Understanding fraud and plagiarism

Many study programmes at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) already have a fraud and plagiarism policy. The 'Regulations Governing Fraud and Plagiarism for UvA Students' which have been in effect UvA-wide since 1 September 2008, were amended in May 2010 and are now available below. This means that uniform sanctions now apply throughout the entire UvA.

For this reason, it is important to know exactly what fraud and plagiarism entail and what rules and practices you must follow as a student when taking examinations or writing a paper, thesis or essay.

The UvA defines the following as examples of fraud and plagiarism: copying someone else's answers during examinations (cheating), cutting and pasting text from another source and presenting it as if it were your own work or using someone else's text without proper acknowledgement of the source. UvA students are required to follow standard academic practices regarding citation and referencing.

Verifiable knowledge

During your career as a student you will often use thoughts and opinions of other writers in your own written work. This is permitted, but the use of other people's ideas or work must always be acknowledged. Writing an essay is an exercise for learning how to write academic texts. This means that you gather knowledge in a structured and verifiable fashion and can make statements about this knowledge that are subject to confirmation or refutation by others. Research results should be presented in such a manner that, on the basis of the material presented, another researcher could reach the same conclusions.

Preventing fraud and plagiarism

Make sure that you are properly informed about fraud and plagiarism and how to prevent it, and that you are familiar with the rules governing the citation of sources. Specific practices apply for different fields of study, and these are generally addressed during the course of study, for example as part of the (Basic) Academic Skills course.