The meaning of plagiarism in accordance with the Oxford Dictionary Online is “the practice of taking somebody else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own”. As such, it is a version of fraud and should be avoided as it is severely dealt with by educational institutions. This is the basic definition of plagiarism but there are a range of behaviours within creative work, literature and academic work which count as copied content. It is commonplace for students to plagiarise without realizing it, but misunderstanding is not justification, which means it is important for all students along with those who work within the academic and research spheres to familiarise themselves with the methods that establish plagiarism so that they may avoid it.
Students are expected to undertake research into the topic they are covering, incorporating reading extensively then creating assignments which are set by their teachers to demonstrate the students’ comprehension of the subject matter at hand. This will require citing authors they have read, paraphrasing those authors’ words and from time to time quoting authors to make points in the student’s project. It is therefore essential for students to learn how to appropriately reference other authors as they could be accused of plagiarism simply because they have not accurately acknowledged authors for the work they quote. For instance, some pupils reproduce another author’s efforts without realising that they are supposed to paraphrase and cite and give the authors credit, and assume that what they have done is within normal academic application.
Plagiarism can consequently result from inadequate working procedures by students or researchers who do not check their referencing style properly and quote other authors without giving credit to their words. It can also manifest when a pupil has duplicated work from another origin, such as another student, a publication or an internet resource, and put it into their own work as if it was written by themselves. This is more likely to be a deliberate fraud rather than a mistake. In some cases pupils will reword passages from these sources before attempting to present them as their own work, but this is still considered plagiarism if the rewording is not adequate and if the original author is not cited as a source.
Useful resources:
- http://www.plagiarismchecker.net/ – a free plagiarism checker with articles, resources and lesson plans on avoiding plagiarism.
- JISC – plagiarism resources and advice from the Joint Information Systems Committee.
- PlagiarismAdvice.org – JISC’s specific plagiarism advice website.
It is regarded as a form of cheating to plagiarise, as the student is trying to gain credit for something that is not their own work. This is why it is taken extremely seriously by schools, universities along with other educational associations. A lot of schools use computer applications which check through projects that are submitted electronically and compare them to past projects from other pupils, books and internet sources. The reports from these anti-plagiarism applications return a percentage match with sentences and paragraphs highlighted so that teachers can observe where the student may have duplicated work. It is expected that a few projects will find matches with others if they are created on the same topic, but a tutor will become suspicious if there are large portions of content that are almost indistinguishable to other sources and with no quotation marks or citations given to credit the initial writer. Often the tutor scoring an essay is not the same person as the teacher who gave a lecture on which the essay may be based. Subsequently it may be the case that pupils feel they can rely heavily on class notes without being found out, however when most of the presented assignments are practically identical, this becomes fairly evident to the marker.
One of the more difficult forms of plagiarism for schools to identify is when a pupil submits an essay that has been written by someone else. This counts as plagiarism under the classification of passing someone else’s work off as one’s own. Tutors may assume that the essay has not been written by the pupil who presented it if they have seen earlier work by this student and the style is totally different, or if the paper is very well crafted and the student has not displayed that amount of academic skill previously. This is hard to recognize though, if the assignment has not been produced elsewhere.
Plagiarism from a teacher’s position
There is currently plenty of information out there on the Web and in handouts from schools/colleges/universities, even on this website, regarding plagiarism. You know what it is: duplicating someone else’s work to benefit your own results without paraphrasing (re-writing in your own words so you can display your comprehension of the material). Also, you have been told about self-plagiarism: acquiring a previous piece of work and re-submitting it to your respective professor/lecturer, where you do not learn anything, period!
Yes, you have been born into a world of sophisticated Information Technology and spectacular consoles from some big-named brands/companies, but do remember that the Internet has only really been commercially available for the past 15 years or thereabouts. This means that a lot of people who are older than you are actually well-versed in the ways the Internet and indeed IT work.
Granted, not all of us know how to use IT or the Internet effortlessly, but plenty of people do. This is because we as educationalists have to make sure we are up-to-date with the current tech, otherwise we would be neglecting an integral part of the understanding and development using a very valuable resource.
This therefore means that plagiarism is something you are not able to get away with when it comes to the vast majority of IT-literate tutors/lecturers. I’ve had lots of students, this year alone, submit work that evidently is partly and in some instances totally, plagiarised.
Here’s why: your written material is personal to you. You write in a specific way and yes, you sometimes word sentences using incorrect grammar. So when the next paragraph is read and it is grammatically sound, reads like an excerpt from a 21-year-olds university assignment and in small cases, has a different font, it is not difficult to spot the difference.
When this happens it’s easy to initially pop that sentence into Google and let it do all the hard work. If it comes back with positive hits on the exact phraseology which leads to a site, which in turn leads to a passage sneakily alike to yours, then you’ve been found out.
Taking it a step further, your essay or dissertation can then be run through plagiarismchecker.net and examined for any more inconsistencies.
In today’s IT-orientated world you are not the only (young) people that know how to browse the Internet to locate something that fits in your essay, us tutors/lecturers here are just as well equipped. So be wary the next time you’re searching through the Web.
