Plagiarism is taking another individuals words or thoughts and utilizing them as if they were your ain. It can be either consider or accidental. Plagiarism is taken really earnestly in Higher Education. If even a little subdivision of your work is found to hold been plagiarised, it is likely that you will be assigned a grade of 0 for that assignment. In more serious instances, it may be necessary for you to reiterate the class wholly. In some instances, plagiarism may even take to your being expelled from the university.

Reasons for plagiarism

Plagiarism can go on for many grounds.

Deliberate plagiarism.

This is when you make the determination to steal person else ‘s work. For illustration, this could be either:

because you do non hold the clip AA to make the work yourself ;

because you do non hold the energy to make the work yourself ;

because you think your lector will non notice ;

because you think your lector will non care ;

or, possibly, because you are non able to make the work yourself.

It can affect:

copying another pupil ‘s work ;

copying another individual ‘s work from a book or a diary ;

copying another individual ‘s work from a web-site ;

inquiring another individual to make the work for you ;

downloading the complete text from the Internet ;

purchasing the text from the Internet ;

or even paying for person to make the work for you.

In all instances, if you do non make the work yourself, you are improbable to larn from it. It is hence non utile and a waste of your clip. Make non make this. There are many ways your lector can look into whether or non you have plagiarised. It is non deserving the hazard.

Accidental plagiarism.

This is when you by chance, through sloppiness or deficiency of accomplishment, usage another individual ‘s words without admiting it. This can go on for several grounds:

you do non cognize that you must non copy a individual ‘s words straight ;

you do non hold the accomplishment for showing another individual ‘s thoughts in your ain words ;

you do non cognize the right systems for bespeaking that you are utilizing another individual ‘s words or thoughts ;

when you take notes from a book or diary, you copy out some subdivisions and do non do this clear in your notes. Subsequently when you re-read the notes, you forget that they are non your words or thoughts ;

you forget to admit another individual ‘s words or thoughts ;

you do non hold clip to include the recognitions and list of mentions ;

you feel your written work is non good plenty ;

you borrow your friend ‘s notes, non gaining that some of the words are plagiarised.

Types of Plagiarism

Hamp-Lyons & A ; Courter ( 1984, pp. 161-166 ) distinguish between four types of plagiarism:

outright copying

paraphrasis plagiarism

hodgepodge plagiarism

stealing an disposed term

Examples:

Original Text

While the Education Act of 1870 laid the basis for the proviso of simple or primary instruction for all kids in England and Wales, it was non until the execution of the 1944 Education Act that all misss and male childs were entitled to a secondary instruction. Indeed, the decennaries instantly following the Second World War saw such a rapid addition in educational proviso – in the USA, and many states of Western and Eastern Europe, every bit good as in Britain – that some authors refer to the ‘educational detonation ‘ of the 1950s and 1960s. The minimal school-leaving age was extended from 14 to 15 old ages ( in 1947 ) and raised to 16 ( in 1971-2 ) , but the proportion of people taking to prosecute their surveies beyond this age hurtled upward ; by 1971, 30 per cent of 17- year-olds were in full-time instruction in schools or colleges, compared with 2 per cent in 1902, 4 per cent in 1938, 18 per cent in 1961 and 22 per cent in 1966. The Robbins Report ( 1963 ) undermined the position that there was a finite pool of ability – a limited figure of people who could profit from advanced instruction – and provided ammo for the enlargement of higher instruction. This enlargement took topographic point through the constitution of new universities and growing of bing 1s, every bit good as through the transition of colleges into engineering schools which could offer degree classs, and the initiation of the Open University. In 1970, 17.5 per cent of 18- year-olds entered further or higher instruction on a full-time footing ( compared with 1.2 per cent in 1900, 2.7 per cent in 1938, 5.8 per cent in 1954, and 8.3 per cent in 1960 ) ; another three million people enrolled for parttime twenty-four hours categories, flushing categories or sandwich classs.

Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, Stanworth, Sheard & A ; Webster ( 1981, p. 381 )

Outright copying is when a pupil uses precisely the same words as the original writer without utilizing citation Markss or stating where the words are from. For illustration:

Student ‘s text

While the Education Act of 1870 laid the basis for the proviso of simple or primary instruction for all kids in England and Wales, it was non until the execution of the 1944 Education Act that all misss and male childs were entitled to a secondary instruction. Indeed, the decennaries instantly following the Second World War saw such a rapid addition in educational proviso – in the USA, and many states of Western and Eastern Europe, every bit good as in Britain – that some authors refer to the ‘educational detonation ‘ of the 1950s and 1960s.

