Plagiarism is using other people’s work in your report without acknowledging the fact that you are using it. It is most likely to occur in writing the literature survey, as this will be based on material that you have read.

First of all, here is a tip for avoiding plagiarism. When you are actually writing a chapter, have none of the sources you are using open in front of you. Read the source material first, assimilate it, and write the description in your own words. In this way, the text you write will really be your own understanding of the area. Do provide references to your source material as well. See here for further advice.

The University deals very firmly with instances of plagiarism, so please be very careful in this regard. It is also naive to plagiarise in a field when your supervisor is likely to be very familiar with the source material themselves.

Partly why this is so important is that many students who plagiarise do so without realising what a serious issue it is, or what the consequences will be if it is discovered. Please be extremely wary of how you treat source material in your project report.