‘Plagiarism’ is translated from Latin as ‘kidnapping’; in simple words, this notion defines the attempts of stealing the author’s ideas in writing. It is necessary to stress, that the notion ‘plagiarism’ is referred to serious mistakes in the academic system leading to severe punishment for students. According to the dictionary, plagiarism is defined as unintentional or intentional usage of a person’s words or ideas providing no credit. (Posner, 2007)
Plagiarism is an important phenomenon, which is seriously analyzed by scholars and linguists. It should be stressed that there are some reasons for plagiarism avoiding: 1) it does not give an opportunity to learn writing by yourself; 2) it devalues the ideas of another person; 3) it is illegal to make use of someone’s ideas and written property; and 4) plagiarism devalues your personal work.
The analysis of plagiarism phenomenon can be illustrated through the passage taken from Crossen, C. (1994). ‘The Manipulation of Fact in America’, used by the student for his work. We can see a vivid plagiarism case when the student failed to paraphrase successfully and disclosed the stolen idea of the author. Consider the sentences being plagiarized by the student, ‘Biomedical researchers incorporate strict rules of science into their work, which is examined by peers. Yet the resulting information can be warped for five reasons: ending a study too soon, not publishing negative results, publishing results too early, skimming over or ignoring drawbacks…’ (Crossen, 1994, p.167). The student provided an appropriate citation for the abstract he used; nevertheless, he failed to avoid plagiarism through insufficient paraphrasing.
To avoid such mistakes, it is necessary to take into account the ways of ‘fighting’ plagiarism. There are some methods for avoiding plagiarized writings: 1) one should provide an appropriate citation for any copied or paraphrased material; 2) minor changes of other words should be avoided, as it is a case of plagiarism as well; 3) appropriate usage and citation of quotations; and 4) in case you are not aware of the validity of the data, or you hesitate as to some thoughts, provide citation compulsory. Citation rules are usually provided for every academic citation style for students to learn, how to avoid plagiarism and cite their writings.
It is necessary to stress that the phenomenon of plagiarism has been recognized as illegal in many world countries. In-state universities the students caught plagiarizing can be even expelled. Why is plagiarism so frequently met? Why it is sometimes important in practical issues? Firstly, it should be stressed that plagiarism is important if the author failed to interpret the original text correctly, so he should stick to it. Then, if the works are related through the topic of investigation or statistical analysis, plagiarism is used to check and correct the validity of findings. (Marsh, 2007).
Nevertheless, the methods of plagiarism avoiding are considered to be basic regulations introduced in the academic system, where this phenomenon is the most frequently met. The most important element is to learn citation rules and follow them accordingly. For example, Gilmore, 2008, investigated the phenomenon of plagiarism stating that this phenomenon is to be taught within the modern education system, showing the students how special plagiarism programs work and what consequences of its detection are. It can help to reduce academic dishonesty in modern education. (Gilmore, 2008)
References
Crossen, C. (1994). Tainted: The manipulation of fact in America. New York: Touchstone, pp. 166–167.
Gilmore, B. (2008). Plagiarism: Why It Happens – How to Prevent It. Heinemann.
Marsh, B. (2007). Plagiarism: alchemy and remedy in higher education. SUNY Press.
Posner, R. (2007). The Little Book of Plagiarism. Pantheon Books.