Avoiding Plagiarism Essay
Cheryl Cassagne
California Intercontinental University
GRC 600: Doctoral Academic Study and Writing
Professor Nigel Basta
March 25, 2018
Introduction
Plagiarism in the academic setting has been an issue in today’s world. As the internet and technology have increased, the ability to commit fraud has increased. Although fraud is not a legal issue, it is an ethical moral issue within education and organizations. What is plagiarism exactly? It is the act of stealing the words or ideas of another writer. The word plagiarism derived from the Latin words for the kidnapper. Even though plagiarism is not always willful or intentional, it is easy to commit it accidentally. Regardless of the intentions, it carries serious academic consequences and legal penalties if the work was copy written. Therefore, the best way to avoid these issues is to learn virtuous research techniques.
The first step is to learn how one commits accidental plagiarism. Illiteracy of copyright laws, disordered research, inaccuracy, and alacrity are not acceptable justifications when an instructor realizes accidental plagiarism. For one to avoid it, one must understand what exactly it is. Some of the examples mentioned will help an individual realize accidental plagiarism. When writing an essay and you do not use a bibliography or reference list. If you are using a direct quote, and do not use quotation marks indicating these are the exact words of another writer. Should you decide to paraphrase, and the text is extremely like the original text and did not use quotations marks as well. Always provide the reference for each summary or paraphrase of another writer. If you copy and paste sections from an electronic source into your own document, you must document the original source or that is plagiarism. Falsification and fabrication of sources and distortion of data are considered fraud, not plagiarism. Even submitting someone’s work for your own such as purchasing from an online paper service are considered fraud and is far worse than plagiarizing.
Once you comprehend how accidental plagiarism occurs, the next step is avoiding it with certain strategies. A technique that can help you is the ability of correctly integrating quotes and references into your own writing. The accuracy of paraphrasing, summarizing, and then remembering to attribute its original source. The method of paraphrasing which commonly used as a requirement to support your arguments but citing the original source is always required. When conducting research, it is imperative to take good notes so that you can understand the material. If you are using electronic sources, you should print it out so that you can copy small sections directly to your draft. The reference or bibliography should be meticulous in the sense that you included the books, journals, electronic documents; websites you utilized along with identifying the page numbers and publisher, and URLs. If teamwork is assigned, all individuals have the responsibility in thoroughly checking the work and if it is not, everyone is accountable.
What happens when someone commits plagiarism? If a student has allegations, they can be suspended or expelled. This can affect their academic records from entering from high school and being admitted into a college or another college. “Schools, colleges, and universities take plagiarism very seriously. Most educational institutions have academic integrity committees who police students. Many schools suspend students for their first violation. Students are usually expelled for further offenses.” (ithenticate.com). A professional businessperson can have their professional reputation destroyed. This can follow their entire career. If found guilty, they can be asked to step down or be fired which would tarnish their name for future careers. “The consequences of plagiarism have been widely reported in the world of academia. Once scarred with plagiarism allegations, an academic’s career can be ruined. Publishing is an integral part of a prestigious academic career. To lose the ability to publish most likely means the end of an academic position and a destroyed reputation.” (ithenticate.com). Another issue is legal repercussions. Due to copyright laws, one can sue a plagiarist for using another person’s material without referencing or citation. If your career is a professional writer, this can be a legal issue because this is considered a criminal offense. If the author sues the plagiarist, the author may be compensated monetary restitution. Should a journalist work for a magazine, newspaper, or any kind of other publisher, they might have to pay monetary penalties. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use someone’s ideas, arguments, theories or opinions. As mentioned previously, you must cite a source anytime you use an idea, quote, data, image or other content that is not yours unless it is common knowledge. This term refers to any knowledge that you can reasonably expect other people to know. For example, the fact that there are bilingual customer service representatives in the United States is common knowledge. You would not have to cite any sources unless you elaborate on specific percentages, diagrams, or any other kind of visual materials. This would not be considered common knowledge therefore, you would have to cite where you obtained your data. Other examples of common knowledge would be folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events. Therefore, you can consider something as common knowledge if you can find the same information in at least five credible sources.
