Plagiarism is a type of cheating when a person uses someone else’s ideas for their research. Intentional plagiarism presupposes such actions as direct copying, downloading, or self-plagiarism. Unintentional coping represents incorrect paraphrasing or the lack of citing (Das, 2018). The latter type occurs due to the lack of students’ knowledge. However, many programs help to avoid it. I am afraid I have to disagree with the statement that plagiarism can be lawful in some way because I believe that either intentional or unintentional copying should be punished. Therefore, I consider that those who use researchers’ materials without citing or merely copying them should be punished.
Academic integrity is vital for any student as it defines their general performance. Any of the abovementioned actions are tantamount to plagiarism and are punishable. To my mind, no excuses should be considered as protection against the charge. If the cases of plagiarism are identified while processing the paper, they should be corrected (O’Connor, 2015). Otherwise, if the article comes out with much coping detected, it can ruin the author’s reputation, the institution, or the editor. Therefore, plagiarism must be considered a severe violation of research ethics.
Furthermore, the difference between deliberate and indeliberate types of plagiarism is minimal. It implies that it does not matter if a student inserts a direct quote or a paraphrased one, it is crucial to cite it. Proper citing is needed in all cases so as not to breach property rights. It may be useful to inform the stakeholders about plagiarism detection and the consequences. Moreover, it is necessary to demonstrate lawful penalties against copying. Otherwise, many valuable pieces of research can be stolen or forged.
References
Das, N. (2018). Intentional or unintentional, it is never alright to plagiarize: A note on how Indian universities are advised to handle plagiarism. Perspectives in Clinical Research, 9(1), 56–57.
O’Connor, Z. (2015). Extreme plagiarism: The rise of e-idiot? International Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 20(1), 1-11.