What is copyright?
Whenever individuals create poems, stories, reviews, novels, biographies or other written material regarded as intellectual property, it belongs to them and them only. The issue is how to defend such intellectual activities from those who may take advantage of such imaginative ventures for their own use without payment to the original writer. That is where copyright laws come in.
This set of laws shields the authors from plagiarism and so from those who would appropriate some or all of the unique work of a writer as if it were their own. Copyright laws give the author the right to use his/her works as they want to and this applies to movies, applications and architecture as well as written material. This means the writer can throw out, sell the work or permit certain publication rights to others. Copyright laws give the writer unique rights to profit from his creative works. This security permits authors to have the liberty to carry on and create, aware that their efforts are defended under national and international copyright laws.
Not all activities come within copyright protection. You cannot copyright a fact. Ideas, methods and systems also cannot be copyright protected. While facts and ideas can not, in and of themselves, be copyright, how they are displayed can be copyrighted, if the presentation is original to the author.
Once an author creates a story or essay or anything else, that piece of writing is immediately under copyright. No one has any legal right to use it without having the approval of the author. Unfortunately, without registering the copyright, the writer will have a more troublesome time verifying ownership should plagiarism arise. Not registering a copyright also affects any financial payment, which will be much less with an unregistered copyright.
While a registered copyright doesn’t last forever, it does protect the author’s interests. If the work was created after the laws changed in February 1, 1978, the protection lasts for the life of the writer plus 70 years. This grants his children or beneficiaries a chance to also profit from the copyrighted work. This copyright may not be renewed. Copyrights for works prior to 1978 varied depending on several factors. These copyrights can be renewed for 25 years with protections and are regulated under the 1909 copyright laws.
Once a copyright ends, there is no more recourse for the author or beneficiaries. At this point, the work comes into public domain. This means that the work can be printed, published or otherwise used for derivative works.
This article is based on US law.
What is the meaning of self plagiarism?
While plagiarism is the process of implementing the research or content of other individuals without attribution, self-plagiarism facilitates reusing one’s own work. In some communities, self plagiarism is a controversial concept. Some might argue that one cannot steal from one's self. Nevertheless, there are various cases in which reusing one’s own work is as improper as regular plagiarism. While self-plagiarism does not involve theft of intellectual property in the same manner that standard plagiarism does, the act of self-plagiarism does promote quite a few ethical issues in certain contexts. Largely, self-plagiarism becomes an issue when work is presented that should be original. This indicates, for instance, that most work printed in magazines or newspapers is probably not going to be regarded as self-plagiarized even when writers duplicate some of their own work. Self-plagiarism is principally an issue in academic environments.
Many schools have written regulations against students’ reuse of their work in different lessons, and turning in the same paper for two different lessons is typically not permitted. The demands of academia and the importance of publications for academics can result in another kind of self-plagiarism in which studies are recycled for a number of different reports. In response to this, some journals and organisations have created rules or ethical codes that condemn self-plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism is also a problem when the author no longer holds copyright to the material. In this instance, an author is breaking not just ethical but legal codes. Once a copyright belongs to another person or organization, writers are no longer allowed to use work as though it is their own.
However, there are numerous situations in which reusing one’s work is acceptable or even essential. Academics regularly build on previous work, and reference to that work is often unavoidable and even required. Academics may also cite themselves. Charges of self-plagiarism may be better deflected by conceding that the work is recycled although some have suggested that even this is unnecessary when one is writing for an entirely different audience of readers.
Eliminating self-plagiarism is most effectively achieved by stating the context in which the writing appears, the expectations of the audience and the guidelines encompassing the piece.
New tricks in plagiarism
Find out the emerging challenges in the world of plagiarism for Tutors.
Professors fight a constant battle with plagiarism, made worse by the expanding amount of information freely available on the Web at the click of a button. This ongoing struggle is experienced by producers of plagiarism checkers like plagiarismchecker.net, which are continually being designed to deal with new threats and strategies being used to cheat. It seems that those few pupils who can’t or do not want to submit their assignments honestly have always got a new trick up their sleeve to get around university plagiarism detection software. So what’s the most current trick to deceive plagiarism checkers such as plagiarismchecker.net and Turnitin?
Sly students have been taking essays written in another language, putting them through a free translator like Google Translate, and passing off the work as their own. This works especially well for foreign language pupils'’ coursework but could be applied to any subject as long as the student is wise enough to translate their search into their target language to begin with. Even though the free translators produce some fairly unusual translations, it’s simple enough for them to tidy up the results. Is this an issue plagiarism checkers can handle?
Languages don’t translate word for word to other languages – the word arrangement is usually rearranged from language-to-language. The scanner would also have to break-down the doc, translate it into however many languages are to be checked, and then run those scans against the web, as well as scanning for plagiarism in the document’s language. The process would be complicated and time consuming. The remedy for this definitely won’t be easy.
