In her article Molly McHarg makes several points that I agree with, particularly that for the majority of students the plagiarism is not deliberate but is due to a lack of understanding of how to reference correctly.

I like her approach to citation as a celebration which focuses on the positive points and reasons why students should reference. I think that most students would not want anyone else to use their work without acknowledgement.

At the University of Bedfordshire there is a policy in place to address all forms of academic offence, not just plagiarism. However, in dealing with plagiarism the policy does differentiate between the seriousness of the plagiarism that has occurred. For students early in their studies where the issue is a first offence, these students will be given guidance to show them how to ensure that they are able to reference correctly and therefore avoid plagiarism. It is important that these issues are picked up and addressed early, because not doing so could mean that a student is not aware of the problem until it is picked up later in their studies, possibly at the time of submitting their project where the issue is likely to be greater and to be seen as a more serious offence. The excuse that 'It is a first offence, all my other work has been referenced correctly' is not really acceptable, as if a student has shown a capability of referencing correctly in previous work, there is no reason why they should then plagiarise, as they have shown an understanding of how to reference.