Often times, you see situations ironical in their very nature. A few days ago, I came across a news on internet in which a student was found guilty of plagiarism. The irony is that this student was involved in this illegal activity while writing his law essay. How ironical that you are preaching about the consequences of committing actions prohibited within a society in your law essay and found guilty of plagiarism yourself.
Plagiarism is the theft of other people’s works, ideas and research and presenting it as your own. This is considered a serious academic offence. Most students are seen confused about the phenomenon and they ask everyone what exactly plagiarism is. They have a lot of questions about this immoral activity.
This is the exact reason why this article is written. Today, I am going to answer the questions that are often heard about plagiarism.
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of stealing other people’s ideas, publications, language, expressions or thoughts and presenting them as your own. It is a widely discussed phenomenon in academia as it is considered a serious academic offence.
However, this is not the only way you can plagiarize in your work. You are guilty of plagiarizing as well if you forget to add quotation marks while presenting someone else’s words.
Similarly, if you fail to provide proper references to the works of others used by yourself in a written piece of paper, the very act is also considered as plagiarism.
And finally, the subtlest form of plagiarism is paraphrasing others’ works by only changing a few words so that it looks identical to the original work. Plagiarism can either be intentional or unintentional, but in both cases it has consequences.
What happens when I Plagiarize Unintentionally?
Unintentional plagiarism is when you fail to cite the original source properly. You are always required to properly refer the works to their authors to avoid plagiarism. However if you fail to do so properly, for example you did not give the in-text reference but included it in the Work Cited list, it can be dealt with a little leniency by your organization.
Especially if you are a first year student in your university, the professor might be forgiving and you may get away with it. But in a PhD dissertation, even an unintentional plagiarism can lead to the failure of course.
Similarly, an unintentional plagiarism in a paper written for publication purposes is considered an offence. And you may face severe consequences for making this mistake.
How will my Professor know if I intentionally plagiarize?
Some students think that they are smart enough to deceive their teachers without getting caught. However, this assumption is often wrong as your professors have a vast experience. You can easily get caught if you try to plagiarize intentionally.
First of all, if you are at the early level of your academics, let us suppose, a first year student, your writing style is going to be distinctive from the source you are going to copy from. An experienced professor can instantly find the difference between a paper written by a first year student and a scholar.
Secondly, professors read a lot of papers in their lives. Remember that they have read most of the works published till today. So when you copy paste someone else’s work, there is a fair chance that they will know it readily.
And finally, we are living in the age of science and technology. There are a number of software and websites that can easily detect plagiarizing. And your professor might use any one of them to check whether you have written it by yourself or not.
How can I actually avoid Plagiarism?
If you want your paper or essay to be completely plagiarism free, always make sure that you have cited all the sources you used for research. Make a list of all the books, websites, articles etc. and cite them according to the regulations followed in your institute.
However, sometimes you are confused about something if it is a common knowledge or not. In this case, you should cite the source because it is better that you cite than plagiarize.
Can I be thrown into Prison for Plagiarizing?
Just like any other theft, academic theft is also a crime for sure. Stealing other’s intellectual property is not different from stealing a concrete property. It is an offence no less than any other act that deserves punishment.
However, it you are caught plagiarizing in class, you might fail the course, thrown out of the class or get expelled from the college. But you will not be thrown into jail for this.
Outside of classroom, plagiarizing in papers, meant to be published publicly, can have more serious consequences. You can be sued into a federal court by the original publisher or author for violating the copyright acts. Or it could mean the loss of your job and your career will be jeopardize with a bad reputation.
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