Plagiarism is the use of another person’s intellectual property in one’s own work without comprehensive documentation of this use. It does not matter whether the appropriation is intentional or unintentional.
There are various forms of plagiarism. The University of Giessen summarizes these in an overview as follows:
- Translation plagiarism: Complete or partial adoption by translating a foreign-language text without citing the source.
- Copy & paste plagiarism: Parts of other people’s works are copied verbatim and not identified as such.
- Paraphrasing plagiarism: Parts of other people’s works are adopted and rearranged without citing the source.
- Ghostwriter plagiarism: Work written by another person is submitted under one’s own name.
- Idea plagiarism: Fundamental ideas from a work are copied without citing the source.
- Structural plagiarism: The layout and structure of a work are copied from another work without citing the source.
- Inadequate citation: Incomplete and inadequate information about the sources used or incorrect application of citation rules (for example: the title is listed in the bibliography, but is not indicated in the corresponding passage in the text).
The University of Lucerne and the Lucerne University of Teacher Education offer information sheets on this topic:
- “Merkblatt „Plagiate“ Prävention und Massnahmen“ (University of Lucerne) (in German only)
- “Wissenschaftliche Integrität im Studium“ (Lucerne University of Teacher Education) (in German only)
Strictly speaking, the use of AI-generated material without attribution does not constitute plagiarism because there is no authorship. Nevertheless, the use of AI may violate the principles of good academic practice. Find out more about this here.