Plagiarism

 

Ms. Sonali Sangrulkar

 

ABSTRACT:

Some 25 years ago, plagiarism was considered an act of hard work. Simply one has to find sources in the library copy them and stamp it as their own. Plagiarism is an incredibly easy and time saver task. As a result there is an increasing demand to solve academic problems among students. But still there may be other reasons too. In short, battling with plagiarism is not easy, the only way out is to make it more difficult. More emphasis has to be put on making it harder to plagiarize and minimizing the gains one gets from cheating.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The word plagiarism is derived from the Latin word plagiare, which means to kidnap or abduct. The word began to be used in the English language in 1600 AD.¹

 

DEFINITION:

The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

(Oxford dictionary)

 

TYPES OF PLAGIARISM:

Direct Plagiarism

Direct plagiarism is the word-for-word transcription of a section of someone else’s work, without attribution and without quotation marks.

 

Self Plagiarism:

Self-plagiarism occurs when someone submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without permission from all professionals involved.

 

 

Mosaic Plagiarism:

Mosaic Plagiarism occurs when a student borrows phrases from a source without using quotation marks, or finds synonyms for the author’s language while keeping to the same general structure and meaning of the original. This act is called as “Patch writing”.

 

Accidental Plagiarism:

Accidental plagiarism occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groups of words, and/or sentence structure without attribution.²

 

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

·         Turning in someone else's work as your own

·         Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

·         Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

·         Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

·         Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

·         Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.³

 

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM:

1.     Do not cut and paste information into your document.

2.     Understand what constitutes plagiarism.

3.     Learn what does not constitute plagiarism.

4.     Check out the rules regarding copyright.

5.     Learn how to properly cite references.

6.     Learn how to paraphrase.

7.     Review the work again and again.

8.     Do not wait until the last minute.

9.     Express original ideas.⁴

 

Seven steps for successful Paraphrasing:

1.     Read the original a few minutes.

2.     Put the original passage aside – don’t look at it.

3.     Take some notes on the main ideas from memory.

4.     Write your paraphrase–try rearranging ideas in a different order.

5.     Check your paraphrase with the original.

6.     If there are any phrases that are identical to phrases from original, either rephrase or put quotation marks around them.

7.     Cite your source according to the citation style you are required to use.

(APA- American Psychological Association)

 

LEGAL ASPECT:

Although plagiarism in some contexts is considered theft or stealing, the concept does not exist in a legal sense. "Plagiarism" specifically is not mentioned in any current statute.  

 

Plagiarism is not the same as copyright while both terms may apply to a particular act.  Plagiarism, in contrast, is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author's reputation, or the obtaining of academic credit, that is achieved through false claims of authorship. Thus, plagiarism is considered a moral offense against the plagiarist's audience.⁵

 

REFERENCES:

1.      https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Whats-the-origin-of-the-word plagiarism/articleshow/1519035.cms.

2.      https://www.bowdoin.edu/studentaffairs/academic-honesty/common-types.shtml

3.      http://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

4.      https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+prevent+plagiarism&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxxYm6sc7bAhUKs48KHUd5Cq4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=afRi3mmxVuQ1fM

5.      Ralph D Mawdsley. Legal aspects of plagiarism, National Organization on Legal Problems of Education, 1985

 

 

 

Received on 13.06.2018         Modified on 16.07.2018

Accepted on 03.08.2018       ©A&V Publications All right reserved