Past student work is a useful study aid that can be used in conjunction with the more traditional methods of student education such as learning from: past research, theses publications, and assessment exemplars provided by lecturers and tutors. Thinkswap builds on the concept of learning from past work by facilitating a platform where students can learn from their peers by actively sharing and building from past content that other students have created.
It is important to understand that when you use a resource from Thinkswap, you are dealing with the prior work of another student. Thinkswap does not permit cheating or academic dishonesty on our platform and all users must respect the authors who make work public by ensuring that work is used and referenced appropriately.
Using Thinkswap Resources Correctly
Below is a list of what is acceptable and not acceptable when using the prior work of others. This list is non exhaustive and we recommend you familiarise yourself on how to correctly use and reference sources. If still unsure, please seek guidance from your lecturer or teacher.
Acceptable
- Using the work and ideas of others to reach your own conclusion and referencing the sources correctly.
- Expressing an idea in your owns words and referencing the source.
- Observing the way another student has structured their arguments or answered a question.
- Referencing a diagram or paragraph from another persons work and giving proper credit.
Not Acceptable
- Presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own
- Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their order, or by closely following the structure of their argument and presenting this work as your own.
- Quoting word for word from another’s work without clear acknowledgement.
- Failing to acknowledge the sources you use to produce your work.
- Inaccurate referencing/citation of another’s work.
Remember, plagiarism and passing off the work of others is a serious academic offence. All work on Thinkswap has intentionally been passed through plagiarism detection tools, and copying from this work will be detected.
To learn more about the different ways Thinkswap ensures work on the platform is used correctly, see Thinkswap and academic integrity