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CHAPTER 5: PLAGIARISM

Postgraduate candidate of the Universiti Malaya are expected to produce original academic
work. Plagiarism is defined as an academic fraud arising from the attitude of lying, insincerity,
untrustworthiness, dishonesty and disrespect to fellow colleagues. Plagiarism happens when
someone else’s idea is taken without mentioning the source, and thus giving the impression
that the idea is his own. This situation may occur when:

(1) one’s idea, taken word for word from an article or book that has been published.

(2) The idea of a person from an article or book is taken using his own words.

(3) A person’s idea is taken from discussions whether in conferences, seminars, forums, talks
or informal discussions between two parties.

(4) Data, diagrams, tables, photographs or any other illustrative material derived from others is
taken as if it were his own.

Postgraduate candidates are strongly advised to read the “How to Avoid Plagiarism: A
Handbook for Postgraduate Students”, which outlines the rules and regulations pertaining to
acts of plagiarism.

The University also requires the usage of Turnitin, an online web-based plagiarism detection
application to avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty. In most cases, the similarity index
percentage should be between 10% to 30%. Please refer to your respective faculty regarding
the acceptable similarity index percentage.

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