Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

 This blog is about Thinking Activity on. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity. This task is assigned by  Megha ma'am of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji  Bhavnagar University (MKBU). As a part of the syllabus, students of English department are learning the paper called Research Methodology.

Plagiarism 

1. What is Plagiarism and what are its consequences?

👉DEFINITION OF PLAGIARISM

Derived from the Latin word plagiarius ("kidnapper"), to plagiarize means "to commit literary theft" and to "present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source" (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Plagiarism involves two kinds of wrongs, using another person's ideas, informat on, or expressions without acknowledging that person's work constitutes intellectual theft. Passing off another person's ideas, information, or expressions as your own to get a better grade or gain some other advantage Constitutes fraud Plagiarism is sometimes a moral and ethical offense rather than a legal one since some instances of plagiarism fall outside the scope of copyright infringement, a legal offense.

CONSEQUENCES OF PLAGIARISM

A complex society that depends on well-informed citizens strives to maintain high standards of quality and reliability for documents that are publicly circulated and used in government, business, industry. the professions, higher education, and the media. Because research has the power to affect opinions and actions, responsible writers compose their work with great care. They specify when they refer to another author's ideas, facts, and words, whether they want to agree with, object to, or analyze the source. This kind of documentation not only recognizes the work writers do, it also tends to discourage the circulation of error, by inviting readers to determine for themselves whether a reference to another text presents a reasonable account of what that text says Plagiarists undermine these important public values. Once detected, plagiarism in a work provokes skepticism and ave outrage among readers, whose trust in the author has been broken.

 The charge of plagiarism is a serious one for all writers. Plagiarists are often seen as incompetent-incapable of developing and expressing their own thoughts-or, worse, dishonest, willing to deceive others for personal gain. When professional writers, such as journalists, are exposed as plagiarists, they are likely to lose their jobs, and they are certain to suffer public embarrassment and loss of prestige. Almost always, the course of a writer's career is permanently affected by a single act of plagiarism. The serious consequences of plagiarism reflect the value the public places on trustworthy information.

Students exposed as plagiarists may suffer severe penalties, ranging from failure in the assignment or in the course to expulsion from school. This is because student plagiarism does considerable harm For one thing, it damages teachers' relationships with students, turn- ing teachers into detectives instead of mentors and fostering suspicion instead of trust. By undermining institutional standards for assigning grades and awarding degrees, student plagiarism also becomes a mat- ter of significance to the public. When graduates' skills and knowl- edge fail to match their grades, an institution's reputation is damaged. For example, no one would choose to be treated by a physician who obtained a medical degree by fraud. Finally, students who plagiarize harm themselves. They lose an important opportunity to learn how to write a research paper. Knowing how to collect and analyze infor mation and reshape it in essay form is essential to academic success This knowledge is also required in a wide range of careers in law, journalism, engineering, public policy, teaching, business, govern- mont, and not -for-profit organizations.

Plagiarism betrays the personal element in writing as well. Discussing the history of copyright. Mark Rose notes the tie between our writing and our sense of self-a tie that. he believes, influenced the idea that a piece of writing could belong to the person who wrote it. Rose says that our sense of ownership of the words we write "is deeply rooted in our conception of ourselves as individuals with at least a modest grade of singularity, some degree of personality" Gaining skill as a writer opens the door to learning more about yourself and to developing a personal voice and approach in your writing. It is essential for all student writers to understand how to avoid committing plagiarism.

2. Forms of Plagiarism ?

The most blatant form of plagiarism is to obtain and submit as your own a paper written by someone else. Other, less conspicuous forms of plagiarism include the failure to give appropriate acknowledgment when repeating or paraphrasing another's wording, when taking a particularly apt phrase, and when paraphrasing another's argument or presenting another's line of thinking.

Repeating or Paraphrasing Wording

Suppose, for example, that you want to use the material in the following passage, which appears on page 625 of an essay by Wendy Martin in the book Columbia Literary History of the United States.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Some of Dickinson's most powerful poems express her firmly held conviction that life cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of death.

If you write the following sentence without documentation, you have plagiarized because you borrowed another's wording without acknowledgment, even though you changed its form:

PLAGIARISM

Emily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death.

But you may present the material if you cite your source: 

As Wendy Martin has suggested, Emily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death.

The source is indicated, in accordance with MLA style, by the name of the and by a page reference in parentheses, preferably at the end of the sentence. The name refers the reader to the corresponding entry in the works-cited list, which appears at the end of the paper

Martin, Wendy "Emily Dickinson Columbia Literary History of the United Stores Emory Elliott, gen. ed. New York, Columbia UP 1988. 609-26 Print

Taking a Particularly Apt Phrase

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Everyone uses the word language and everybody these days talks about culture... "Languaculture" is a reminder. I hope, of the necessary connection between its two parts. (Michael Agar, Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation.

 If you write the following sentence without documentation, you have committed plagiarism because you borrowed without acknowledgment a term ("langusculture") invented by another writer

PLACIARISM

At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that we might call" languaculture."

But you may present the material if you cite your source:

At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that Michael Agar has called "languaculture".

In this revision, the author's name refers the reader to the full description of the work in the works-cited list at the end of the paper, and the parenthetical documentation identifies the location of the borrowed material in the work

Agar, Michael Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation, New York: Morrow, 1994. Print.

Paraphrasing an Argument or Presenting a Line of Thinking

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Humanity faces a quantum leap forward. It faces the deepest so- cial upheaval and creative restructuring of all time. Without clearly recognizing it, we are engaged in building a remarkable civilization from the ground up. This is the meaning of the Third Wave Until now the human race has undergone two great waves of change, each one largely obliterating earlier cultures or civilizations and replacing them with the ways of life inconceivable to those who came before. The First Wave of change-the agricultural revolution-took thousands of years to play itself out. The Second Wave-the rise of industrial civilization-took a mere hundred years Today history is even more accelerative, and it is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across history and complete itself in a few decades. If you write the following sentence without documentation, you have committed plagiarism because you borrowed another writer's line of thinking without acknowledgment:

PLAGIARISM

There have been two revolutionary periods of change in history: the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. The agricultural revolution determined the course of history for thousands of years; the industrial civilization lasted about a century. We are now on the threshold of a new period of revolutionary change, but this one may last for only a few decades.

But you may present the material if you cite your source:

According to Alvin Toffler, there have been two revolutionary periods of change in history: the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. The agricultural revolution determined the course of history for thousands of years; the industrial civilization lasted about a century. We are now on the threshold of a new period of revolutionary change, but this one may last for only a few decades.

In this revision, the author's name refers the reader to the full description of the work in the works-cited list at the end of the paper, and the parenthetical documentation identifies the location of the borrowed material in the work.

Toffler, Alvin. The Third Wave. 1980. New York Bantam, 1981. Print