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Plagiarism - An Unintended Crime! |
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Written by Tintin
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Wednesday, 18 June 2008 |
 What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the unauthorized use of the language, phrases, words and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. For example, when you copy paste a portion of web article written by another author without citing them properly are a part of plagiarism. Academically, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered to be academic dishonesty or academic fraud and if found can be subject to academic censure or punishments.
In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics and reporters caught plagiarizing may face termination. Some individuals can be a victim of unintentional plagiarism if failed to include quotations or give the appropriate citation. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2008)
Every University or Media has policies for Plagiarism; somehow, few people follow the rules. But when it comes to University or media level business, students and journalist will have to abide by the law or else will face the consequent. For example, if caught a student can be suspended from his/her academic program for using material written by others or may receive an "E" grade, disrespect of the fact that the student might have done unintentionally or may be unaware of Plagiarism policies at University. Plagiarism varies from copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of the copyright holder, when material is used without the copyright holder's consent. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2008)
How can I avoid plagiarizing?
Here are few steps to avoid plagiarism in your work:
1. Change your attitude when using citation while citing an article or . 2. Improve note taking skills by carefully noting all the bibliographic information needed for works cited page.
3. Use quotation marks to distinguish the exact words used by the author from the words used in your article.
However, websites like Wikipedia.com is not approved as a valid source of material and if any person using Wikipedia’s as reference may need to add another valid website. Another citation site called essays.com is considered to be cheater’s website and any person using the site may face serious penalties at school or university level.
How can I tell whether I've plagiarized?
Many schools and Universities use Plagiarism track tool, that is, they might have a website or department where professors will just send the assignments submitted by the students to find if it has any plagiarism. Sometimes, instructors will handout manuals or flyers and may provide format styles such as APA or MLA styles. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/citations/.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 August 2009 )
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