Issues Surrounding Plagiarism
‘Evaluate and discuss the issues surrounding Plagiarism.’
This essay will look at the issues surrounding plagiarism, it will look at what plagiarism is, the different way in which it can be done either intentionally or unintentionally, the risks that are taken when somebody decides to plagiarise something, the ethics why plagiarism should not take place and the ways in which plagiarism can be avoided.
The Collins English Dictionary defines Plagiarism as ‘Copying ideas or passages from someone else’s work and pretending it is your own’ (2008)
Plagiarism can be done in many ways it can be done intentionally and unintentionally in such ways as taking your work directly from sources such as books, journals, internet sites without referencing …show more content…
and citing correctly or not referencing at all. This could be done by the writer making too many quotes or paraphrasing too much within an essay, with not enough of their own words included. It could also be the essay writer taking a full essay and claiming it as their own work, asking or paying another person to write it for them and claiming it as their own. Copying the work of another student fully or partly doing the same course.
By plagiarising others work you are not showing your own views, opinions, beliefs or knowledge of a subject, but showing it only of the person/source you have plagiarised from.
This is unethical practice. You run the risk of being caught out as most educational institutions use software such as Turnitin which uses pattern recognition procedures to rapidly search for possible plagiarism in student’s essays. (Turnitin, 2012.) Being caught may result in the academic institution setting penalties such as loss of some marks or all marks for the essay, failure of your full or part of the course and expulsion from the institution. Plagiarising somebody else’s work does not show you have fully understood the information you have been set out to learn. It can also jeopardise your future within the establishment you are studying. (Oxford University, 2013) Copyright laws may be being broken if an author claims definite rights to a piece of work, and does not allow it to be used without prior consent, this may lead to the author being able to file legal claim in cases of plagiarism (copyrightservice, …show more content…
2013).
It is key to make sure any information you have gained from any source may it be the internet, newspapers, books or journals that it is referenced correctly.
If paraphrasing make sure it is not to closely phrased to the original source, as McMillan and Weyers say it may still be classed as plagiarism if it is just taking important parts from a source and simply moving words or changing key words with synonyms. (2006). Try not to over use quotes or references from other sources, an essay should not be made up of mainly other people’s words but of your own.
In conclusion it is best to avoid plagiarism at all costs, it goes against ethical practices to deliberately copy work from others, it is better to give recognition to the original author for their concepts and ideas. It also shows that the topic has been fully understood if it is written in authors own words, rather than the words of
others.
References
Anderson, S. Gilmour, L. Kerr, I. Lilly, C. (ed) (2008) Collins English Dictionary, Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2006) The Smarter Student, Harlow: Pearson Custom Publishing
The University of Oxford, (2013) What is plagiarism? Why should you avoid plagiarism?, Available from: [http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/goodpractice/about/]
The UK Copyright Service, (2013) Summary of intellectual property rights, Available from: [https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property]
Turnitin UK, (2012) Overview, Reduce Plagiarism, Available from: [http://submit.ac.uk/en_gb/features/overview]
This essay will look at the issues surrounding plagiarism, it will look at what plagiarism is, the different way in which it can be done either intentionally or unintentionally, the risks that are taken when somebody decides to plagiarise something, the ethics why plagiarism should not take place and the ways in which plagiarism can be avoided.
The Collins English Dictionary defines Plagiarism as ‘Copying ideas or passages from someone else’s work and pretending it is your own’ (2008)
Plagiarism can be done in many ways it can be done intentionally and unintentionally in such ways as taking your work directly from sources such as books, journals, internet sites without referencing …show more content…
and citing correctly or not referencing at all. This could be done by the writer making too many quotes or paraphrasing too much within an essay, with not enough of their own words included. It could also be the essay writer taking a full essay and claiming it as their own work, asking or paying another person to write it for them and claiming it as their own. Copying the work of another student fully or partly doing the same course.
By plagiarising others work you are not showing your own views, opinions, beliefs or knowledge of a subject, but showing it only of the person/source you have plagiarised from.
This is unethical practice. You run the risk of being caught out as most educational institutions use software such as Turnitin which uses pattern recognition procedures to rapidly search for possible plagiarism in student’s essays. (Turnitin, 2012.) Being caught may result in the academic institution setting penalties such as loss of some marks or all marks for the essay, failure of your full or part of the course and expulsion from the institution. Plagiarising somebody else’s work does not show you have fully understood the information you have been set out to learn. It can also jeopardise your future within the establishment you are studying. (Oxford University, 2013) Copyright laws may be being broken if an author claims definite rights to a piece of work, and does not allow it to be used without prior consent, this may lead to the author being able to file legal claim in cases of plagiarism (copyrightservice, …show more content…
2013).
It is key to make sure any information you have gained from any source may it be the internet, newspapers, books or journals that it is referenced correctly.
If paraphrasing make sure it is not to closely phrased to the original source, as McMillan and Weyers say it may still be classed as plagiarism if it is just taking important parts from a source and simply moving words or changing key words with synonyms. (2006). Try not to over use quotes or references from other sources, an essay should not be made up of mainly other people’s words but of your own.
In conclusion it is best to avoid plagiarism at all costs, it goes against ethical practices to deliberately copy work from others, it is better to give recognition to the original author for their concepts and ideas. It also shows that the topic has been fully understood if it is written in authors own words, rather than the words of
others.
References
Anderson, S. Gilmour, L. Kerr, I. Lilly, C. (ed) (2008) Collins English Dictionary, Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2006) The Smarter Student, Harlow: Pearson Custom Publishing
The University of Oxford, (2013) What is plagiarism? Why should you avoid plagiarism?, Available from: [http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/goodpractice/about/]
The UK Copyright Service, (2013) Summary of intellectual property rights, Available from: [https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property]
Turnitin UK, (2012) Overview, Reduce Plagiarism, Available from: [http://submit.ac.uk/en_gb/features/overview]