Plagiarism isn’t it such a savvy word to hear, but there’s more to the word believe me. I know everyone wants to be original, Right? It’s an Ego booster if you are recognized as trend setter, making things unique and extraordinaire at the same time.
Well, getting to know what Plagiarism is; is indeed a big head start. Firstly, we need to know what it really means and its synonyms. We need to be aware on how this happen.
Plagiarism – [1] noun, a Breach of copyright, illegal use, Bootlegging, Copy, Stealing, Piracy, Fraud, Theft, Imitation, Deception and Copying are some of the similar terms of Plagiarism.
Some synonyms of Plagiarism maybe often use at School, so the first way to stop plagiarism is to teach children the crime of “Plagiarizing”. Plagiarism was actually introduced to me when I was in College. So during High School I don’t even have the slightest idea that I’m already committing a crime. I’ll just add information from Books and some other reading material to my homework or even with research papers and Yes, honestly copying someone else’s homework or take-home-quizzes in High School is already a crime. But nevertheless not knowing is not an excuse, being ignorant will not save you at all.
Here are some facts about Plagiarism. [2] Plagiarism means using other people’s word or ideas as if they were your own. To Gorrell, Plagiarism is a violation of implicit contract between the writer and the reader that everything written under the writer’s name was written by the writer. (The Little Brown Workbook, p.624)
Plagiarism is committed whenever the source is used in anyway without indicating that has been used. Anything taken from the works of others even a phrase, a summary, a paraphrase or direct quotation should be set off from your text. Use quotation marks to indicate that the lines cited are adapted from the works of others. The source of the borrowed materials should be acknowledged. Plagiarism is a serious offense often committed by researchers in most schools.
There are ways of plagiarizing the source.
1. 1. Word-for-word continuous copying without quotation marks or mention of author’s name.
2. 2, Copying many words and phrases without quotation marks or mention of author’s name.
3. 3. Copying the occasional key word or phrase without quotation marks or mention of author’s name.
4. 4. Paraphrasing without mention of author’s name.
5. 5. Taking the author’s idea without acknowledging the source.
[3] Avoiding Plagiarism
1. 1 .If you use someone else’s work you should acknowledge the source.
2. 2. If you quoted someone else’s work it should be exact and use quotation marks to identify the borrowed information.
3. 3. Use your own words when summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s work and use quotation mark if you used the author’s exact words.
4. 4. Do not forget to include all the sources you have drawn out in writing your topic.
5. 5. The source citations should be accurate and complete.
Personally, I have committed and been a victim of Plagiarism at the same time. Committing the crime is really nothing in the inside, no guilt thingy or whatever, but when I was victimized I felt very frustrated and made me really upset. Then it made me realize the feeling; what it really feels like for those people who had been a victim like me and committing such crime made me think twice of doing it again and I told myself that I will be original in my own way and if I need to use other people’s work I will definitely credit them. And this article is one of my starters but that doesn’t mean that my articles on this blog are not original for they are my original verses.
[1] Source: “Plagiarism” as per Microsoft Office Thesaurus: English (U.S.)
[2] Source: Arsenia Sison Allam, “Things to Know About Plagiarism” Writing Skills in the Discipline, p. 116 (James A.W. Hefferman, Writing a College Handbook)
[3] Source: Arsenia Sison Allam, Writing Skills in the Discipline, p. 117 (Donna Gorrell, Little Brown Book)
Originally Written December 31, 2010 to January 02, 2010. By Patrick B. Mendoza™
