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Types of Plagiarism & Academic Integrity Guide
Identical (Verbatim Copying) ▶
Definition
Copying sentences word-for-word from a source without quotation marks or citation.
Example
Original Source:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.”
Student Copy:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.”
What's wrong?
Direct copy-paste with no quotation marks or citation.
Academic Impact:
This is serious plagiarism. It may result in loss of marks, rejection, or expulsion, as academic integrity is completely violated.
Minor Changes (Superficial Modification) ▶
Definition
Changing a few words or their order, but keeping the main idea and structure nearly the same.
Example
Original Source:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.”
Student Copy:
“Climate change is seen as one of the biggest challenges for humans in the 21st century.”
What's wrong?
Only superficial changes made; the content and meaning remain the same.
Academic Impact:
Still counted as plagiarism—no original thought and no source cited. Penalties may apply.
Paraphrased Without Credit ▶
Definition
Rewriting the idea in your own words, but failing to credit the original source.
Example
Original Source:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.”
Student Copy:
“In the present century, one of the main problems people are dealing with is climate change.”
What's wrong?
Paraphrased but no citation; original idea is not credited.
Academic Impact:
Plagiarism still applies if you don’t cite the source, even if the words are changed.
Omitted Words (Partial Copying) ▶
Definition
Removing a few words or phrases from the original, but keeping the core idea unchanged.
Example
Original Source:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, impacting ecosystems and societies worldwide.”
Student Copy:
“Climate change is considered one of the greatest challenges in the 21st century, impacting societies worldwide.”
What's wrong?
Just omitting words doesn’t make it original—citation is still required.
Academic Impact:
Still considered plagiarism; academic honesty is about ideas, not just words.
Filtered and Excluded Results (Missed by Tools) ▶
Definition
Plagiarism checkers sometimes skip bibliographies, common phrases, or headers. Sometimes, important copied content is missed if accidentally filtered out.
Example
References section (often filtered):
“References: Smith, J. (2020). Climate Change. Nature.”
But if an analysis paragraph is accidentally filtered out, real plagiarism is missed!
What's wrong?
Tools aren’t perfect—manual review is essential to ensure nothing important is missed.
Academic Impact:
If plagiarized content is missed by the tool, it undermines trust in the review process.