Plagiarism checker

hello everyone!!

ok so im gonna submit my OBU project this sem. Just wanted to know from all those who have done this before, how did you check for plagiarism? how muchis the acceptable ratio for OBU? If i reference my work very well then is it still counted as plagiarism?? please help me out guys!! dont wanna mess this up! took a looot of hard work!

thank in advance!
cheers

Hello:

Im not sure about the acceptable ratio, but if you referenced your work carefully, then you dont have a lot to worry about. There are no shortcuts for checking as far as I know. Just double check everything. And its not plagerism if you reference your work!
I made sure there wasnt any plagerism by referencing my work side by side. If you leave it to the end, there is a chance you forget whats your own work and what is someone elses!

Good luck!

hey thanks a ton for your prompt reply!

i have referenced side by side as well as at the end....should do right??

Hey, no problem :)

Yeah, nothing to fret over then! Its normal to fret over it till the last minute, and after that. But if you did it carefully, then ignore the nervousness :)

Good luck!

Thanks a ton again for all your help! just some more questions...in my presentation i have taken everything from my project however added some materials from other places too like pictures etc. do i need to refer these too?

and for the side by side referencing in my research project, should i include the references in my word count?

and do you have any idea as to how the mentor would assess my performance during the project since there is no longer a submission form like before?!

Again, np ;) addressing your questions:

Well, yes. What I did was paste the image url as the reference. Remember, anything that is not your own material, be it pictures, maps etc, provide a source. Why take a chance when everything else on your project is perfect? :) I also referenced the tables I adapted from official documents and websites!

No no, references are not to be included in the word count. Nor are the titles, like - PART ONE: OVERALL OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH APPROACH - this wouldnt be a part of the word count. However, subheadings are, so be careful to include those.

Ahhh, yes, that might be a bit problematic. I honestly have no idea :( I suggest you ask your mentor or contact Oxford Brookes directly on [email protected]. Although...there was something on the website that said that when you are submitting your project you are required to enter your mentor details. So its possible that they contact the mentor for verification. But, again, do inquire!

Hope this helped :)

hey questions

When talking about refrencing, I got an image from the web, then included this image in my thesis, however I included it in my bibliography the url as i can include next to the table (xxxx,2010) or can I?

thanks,

@alyssa786: hi, could you rephrase your question? Im not quite sure what you are asking :(

Hi well its a picture of porters five forces, but ofcourse I didnt make it. in harvard referencing you have to write (author, year) but this is from a general website so do I need to add a reference to it?

Yes, you do.

@11ish... thanks again for your help!

now for the referencing bit, I have written the topic, accessed date and then the url

e.g. SWOT analysis. Accessed on xx September 2011 from

@gm2191: I didnt go through such a detailed process! I just enclosed the text I had picked off from some source in quotes, and put the url in footnotes. Nothing about accessed on. That would come in your bibliography. Not referencing within the report. You may put in the name of the article if you wish, esp if its in a book/newspaper and there are multiple articles floating around, and also if the website had multiple articles in the same link and you want to point to the right one. But no need to write accessed on...thats for the biblio.

Hope this helped!

@11ish... the format i wrote in my previous msg was for the bibliography only. I'm sorry i forgot to mention that!

ok some more questions...should the references given within the report be counted as words too??
and shud we adhere to the overall limit of 6500 words only or to section limits as well? coz my analysis limit is 4,244 instead of 4,000 :(

please advise! thanks in advance! :)

Hello!

If the previous msg was for biblio, then its fine..you might have to confirm the sequence in which you have to write things, and if the author is named for a particular article, then mention it.

Ahhh, regarding the limits, following is the text I picked out of the OBU infopack:

The word limit for your Research Report is 6,500 words. Oxford Brookes University recommends the following structure and approximate word distribution for your Research Report. We believe that this will allow you to demonstrate all of the required technical and professional skills, and graduate skills in sufficient depth.

Since it is recommended, I suggest you stick to it. I dont know how strictly you must adhere to it, but it is reasserted in the last line, so I think it would be better to play it safe and sticking to the limit.

I think I mentioned it in an earlier post that references are not to be included in the word count...nevertheless, here is something from the OBU infopack that might confirm that:

The 6,500 word limit excludes the Title Page, the Contents Page, the List of
References and the Appendices. Words used in tables and graphs and other forms of data presentation are not included in the word count. However, words used in section headings are included in the word count.


Hope this helped!

why would you risk that?? or you are up to something to mislead the marker? that'll be suicidal brother..

