Introduction
Academic integrity is an important issue that some students might face when submitting their work. This involves not only the process of cheating or falsifying facts but also plagiarising. As a result, every student is expected to follow a specific set of guidelines. Thus, plagiarism is objective since it considers the intent and situation of the student and focuses on the lack of credit to sources and authors.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
To avoid any rigid consequences, every student must comply with the rules of academic integrity. Southeastern Community College defines plagiarism as “intentionally or unintentionally presenting the ideas, words, information, or images of another as your work by not properly citing the sources” (“Academic Integrity,” para.3). Given such a definition, various instances can be provided to demonstrate how students can attempt to plagiarise.
For example, some individuals might consider directly copying and pasting information provided on the World Wide Web or other sources, such as journals, textbooks, and others. However, some can attempt to submit the work that another person wrote. Lastly, it is noteworthy that even using one’s work without proper citations can be considered plagiarism.
Citations and Plagiarism
After reviewing the answers provided by experts on the official Plagiarism website, I found the inquiry regarding citations interesting. According to Jason Chu, works that have mis-cited sources or improper citations cannot be considered plagiarised (Chu). These questions and answers are interesting since they challenge the traditional definition of plagiarism. The expert explained, “When determining whether a student plagiarizes, intent does matter” (Chu para.2).
This highlights that improper citations cannot be considered direct plagiarism. I agree with the reply, and while I have never been in such a situation, I believe that a citation mistake is not an attempt to present the information as one’s own opinion, and it does not mislead the reader. The purpose of citation is to give credit to the author, which means that improper citation concerns the editing area.
Conclusion
Hence, plagiarism is objective since it concentrates on the absence of acknowledgment given to sources and considers the student’s intention and situation. It involves presenting facts or thoughts as one’s own without using the correct citations. For instance, some people would think about simply copying and pasting information. The question about citations on the official Plagiarism website is intriguing because it is not plagiarism due to no intent to mislead the reader.
Works Cited
Chu, Jason. “Do Improperly Cited Sources = Plagiarism?” Plagiarism, 2017. Web.
“Academic Integrity.” Southeastern Community College, n.d. Web.