15th Thought: Plagiarism, an Act of Stealing

Every time our teachers or professors give us assignments, that deal with researching information, or maybe they assigned us to make a thesis, they always remind us to cite the sources where we got the information we used for such schoolwork. They would always say that we will commit plagiarism if we didn't cite them. We all know (or most of us know) that plagiarism is a form of cheating as defined by our school handbooks. But what is considered as plagiarism? How would we know if we committed plagiarism?


In experience and critical thought, I would define plagiarism as the act of duplicating some proses or parts of another person's work, using it on your work and claiming it as yours. Of course you wouldn't credit the source if you claim it as yours, right? In a simpler sense, it is the copy-and-paste action of most students. Not only it is a form of cheating but also a form of theft.


Plagiarism can be either deliberate or accidental. As what I understood in the photo below from William Laufer, deliberate plagiarism is intentionally doing the act while accidental is, well, unintentional. Let's say that deliberate plagiarism is being ignorant of the copyright laws while accidental plagiarism is when you cite sources or paraphrase incorrectly.

 

Experienced writers, skilled students, and professionals know which is a plagiarized work and which is not. Actually, anyone can determine which is which as long as that person is a keen observant to see these signs of plagiarism according to the staff writers of bestcollegesonline.com:

1. The writer suddenly sounds a lot smarter, a lot stupider or more professional than the first few paragraphs. Maybe if you really know the writing style of that person and it suddenly changed, it might not be their work.
2. A change in font style, type, face, size and color can be a sign of plagiarism as well as the sudden change in paragraph formatting in terms of line spacing. Nowadays, we know that discrepancies in line spacing and font type may be due to the versions of the word processing software. However, this sign could be a hint.
3. There may be stray hyperlinks in the text. They often come in blue font color and are underlined. Just a subtle sign though.
4. The writer has odd first person POV (point of view). For example, the writer is a mere student, then the sentence goes like this: "In my many years as a physician..." Like what in the world? Are you from the future?
5. Outdated information can raise a red flag... or maybe raise a boom of laughter. In the web article, the writers said that a passage with lines like "our current president, Bill Clinton" or something like that can be a sign of plagiarism. But they gave an assurance that maybe the writer's skills in researching are poor like... VERY poor.
6. Incorrect citations, mixed system of crediting sources, and missing quotation marks on quotes are sadly signs of plagiarism because the writer didn't cite the source correctly.
7. Missing references is also a bad sign. Make sure your references are of the same number in your bibliography and in your text.
8. The most dangerous sign of plagiarism is having search results on the internet when you put the line or sentence in doubt. This is why students like me are expected to paraphrase or summarize those related studies and pieces of literature.

There you have it, the summarized signs of plagiarism!
The article stated that works which are far from the given topic is also a sign. But I thought sometimes, writers get confused of the topic or don't understand the topic well.


Now let me share with you a short story about plagiarism. One of the most talked about plagiarism issues in the Philippines is the plagiarized photo shot that Mark Joseph Solis submitted for the 2nd Calidad Humana National Essay Photography Competition organized by the Embassy of Chile. Solis won the top prize, but was disqualified after it was discovered as a plagiarized work. Due to plagiarism, those who commit it have gained more embarrassment and disgrace than praise.


See? Plagiarism will bring you no good regardless of how grand or petty the situation or work is. We have copyright laws to obey and source crediting format to follow as writers. They are there to help us in our lives. Use them properly and efficiently! :)

 

Photo & Information Source/s:

Mark Joseph Solis news info: (I think it's a group article. No author indicated.) Copycat Nation: 10 High-Profile Plagiarism Cases in the Philippines. October 2010. http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/54502/copycat-nation-10-high-profile-plagiarism-cases-in-the-philippines?page=1

"What Is Plagiarism?" photo: Laufer, William. August 2014. http://www.npenn.org/Page/18238
The Top 10 Signs of Plagiarism Every Teacher Should Know. December 2012. http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/12/04/the-top-10-signs-of-plagiarism-every-teacher-should-know/
"Be Original and Don't Plagiarize" photo: http://library.alamancecc.edu/content.php?pid=451884&sid=3709870 borrowed from Etsy.com


*Oh look! Somehow-correct crediting of sources! XD