My project is almost ready and am thinking of using Turnitin to check it for plagiarism. Though I have been very careful about copy-paste issue while writing the report, still I want to be assured that my RAP is 100% free of plagiarism. A question for all the passed fellows out here; Is it worth it? :D

Yes Turnitin works and should (depending on which parameters have been set) identify each passage every time you have used an external source and show where that source came from. A word of warning though from my own experience - do NOT be alarmed if you initially get an 'Amber'/ Orange score (potentially a significant amount plagiarised). When I submitted my dissertation for my Masters it came back with a frighteningly high 30% (and in that university's Amber zone). I don't know who offers a Turnitin checking service but unless you can see all of the results for yourself I.e. all of the highlighted passages it could give you an unnecessary nasty shock! In my case most of the 'potentially plagiarized' sections turned out to be the mandatory inclusion of that university's ethics statement + their standard statement of authenticity that had to be copied word for word! However Turnitin did identify one significant passage which although referenced had not been put in citation marks and a couple of other minor accidental 'lapses' that I was then able to correct. One thing though unless you go through it with a fine toothcomb, you may still end up accidentally submitting something wrongly referenced - I had cited 2 pieces of work by the same author but written in different years but accidentally got them confused as just one and the same source ( so the year bit of my reference was wrong in one place and my list only showed one source). I only discovered the error to my horror several weeks after the final submission. Fortunately the markers didn't notice and I still got 72%! So don't beat yourself up about referencing and I would say if you have done your RAP yourself and followed the rules fairly well you will be forgiven for the odd mistake. If you still want to run it through Turnitin for 'peace of mind' then that's up to you but from reading your posts, I think it sounds like it would be an unnecessary extra expense... :-D

Nice – I am too broke to resist any unnecessary nasty shock :D I thought it works 10/10 and would help me to detect all those sentences which need to be rewritten to avoid plagiarism. So now I would prefer going though ever paragraph twice as I have gotten plenty of time.

The primary reason universities use Turnitin is to uncover copied work. It will catch unscrupulous students who think that they can just rewrite sentences and a few paragraphs of something that was passed previously and get away with it (which is why I have been warning students not to send out their work in response to requests on this forum for 'samples'). As Turnitin uses some complex algorithms within a massive database, it will be child's play for OBU to spot the similarities - it will identify who previously wrote the piece too (even if it was submitted to another university), so both parties potentially get caught! I don't think as you @Kings and Queens have anything to worry about on that one, you can chill but maybe a few others reading this may be a little worried!!!! :-D

@trephena I feel kinda relieved thanks :) I have a question for you regarding referencing. Following is the piece of my analysis: " Despite the strong earnings the Interest Cover declined from 2.88 to 1.10 times in FY11. The reason for this decline was the finance cost which rose by 20.5% (Appendix A, part D) as a result of the short term borrowings that rose substantially by 88.5% (Appendix A, part D) in order to meet the working capital requirement in the circular debt crisis (Reuters, 2011). PBIT rose by 7.4% only (Appendix A, part D) which was not as high as the finance cost therefore this impacted on the interest cover. " 1) From 2.88 to 1.10 times in FY11 – Should I reference the actual ratios? I believe I shouldn't as the graph at the start of the analysis has these figures already and is referenced. Please correct me if I am wrong. 2) When a paragraph has 3 to 4 percentages, adding a reference for each of them give an impression of over referencing and eats up the words non productively (in my opinion :p ). I am over the word limit just because of this, I feel that there should be some way for referencing 2 or more movements in a sentence or paragraph. Please advise how to deal with this.

Your referencing sounds about right - as you are referencing graphs then you shouldn't have to reference the figures and ratios that relate to them again in the paragraph that follows unless there would be an ambiguity or it isn't clear where they come from (and then it would be ok just to say " see Appendix A part D for calculations" just once) . One thing I am not clear on though is whether your graphs are in the text or all shoved away in the Appendices? If the latter move them to the appropriate section in the text as they are integral for the marker to understand and follow your reasoning and arguments. (Appendices are for reference material so basic calculations are fine there but not key charts and graphs). The word count is now 7,500 which includes all the main RAP material but does not include Appendices and the actual Reference list (for which there are no word count limits). When it comes to eliminating words go for the introductory sections first - the analysis and evaluation sections in my opinion are probably key to passing/getting a good grade. Provided you have mentioned some limitations etc and covered the other usual 'niceties' in the beginning you should not go overboard at the expense of the actual analysis, which is the last thing that should be cut. :-D

Yes all my graphs are in the text and are properly referenced – Appendices just have the financial statements and calculations. "(and then it would be ok just to say ” see Appendix A part D for calculations” just once)" - this is exactly what I wanted :D I am going to add this at the end of each paragraph. Thanks!

@Kings And Queens - got a suggestion for you (and anyone else submitting their RAP) -When doing my Masters dissertation a fellow student suggested we read each other's work and make any objective changes to make it flow better and spot any places where it was potentially missing a reference. Was really useful especially as I was seriously exceeding the word count as when you are so intimately involved in your own work it's hard to spot things to change. I reworked your paragraph for example to make it more succinct (in my opinion!) and to lose a few words in the process. (There is nothing wrong with what you wrote though) "Despite the strong earnings, the Interest Cover declined from 2.88 to 1.1 times in FY11. The reason for this decline was that in order to meet the working capital requirement in the circular debt crisis, short-term borrowings rose substantially by 88.5% *to meet the subsequent 20.5% increase in finance cost*(Reuters, 2011). PBIT rose only rose by 7.4% - significantly less than the finance cost – therefore this impacted on the Interest Cover (See Appendix A, part D for calculations)." * Should this be “contributing to the subsequent 20.5% increase in finance cost” ??? Maybe a good friend/ colleague / fellow student can be coerced to help edit if you think it would be beneficial overall? Always worth a second opinion if only to confirm that you are on track!