In addition, according to Turnitin, there are ten types of plagiarism. “The white paper distills a study of thousands of plagiarized papers, providing examples of 10 distinct type of plagiarism that comprise the vast majority of unoriginal work in student papers.” (Turnitin.com) The first type is clone, which is an act of submitting another’s work word for word as if it is your own. CTRL-C encompasses a substantial amount of text from a single source without modifications. Find-Replace, which is the act of altering keywords and phrases but preserving the necessary content of the source. Next is paraphrasing from other sources and making the content fit together flawlessly is the act of remixing. Self-plagiarism known as recycling because you are borrowing from your own previous work without citation. The act of hybrid is to blend seamlessly, cited sources with copied passages without citation in one paper. Several different sources of copied material without proper citation is known as mashup. The 404 error is inaccurate or nonexistent information about sources. When a paper contains the proper citation but almost no original work is known as the aggregator. Lastly, the retweet uses correct citation but depends directly on the text’s original wording or structure.
Furthermore, showing examples of how to paraphrase and using quotations is essential. To provide further assistance, I will demonstrate how to paraphrase original text into your own words. The first example we will be using this original text. “Many working-class families, including mine, have no expectation that their 10 children will attend college. My dad’s only wish was for me to graduate from high school and find work that didn’t involve a factory. Even when working-class students are inspired to apply; the local community college often appears to be the only option. But when they can enroll in a more- competitive institution, worlds collide.” (Spatt pg. 217). If I were to paraphrase this text it would be like “Numerous average workers families, including mine, have no desire that their ten kids will go to school. My father’s wish was for me to move on from secondary school and look for employment that didn’t include an industrial facility. The nearby college generally gives off an impression of being the main alternative when it comes to common laborers even when they have the chance to select in a progressively aggressive foundation, universes shatters.” I kept the original meaning of the text but paraphrased it and cited the source. Another example is “So far, the city has handed out more than $500,000 to 5,237 students in 586 schools as rewards for taking several of the 10 standardized tests on the schedule for this school year. The schools, which had to choose to participate in the program, are all over the city. “I’m not saying I know this is going to fix everything,” said Roland G. Fryer, the Harvard economist who designed the student incentive program, “but I am saying it’s worth trying. What we need to try to do is start that spark.” (Spatt pg. 254). I would paraphrase this as Until recently, the city has given out more than $500,000 to 5,237 understudies in 586 schools as prizes for taking a few of the 10 state-administered tests on the schedule for this school year. The schools, which needed to take an interest in the program, are everywhere throughout the city. “I’m not saying I know this will settle everything,” said Roland G. Fryer, the Harvard financial specialist who composed the understudy motivating force program, “however I am stating it merits attempting. What we have to attempt to do is begin that inspiration.”
In conclusion, the results of written falsification are extensive, and nobody is excused from it. Before committing to any written work venture out and discover what constitutes copyright infringement and how to maintain strategies that steer you away from any involvement with fraud or plagiarism. If in doubt purchase software that can detect plagiarism so that you can check your writing before you turn in your assignments. There are times that if you believe you cannot keep the meaning of the original text simply use direct quotes and reference the source. As you begin to write more you will improve your strategies and techniques and you will be able to summarize and paraphrase better. Just remember that apathy and untrustworthiness can lead to an unsavory reputation, a disastrous career, and legal and lawful issues. Therefore, avoiding plagiarism the correct way to write and complete any type of published work.
References:
Spatt, B. (2011). Writing From Sources, 8th Edition. Bookshelf Online. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781319016487/ 217, 254
https://www.geteducated.com/elearning-education-blog/10-types-of-plagiarism-and-academic-cheating/https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/http://www.ithenticate.com/resources/6-consequences-of-plagiarismturnitin white paper the plagiarism spectrum
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