Academic Integrity and Formatting Requirements

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity is adherence to ethical standards in educational and research activities. It includes honest performance of work, proper citation of sources, and respect for intellectual property.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is presenting someone else's ideas, words, or work as one's own without proper attribution to the source. Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic ethics and can lead to disciplinary consequences.

Types of Plagiarism:

1. Verbatim plagiarism — literal copying of text without quotation marks and attribution to the source.

2. Paraphrasing plagiarism — retelling someone else's ideas in one's own words, but without indicating the source. Even if you completely rephrase the text, the idea belongs to another author and requires citation.

3. Patchwork/Mosaic plagiarism — combining fragments from different sources into one text without proper citation.

4. Self-plagiarism — repeated use of one's own previously submitted work without permission and indication.

5. Contract cheating — obtaining a work from another person (for payment or for free) and presenting it as one's own.

Citation Rules

Direct Quotation

When you use the exact words of an author, it is necessary to:

• Enclose the text in quotation marks
• Indicate the author, year, and page number

Example: Smith (2020, p. 45) states that "leadership is the process of influencing a group to achieve common goals."

Paraphrasing

When you express the author's idea in your own words:

• Do not use quotation marks
• Indicate the author and year

Example: According to Smith (2020), leadership is the ability of one person to exert influence over a team for joint achievement of certain goals.

Harvard Referencing

In the text:

• Single author: (Smith, 2020) or Smith (2020)
• Two authors: (Smith and Jones, 2020)
• Three or more: (Smith et al., 2020)
• Quotation: (Smith, 2020, p. 45)

In the reference list:

• Book: Smith, J. (2020) Title of Book. 2nd edn. London: Publisher.
• Journal article: Smith, J. and Jones, K. (2020) 'Title of Article', Journal Name, 15(3), pp. 45-60.
• Website: Smith, J. (2020) Title of Page. Available at: URL (Accessed: 15 January 2020).

Structure of Academic Work

Typical Structure of a Research Project:

1. Title page — title, author, educational institution, date

2. Abstract — brief summary of the entire work (150-300 words): aim, methods, key results, conclusions

3. Introduction — context, justification of relevance, aims and objectives, structure of the work

4. Literature review — critical analysis of existing research, theoretical framework, identification of gaps

5. Methodology — philosophical foundations, research design, methods of data collection and analysis, ethical considerations

6. Results — presentation of the obtained data (without interpretation)

7. Discussion — interpretation of results in the context of the literature, discussion of significance and limitations

8. Conclusion — main findings, recommendations, suggestions for future research

9. Reference list — complete list of all cited sources

10. Appendices — additional materials (questionnaires, data tables, consent forms)

Practical Assignments

Assignment 1

Question: Identify the type of plagiarism in the following example: A student read Petrov's (2021) article on the influence of motivation on productivity. In their paper, the student wrote: "Employee motivation is a key factor determining their productivity" — without indicating the source, although this was the main idea of Petrov's article.

Solution: This is paraphrasing plagiarism:

1. The student conveyed Petrov's idea in their own words (not a literal copy)
2. But did not indicate the source of the idea
3. Correct version: "Employee motivation is a key factor determining their productivity (Petrov, 2021)" or "According to Petrov (2021), employee motivation is a key factor determining their productivity"
4. Even if the wording is completely original, the idea is borrowed and requires citation