, writing one's work "independently" also excludes the use of chatbots – unless it is indicated.

It can therefore be worthwhile to train scientific work and avoid plagiarism. It doesn't matter if there are chatbots, plagiarism scanners or recognition software. Because if you think about plagiarism, you also think about authorship. And that's not going to lose relevance anytime soon in the age of artificial intelligence.