Plagiarism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plagiarism - Essay Example In all institutions of higher learning especially the Universities, plagiarism is regarded as intellectual theft, and it carries with it stringent penalties and more so if it is done wilfully. The plagiarized article or paper submitted by the student would be declared null and of no importance and the student would be awarded an F grade. In other Universities around the globe, such students would be suspended or expelled from their faculties, but the degree of the penalty varies in relation to intent, from unintentional to pure intent respectively. Therefore, this involves blatant show of ethical misconduct that carries very serious consequence to the writer. There are several types of plagiarism, some of which may include copying of work’s without including the quotations as part of your own work or making minor changes without proper permission or acknowledgement, using pictures or photographs from the internet, rewriting your own work or using the phrases or lines of a song without proper acknowledgement (Epigeum n.d.). In order to avoid plagiarism, it is important to keep a good record of materials, resources, and references that one has used during the note-taking stage. This is the most critical stage as plagiarism is usually not deliberate as a writer might forget to reference the works they have referred to during the research. It is also valuable to differentiate between other person’s quotations and original thoughts and in case a quotation is copied, remembers to record all information that might be needed later on, if the quotations are included in the final work. This not only helps in avoiding plagiarism but also saves time that can be used in proofreading the work (Epigeum n.d.). In addition, the writer must properly proofread his work to remove any plagiarized words and sentences carelessly inserted into the paper. Finally, all other sentences and words in the paper that have been imported from other writers and that the writer fee ls they might compliment his work should be properly cited. It is vital to write a paper or an article in one’s own words to sustain originality and avoid plagiarizing previous works. Whenever two or more people come together to write a single piece then present the single article as their own individual work, this becomes a type of plagiarism known as collusion. Collusion may also include instances when a writer gets someone else to compose a piece in entirety or in parts and if the writer copies another writer’s work with the consent of the other writer. Allowing others to substantially edit, modify, or correct your work for presentation as individual work is also regarded as collusion that is forbidden and a form of academic dishonesty. Citation and Referencing The traditionally accepted way of acknowledging previous works done by others is by referencing which varies with universities or the disciplines of the subject matter. Before submitting or publishing work, i t is therefore important to first be knowledgeable of the type of referencing system that your university or subject-discipline uses. When a writer refers to a certain piece of published work, in the academic environment, the writer is said to have cited the piece, hence citation styles or referencing styles.