Academic Integrity
Plagiarism covers all the texts, phrases, ideas, or research data that a person uses in their own work without citing the author or source.
The source is considered to be a book, article, guide, blog, as well as material that has not been published, but belongs to a specific person.
According to the university academic performance standards, plagiarism is prohibited and it is strongly against the academic community Code of Ethics.
The following cases define the terms of plagiarism:
Paragraph or parts of the text from another author’s paper are copied or cited without proper use of quotation marks with reference to the author or source. Also, the text fails to include italic or extended type.
A paraphrase (interpreting the content of the text from the source in person’s own words), is made in the manner that the phrases of the original text are slightly modified and presented as their own.
Research results are used, including personal ones such as articles, projects, books with no specified source citation.
Various website or portal materials are copied and used without reference to source such as survey results, spreadsheets, and graphs.
Responding to a case of plagiarism is regulated by the university Code of Student Ethics and Disciplinary Responsibility.
In order to avoid "unintentional plagiarism" it is necessary to draw a precise line between the so-called general knowledge and the one presented by a particular author(s). If the author of the paper is skeptical about citing the source, it is advisable to consult another scholar, or cite the source, rather than risking the text to be considered as a piece of plagiarism.
"Rephrasing" does not count changing only certain words from the original text; instead it involves conveying the content of a certain part of this text in the person’s own words especially with the style characteristic of the author and taking into account the context of the work. Even in the case of paraphrasing, it is necessary to indicate the author or source, as paraphrasing in general is the expression of another's opinion.
"Citation" is the use of another author's thoughts or views in one's own work by quoting unchanged words. In the case of citations, the cited text should be enclosed in quotation marks, or in bold, italics, and the source should be cited in accordance with university rules.
"Summary" involves an outline of the whole source, or a general idea of a part of that source, and the use of a reference to the relevant source in the paper.
Under the Georgian National University SEU scientific-research provisions, the minimum volume of the original text (without the use of quotations, paraphrases and text from other sources) used in the student or scientific research paper is set.
The minimum limit for the volume of the original text for student papers is:
60% for Bachelor's thesis, presentation, project;
75% for student article, essay, conference paper;
85% for Master’s thesis, project;
Student work failing to meet the requirements of this article will not be evaluated.
The minimum limit for the volume of the original text for scientific papers is:
90% for scientific articles
95% for scientific grant
A research paper failing to meet the requirements of this article will not be allowed in a relevant research project.
Overcoming this threshold does not preclude the university from prioritizing works with the original text of the volume allowed for the work that contains more original text in the volume.
