Plagiarism in research
Last updated on 23/08/2021 0 By indiafreenotesPlagiarism means presenting someone else’s work as your own. In academic writing, plagiarizing involves using words, ideas, or information from a source without including a proper citation.
Plagiarism is the representation of another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one’s own original work. In educational contexts, there are differing definitions of plagiarism depending on the institution. Plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions such as penalties, suspension, expulsion from school or work, substantial fines and even incarceration. Recently, cases of “extreme plagiarism” have been identified in academia. The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe in the 18th century, particularly with the Romantic movement.
Generally, plagiarism is not in itself a crime, but like counterfeiting fraud can be punished in a court for prejudices caused by copyright infringement, violation of moral rights, or torts. In academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offense. Plagiarism and copyright infringement overlap to a considerable extent, but they are not equivalent concepts, and many types of plagiarism do not constitute copyright infringement, which is defined by copyright law and may be adjudicated by courts.
Plagiarism can have serious consequences for students and researchers, even when it’s done accidentally. To avoid plagiarism, it’s important to keep track of your sources and cite them correctly.
Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, and offenders are subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion. Some institutions use plagiarism detection software to uncover potential plagiarism and to deter students from plagiarizing. However, plagiarism detection software does not always yield accurate results and there are loopholes in these systems. Some universities address the issue of academic integrity by providing students with thorough orientations, required writing courses, and clearly articulated honor codes. Indeed, there is a virtually uniform understanding among college students that plagiarism is wrong. Nevertheless, each year students are brought before their institutions’ disciplinary boards on charges that they have misused sources in their schoolwork. However, the practice of plagiarizing by use of sufficient word substitutions to elude detection software, known as rogeting, has rapidly evolved as students and unethical academics seek to stay ahead of detection software.
An extreme form of plagiarism, known as “contract cheating”, involves students paying someone else, such as an essay mill, to do their work for them.
Academia
No universally adopted definition of academic plagiarism exists. However, this section provides several definitions to exemplify the most common characteristics of academic plagiarism. It has been called, “The use of ideas, concepts, words, or structures without appropriately acknowledging the source to benefit in a setting where originality is expected.”
This is an abridged version of Teddi Fishman’s definition of plagiarism, which proposed five elements characteristic of plagiarism. According to Fishman, plagiarism occurs when someone:
- Attributable to another identifiable person or source.
- Uses words, ideas, or work products.
- In a situation in which there is a legitimate expectation of original authorship.
- Without attributing the work to the source from which it was obtained
- In order to obtain some benefit, credit, or gain which need not be monetary.
Type:
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. Students must learn how to cite their sources and to take careful and accurate notes when doing research. Lack of intent does not absolve the student of responsibility for plagiarism. Cases of accidental plagiarism are taken as seriously as any other plagiarism and are subject to the same range of consequences as other types of plagiarism.
Self Plagiarism
Self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without permission from all professors involved. For example, it would be unacceptable to incorporate part of a term paper you wrote in high school into a paper assigned in a college course. Self-plagiarism also applies to submitting the same piece of work for assignments in different classes without previous permission from both professors.
Direct Plagiarism
Direct plagiarism is the word-for-word transcription of a section of someone else’s work, without attribution and without quotation marks. The deliberate plagiarism of someone else’s work is unethical, academically dishonest, and grounds for disciplinary actions, including expulsion.
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. Sometimes called “patch writing,” this kind of paraphrasing, whether intentional or not, is academically dishonest and punishable even if you footnote your source.
Avoiding plagiarism
- When you want to express an idea or information from a source, paraphrase or summarize it entirely in your own words.
- When you want to include an exact phrase, sentence or passage from a source, use a quotation.
- Always cite the source when you quote, paraphrase, or summarize.
Measures to overcome Plagiarism
Paraphrase your content
Do not copy–paste the text verbatim from the reference paper. Instead, restate the idea in your own words.
Use Quotations
Use quotes to indicate that the text has been taken from another paper. The quotes should be exactly the way they appear in the paper you take them from.
Cite your Sources
Identify what does and does not need to be cited.
Any words or ideas that are not your own but taken from another paper need to be cited.
Cite Your Own Material If you are using content from your previous paper, you must cite yourself. Using material you have published before without citation is called self-plagiarism.
Maintain records of the sources you refer to
Use multiple references for the background information/literature survey. For example, rather than referencing a review, the individual papers should be referred to and cited.
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