So what can be achieved to overcome this new type of cheating? Instead of attempting to identify plagiarism, maybe tutors should be looking at the root cause. Many pupils turn to cheating because they are not able to write their papers themselves. This might be for several different reasons. A common reason is that they are an international pupil who has been accepted onto a course for a higher course fee, and as such the entry requirements for that course have been relaxed or waived entirely. It is attractive for both the school and the Government to accept these students, as they invest more and bring more investments into the country. But there’s little or no extra support once they arrive – with universities or colleges typically stretched already in their resources and not able to provide additional teaching to support those students get past the language barrier.
Other pupils simply don’t have an understanding of their class and have difficulty, not knowing who to turn to. Lecturers are pushed for time and spread too thinly, and not able to give them the time they need to get by. Larger than predicted classes typically leave students hesitant to speak up when they are falling behind.
Where there’s no extra tuition presented, there is an extra cost in time, resources and priority to set up training support in the first place. So the bottom line is that some pupils aren’t supported as much as they need to be and it’s usually those students who turn to cheating. Should we concentrate on trying to identify these pupils? Or should we consider avoiding the issue by tackling it before they cheat? You decide.
Plagiarism by university pupils: the situation and some recommendations
The situation: Plagiarism, the use of other individuals content or ideas whilst not giving the proper recognition, is only one part of the basic problem of cheating. Anecdotal evidence together with a few studies show that student cheating is far more widespread than typically recognised. Although exams are believed to prevent cheating more than assignments, actually the rate of cheating on tests may be greater for any other examination method.)
The majority of cheating is undetected. For every single student found plagiarising, it is almost assured that many more plagiarisers avoid detection.
Reduction of plagiarism by detection and penalties requires a huge number of people and is ultimately impossible. One blog post recommends that, to discover plagiarism, each essay be reviewed 4 times. But this only helps to see repetition from printed sources. Duplication from other essays, or fake authorship of assignments, is rarely detectable or provable.
More to the point, the monitoring procedure for plagiarism is perhaps counterproductive. Pupils must be promoted to model themselves on the finest thinkers and, simultaneously, to think critically and originally. This is hardly possible if they are frequently being scrutinised for deliberate or inadvertent plagiarism.
Decreasing plagiarism
The suggestions here are designed not to ‘stamp out’ plagiarism but rather to create the type of educational situation where it is rare because both pupils and lecturers expect the highest principles in each other. The objective should be to develop a lifestyle of respect for quality work.
Discussion
There has to be much more explicit debate of what is meant by plagiarism and just what is suitable acknowledgment in particular situations. For example thorough examples in subject notes, discussion in lessons and articles in student magazines.
The vast majority of students do consider plagiarism very seriously. As stated by one investigation, the principal issues as far as pupils are concerned are "fairness to authors and other students, the responsibility of students to do independent work, and regard for ownership rights."
What is thought to be applicable recognition will depend on the subject matter and scenario. Attaching footnotes to a musical score is not a common method! Departments and, in some circumstances, even individual professors might need to create their own recommendations.
Lecturers and students must consider that the educational culture, with its acknowledgement of authorship, is at variance with many other aspects of society. Unacknowledged replicating is permitted by some class professors. Misrepresentation of authorship is popular practice among politicians, business executives and public sector staff, who seldom give suitable recognition to their speechwriters and junior employees.
Prevention: In many subjects, plagiarism can be moderated by effective design of essay questions, or student evaluation generally. For instance, essay questions can be presented which require the pupil to refer to current newspaper or magazine articles, use personal experiences, or make connections between theory and illustration not found in the literature. This prompts students to do their own work without the particular worry about plagiarism. By contrast, presenting long lists of potential essay topics, little updated from year to year, is a prescription for replicating from published sources and/or earlier essays.
Acknowledgement of partnership
In some subjects, students commonly interact on projects, and this may be a beneficial part of the educational system. If this is the case, it is far better to attract students to recognize their collaboration, for example by providing for group submissions in conjunction with signed declarations assigning recognition for work done.
Acknowledgement by lecturers
Academics can offer a good example for students by providing appropriate recognition for ideas in their classes and subject reports. When academics are more explicit about the source for example, concerns or approaches, this also helps pupils build a better understanding of the position of their teachers in the progress and interaction of information.
Learning by resubmission: Most pupils who copy from published sources do not understand that it's improper. However, most pupils understand that having another pupil write their essay is wrong. When professors deduct marks or fail an assignment because of plagiarism, the pupil is penalised but won't know how to do it correctly.
An alternate method is to allow, in some situations, resubmission with no penalty. Under this approach, papers containing plagiarism can be re-written with the only changes being acceptable quotation marks, footnotes, etc. The amended submission would then be marked by the original standard. In this way, the student gains expertise in giving correct acknowledgements. Needless to say, a paper that is entirely plagiarised would, on resubmission, be entirely made up of quotes, and would obtain little credit!
A sense of perspective
Plagiarism is often viewed as a mortal sin. Believed to occur only occasionally and warranting the most drastic punishment when discovered. The reality is different: plagiarism in moderate forms is common. Plagiarism has to be recognized as a basic problem of learning how to apply acknowledgments in the fashion required in an academic environment. The main consideration should be on teaching, not penalties for misunderstanding.