In order to avoid plagiarism, it is important to state clearly which sections or passages that are your own work (new primary research), and which sections or passages that refer to the works of others or your analysis thereof. Likewise, in order to avoid self-plagiarism, it is important to state clearly if you are using your own previously published work.
Plagiarism
The definition of plagiarism is to use (i.e. mention, cite, refer, translate, analyse, interpret, discuss etc.) the text of someone else without making exact source references. In order to avoid plagiarism, the source reference must be precise to the extend that you can uniquely identify the original source.
Rules of thumb:
- Avoid plagiarism by placing quotes in quotation marks and naming the source of the quote.
- As soon as you use something that someone else has written or created, you must make a reference to the source.
Read more about how to avoid plagiarism at Stop Plagiarism Now.
Self-plagiarism
If you reuse your own results, primary material, data, and interpretations from published books or articles etc., you must always make a references to the source. The Copyright Act demands that you refer to the published source, even if it is your own work. Otherwise, it will be recorded as self-plagiarism and handled as plagiarism.
Read more in The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.
Plagiarism test/reference check of PhD theses
TECH/ENG/MED:
A copy of the full text document is automatically sent to a plagiarism checker when the thesis is submitted in Pure. Thesis is assessed in terms of plagiarism, and if there are indications of plagiarism or self-plagiarism, the doctoral school will initiate an investigation at the AAU Practice Committee.
HUM/SOC:
A reference check will be made of the preliminary thesis, before it is submitted, Read more about the procedure regarding PhD reference check in the AAU Handbook.
