What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when another's work is taken over in part or in whole without indicating the source and identifying the author. This also includes when the text was not written by the author, but was created by others or software programs.

Possible forms of plagiarism

• "Ghostwriter plagiarism", if the text was written by another person (on behalf of), but is submitted under one's own name.
• Full plagiarism, copying another scientific text from which you claim yourself as the author*.
• Self-plagiarism, submitting a paper (or parts of it) for multiple performance verifications.
• Translation plagiarism, passing off translated foreign-language texts or parts of foreign-language texts as your own text without citing the source.
• Copy and pasteplagiarism, the insertion of text excerpts from (scientific) texts without identifying the source with a citation. This also includes downloading and using parts of text from the Internet without citing the source.
• AI plagiarism, the use of software-supported text programs (e.g. chatGPT) to create the text, or parts of the text.

Checking plagiarism

At the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, the framework regulations (§ 20 para. 4) state:

If the student attempts to influence the result of his or her examination by deception or the use of unauthorized aids, if he or she participates in a deception or disturbs the orderly course of the examination, or if, for the purpose of deliberate deception, the intellectual property of others is infringed or published material of third parties is used without indication of the sources or the authorship and is considered to be the student's own work. If, for the purpose of deliberate deception, he or she violates the intellectual property of others or uses published material of third parties without indicating the sources or authorship and submits it as his or her own performance (plagiarism), the performance in question will be graded as 'not sufficient' (5.0) and the examiner may exclude the candidate from continuing the examination. In serious cases or in the case of repetition, the responsible examination board decides on the loss of the examination entitlement.

The statutes for ensuring good scientific practice at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg (GWPS BTU) of March 2, 2018 must be observed by scientists and students alike.

For checking plagiarism we use Turnitin, a software for plagiarism detection (also for AI detection). At https://www.b-tu.de/it-services/basisdienste/software/lizenzvertraege/turnitin you can download the Turnitin software for free to check your work for plagiarism before submitting it.

Standardized process for submitting written work.

• Written work is submitted via Moodle as well as uploaded to Turnitin for plagiarism checking. Access will be provided through Moodle.
• If there is a high percentage of plagiarism (after re-eye checking), the paper will be considered failed.
• If there is a high probability of AI, the paper will also be considered failed.
• In exceptional cases, there is a chance for revision.
• In severe cases, a report will be made to the examination board/director of studies.