@trephena – The re-written paragraph is awesome! – Many thanks :D * Should this be “contributing to the subsequent 20.5% increase in finance cost” ??? The flow that I am trying to build is: Circular debt crisis caused the working capital management issues that compelled the company to borrow funds that ultimately raised the finance cost by 20.5% How will I add (See Appendix A, part D for calculations) in the reference list? As for your last suggestion; I second that!.. but I don't know any fellow student who could literally help me in spotting out areas to improve or advise as I study online and that's what I have been doing for past 4 years. I do however have a mentor who is always too busy...so it's just me who has to deal with it. My 60% confusions have been resolved on OT and you've been a great help :D

Regarding your query: I am assuming that the basic data comes from the annual report(s) and that you will have already referred to and referenced these in the text and therefore they are already included in the reference list? Based on that premise it is acceptable to just leave it as "(See Appendix A, part D for calculations)" but ensure that the Appendices make the source of the raw data clear too. As I said previously don't beat yourself up about referencing. Its purposes are mainly: 1. As a good academic protocol 2. Unlike exams the RAP is about showing that you can research using a variety of sources and distill information from it and degrees are about demonstrating that you can think for yourself. Not referencing (even if accidental) in principle is 'stealing' someone else's ideas and presenting them as your own - and that is a 'cardinal sin' in academia! (If the calculations are yours then they form part of your own work anyway, so you are OK) 3. It distinguishes the good student from the lazy ones who think that cut & paste (or totally copying) is a short cut to a degree. (Most of us with degrees abhor this type of student as it devalues the degree system and makes a mockery of our honest hours of toil) BTW I possibly have put a comma in the wrong place in the 're-written' paragraph (should it come after working capital requirement and the comma after debt crisis removed?). You are the best judge of what reads best given your aims and what you wish to emphasise. Guess I was exceptionally lucky when I did my MSc as I had a brilliant 'support network': my tutor agreed to mentor me and was really interested in my dissertation (possibly because fortuitously I chose a more off-beat rather than run-of-the-mill topic); my partner at that time, who is an FCCA, financially supported me for the last year and half of my studies and a fellow student (who already had a Masters in Law) and a good friend who is also an FCCA and has a Masters (albeit in Russian!!), read my work and offered suggestions for improvement. Given such help I couldn't fail! Glad that I am now able to help you and other students as I feel I am able to give something back to the community. Failure is soul destroying and it is also stressful working in 'isolation' like you: I hate to think of people failing, not because of lack of ability but more just because they didn't get the right guidance, support and direction in the first place. So I (and probably the other contributors too) find it intrinsically rewarding that you have found our contributions on the forum useful. Good luck with your impending submission - and do let me know how you got on (although you probably won't hear until about Sept). :-D PS see my other posts as there may be a few little tips in some of them which may help you push up your grade. Bassanio Broke has also made some helpful comments in his posts to students so look at those too if you have the time. :-)

Instead of (See Appendix A, Part D) if you write (Appendix A, Part D) you would save one word every time. In Period 27 when i submitted my RAP i had 4 Appendices (4 .xls files): Appendix A ----- which contained some ratios Appendix B ----- which contained some other ratios Appendix D ----- which contained SOFP (balance sheets) Appendix E ----- which contained income statements So may be instead of (Appendix A, Part D) you could write (Appendix D) or similar, thus you would save 2 words every time. Also you don't need to write it in your Reference list, you only need to cite, which you have done above.

Yes also useful tips - SalahUddin is the one who knows most about methodical referencing and has some good posts on it :-)

Hi all.Thanks for the tips.i do have a qn on how to report on my findings: Would it be ok to say; "During the year the company's performance rose by 23% compared to the previous year but was lower than one year later" OR "During the year the company's performance rose by twenty three perccent compared to the previous year but was lower than one year later" Or "During the year the company's performance rose by 23 percent compared to the previous year but was lower than one year later" ???? Thanks A

@trephena and @SalahUddin – thank-you! :D @acnca – to me your explanation is quite unclear and confusing... I would prefer something like this: In FY12 the company’s performance rose by 23% but it deteriorated in the next year – FY13 because..... (The graphs and tables are good ways to present trends and movements - use words to explain the reasons for change in the performance) That is my opinion, the experts over here always have great ideas to share :)

hey Hi.. please guide me to what to reference in graphs and tables, i mean that what should i write under the graphs and tables…. Is it OK if i just simply write “Audited Annual report 2012 and 2011? under each graphs and tables, or I should write something else???