There are numerous ways of identifying academic dishonesty. Most teaching staff become very familiar with the material written in the specific discipline areas regardless of whether it is in books, journals, magazines or the internet. The following is a list of some of the most common mistakes students make, both intentional and unintentional.

1. Lack of referencing or quotations – look at long, well written passages that appear to have no reference or quotation marks.
2. Inconsistent writing style – papers that have taken material from a number of sources may contain a range of writing styles.
3. Use of language – you may notice a paper using language that seems inappropriate for that student's year level.
4. Unusual formatting – cut-and-paste from the internet often contains the formatting from the original source.
5. Mixing citation styles – for example, if you notice some citations in Harvard, some in APA and some in MLA.
6. Essay is off the topic – essays that have been prepared at the last minute can sometimes be off the topic as the student did not have time to understand the question.
7. Datedness – if the material used in a student's essay seems dated, they could be accessing old resources or they may be reusing an old past paper.
8. Repetition – papers that have been passed around or acquired by a number of students often have repeated themes, patterns and expressions.

Turnitin, a plagiarism detection tool, is also available for staff to use as one of the tools in managing academic integrity. For information on the use of Turnitin at UTAS see the Turnitin website.