Paraphrase plagiarism is altering some of the words and grammar but go forthing most of the original text the same. For illustration:

Student ‘s text

The Education Act of 1870 put down the footing for supplying primary instruction for every kid in the United Kingdom. It was non, nevertheless, until the constitution of the 1944 Education Act that all male and female kids were given the right to instruction at secondary school.

Patchwork plagiarism is when parts of the original writer ‘s words are used and connected together in a different manner. For case:

Student ‘s text

The right to simple instruction for every kid in England and Wales was established in the 1870 Education Act. However, the right to secondary instruction had to wait until the execution of the 1944 Education Act. Following that act, in many states of the universe, there was such a rapid addition in educational proviso that it was called the ‘educational detonation ‘ of the 1950s and 1960s.

Stealing an disposed term is when a short phrase from the original text has been used in the pupils work, perchance because it is so good. For illustration:

Student ‘s text

In England and Wales, all 5 twelvemonth all kids have had the right to an instruction since 1870. This has non, nevertheless, been the instance for 11 twelvemonth olds, who had to wait until 1944 for a national system of secondary instruction. Once this system was established, though, secondary instruction expanded quickly in the decennaries instantly following the Second World War.

Advice

Plagiarism is the representation of another individual ‘s work as your ain.

There are three chief grounds why you should non make this:

It is non helpful.

If you plagiarise, you are stating that something is your work when it is non. This is non good, you will non larn much from it and it will non acquire you good Markss. In order to make good in higher instruction, you need to be responsible for the thoughts and facts that you use. You need to supply grounds for these thoughts and facts. You need to demo where they have come from and what they are based on. You do this by admiting the beginnings, by mentioning. This will back up your statements and assist you win in your academic authorship. It will besides demo your lectors that you have read and understood the needed texts.

You need to come to your ain decisions.

You need to demo that you have understood the stuff and come to your ain decisions on the footing of what you have read and heard. Therefore copying from text editions, or gluing text from the Internet into your ain authorship, is non good plenty. Most of what you write will come from the thoughts of other people ( from the text books you read, the talks and the seminars you attend, and your treatments with other pupils, etc. ) . This is what academic survey is all about. However, you need to come to your ain decisions on the footing of what you have read, listened to, and discussed. The intent of an essay is for you to state something for yourself utilizing the thoughts that you have studied, for you to show thoughts you have learned in your ain manner. The accent should be on working with other people ‘s thoughts, instead than reproducing their words.

It is against the ordinances.

You must non utilize another individual ‘s words or thoughts as if they were your ain. This is against university ordinances and is regarded as a really serious offense. It is besides non helpful for you. If you plagiarise, your lector can non understand how good you understand the class and can non therefore spring you utile advice and support. In add-on, if you plagiarise, you are non larning. This will go obvious in any written scrutiny you are required to take.

However, there is a hard country here because, as a pupil, when you are making assignments, you need to utilize what you have read or been taught in your talks. In fact, this is an indispensable accomplishment for every pupil. Spack ( 1988, p. 42 ) has pointed out that the most of import accomplishment a pupil can prosecute in is “ the complex activity to compose from other texts ” , which is “ a major portion of their academic experience. ” It is besides hard as Andrew Northedge points out in The good survey usher ( Northedge, 1990, p. 190 )

You have to step rather a all right line between being accused, on the one manus, of non doing adequate usage of the authors you have been reading on the class, and, on the other, of holding followed them excessively slavishly, to the point of plagiarizing them. One of your early undertakings as a pupil is to acquire a feel for how to strike the right balance.

Much of what you write will come from the thoughts of other people ( from the text books you read, the talks and the seminars you attend, and your treatments with other pupils, etc. ) . This is what academic survey is all about. However, the thoughts and people that you refer to necessitate to be made expressed by a system of citing – if you use another individual ‘s thoughts or words, you must state where they are from. This will forestall you being accused of plagiarism and, moreover, it will add support to your thoughts and points of position.

You need to admit the beginning of an thought unless it is common cognition. It may be hard to make up one’s mind precisely what common cognition within your topic is, but if your lectors, in talks or press releases, or your text editions, do non admit the beginning you can presume that it is common cognition within your topic. For constructs and thoughts which are by and large accepted as valid within your specialism, there is no demand to supply a mention. If in uncertainty, citation.

Take notes in your ain words. A good scheme is: read, set away your books and believe, and so compose your notes.

Acknowledge citations, even in your ain notes. This will assist you avoid inadvertent plagiarism when you copy from your ain notes, non recognizing the words were copied from a text edition.

If you use thoughts of other people, be explicit about it. That is to state, mention the relevant writer at the relevant point in your authorship. It is so non possible for anyone to impeach you of rip offing or stealing person else ‘s work. It will besides assist you by demoing that you know the background.