Plagiarism: Practices That Gainsay Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is the name given to the act of lifting words or phrases, excerpts or sentences from another person’s creative work and representing them as your own without acknowledging the original source. Even if you are extracting idea or concepts from another person and using it in your own work without proper citation, the act would be considered as plagiarism. Plagiarism is treated as a serious offence in the academic world. More than a legal offense, it is an ethical and a moral offense in many cases, challenging the academic integrity of practicing it. Certain instances of plagiarism do not come within the scope of copyright infringement which is mostly a legal offense.

An Offense That Cannot be Pardoned in Academia

Plagiarism is usually categorized on the basis of how it is practiced. It can be either intentional or accidental. No matter what is the root cause that prompted the practice, it is treated as an offense. In the academia, a plagiarism is irremissible. Irrespective of the degree of infraction and its nature, plagiarism breaches the intellectual property rights of the author.

A Troublemaker in the Academic World

Plagiarism has been troubling the academic for a long time. With the introduction and popularity of the internet, the plagiarists have become more active. The easy accessibility of the internet has turned the affair of the students who love to copy others easier. The tendency of plagiarism in students has led to negative consequences in the academic world. Professors now often complain about receiving assignments and research papers that are not appropriately cited or referenced. The worst are that ones that contain words, passages, or sentences from the writings of other people.

Various Forms of Content Duplication

One of the most popular forms of plagiarism is to acquire content from a paper that has already been submitted and published and passing it as one’s own. Other types of plagiarism include copy-pasting content without acknowledging the real author, and paraphrasing the concepts of another without referencing. Self-plagiarism is also an offense. When a person reuses one of his already published pieces without attributing the previously published writing, the act is referred to as self-plagiarism.

Why is it considered Serious?

If a student or an academician does not credit the source from which he or she has extracted and used content, he or she is guilty of intellectual fraud. If you are found to have intentionally copied from somebody else’s work, you may have to face serious penalties. Students, at times, copy accidentally and it is mostly because of the lack of academic skills, lack of experience and haphazard note taking.

Content Duplication and Copyright

Copyright does not safeguard information or ideas but protects only how they are expressed in journals, magazines, books, films, and images. It is infringed when a writer lifts excerpts from another person’s work without his permission. The Copyright Act, however, allows a writer to quote a couple of lines or a paragraph from a source. You just need to acknowledge the material that you use in your work.

Prepared using the https://plagiarismexamine.com/