Plagiarism

The penalties for plagiarism are severe and you risk jeopardising your I.B diploma and University admission. 

Please Ensure you have understood the following:

• Write your essay on a Google Doc shared with your teacher. Do NOT copy and paste into your document, type everything in there! This is essential to check authenticity.

• Do not use other TOK websites AT ALL - you cannot reference websites that supposedly help students or other schools' websites, so ideas found on these sites will count as plagiarism. You can use the articles on this site but reference the original - not this site.

• Use either Footnotes or in-text referencing with a bibliography (eg APA) if you are quoting or paraphrasing someone else.

• PARAPHRASING MEANS USING YOUR OWN WORDS TO EXPRESS SOMEONE ELSE'S IDEAS. THIS IS FINE IF YOU REFERENCE. IF YOU USE SOMEONE ELSE'S WORDS YOU MUST "QUOTE". IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO CHANGE JUST A FEW WORDS AND PRETEND THESE ARE NOW ALL YOUR WORDS. THIS IS PLAGIARISM EVEN IF YOU REFERENCE THE IDEA. 

• Ask your TOK teacher if unsure or Teacher-Librarian in main library.

• Please take time to read the pamphlet from the IB below and try the simple Avoiding plagiarism exercise.

• There is also a screenshot of the offline system in word which helps you format your references.

• Please add references to your draft so your teacher can pick up any errors before you hand in the final version - as mistakes made in this can have disciplinary consequences.

• If unsure, there is an exercise below on Avoiding Plagiarism which you can go through or ask your teacher.