What is Plagiarism?
“the stealing or passing off as one's own (the idea or words of another); use (a created production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source” (Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, p. 1728).
Your responsibility
Under TasTAFE's Student Code of Conduct your have a responsibility to "provide authentic original assessment evidence and not engage in plagiarism or cheating in any assessment."
Terms you need to know
Citation - in the text and includes the Authors Name, Year of Publication and in the case of a direct quote page number.
Reference or Bibliography - This is the list of the citations you have used in your work. Placed at the end of your work and sorted alphabetically by author and then by year. Reference expand the information you have in the citation.
When in doubt cite!
..."the golden rule of avoiding plagiarism is this: When in doubt, cite! If you follow the golden rule, you should be fine." Plagiarism.org
Reference Tools
- Reference Generator This link opens in a new windowThe Reference Generator covers every type of format from Dance to Youtube. Choose your format and find examples of the relevant In-text Citation and Reference. You are then provided with a form to enter your items details, press "Create Citation" and the generator will create a Harvard Reference you can copy and past into your Reference List.
Reference Tips
Whilst both these tools provide a Harvard Reference it is always wise to check the reference meets your teachers requirements.
Google Scholar - Magazine/Journal Articles
Google Scholar searches academic material, journal/magazine articles, books and lots more.
Under each article in Google Scholar you will find these buttons.
Click the citation button and a popup will appear with a Harvard Reference for the item that you can copy & paste into your reference list. A number of other referencing styles are also available
Will take you to items that use this item in their reference lists. This means that if you find a useful article you can read further and see what others have done with those ideas.
Trove - Books
Trove provides a search of most Australian libraries. By entering a book title and selecting the relevant edition you will find the 
button. Click on this and a pop up with the Harvard Reference for the book will appear. You can copy and paste this reference into your Reference List. A number of other referencing styles are also available.
Plagiarism Checker
- Quetext - Plagiarism CheckerThis excellent plagiarism checker provides 5 free checks a month when you create an account.
Why We Reference
When you use someone else's ideas or words in your work you must acknowledge them. This is not only a courtesy which helps validate your work it allows your reader to follow up on information of interest, and protects you from committing plagiarism which is a form of cheating.
Harvard Referencing
TasTAFE commonly uses the Harvard Reference (author-date) system. This consists of a short in-text citation and a reference list at the end of the work which gives further details of the source.