PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism has be around for a long time, there have been many scandals surrounding it, like the infamous Alex Haley episode during the 1970's, Haley was then known and recognized as famous author, who published the book Roots: The Saga of an American Family in 1976. A year later he won the Pulitzer Award. since then this book was much appreciated, but at this very time Haley confessed that he had accidentally picked up a few paragraphs from the book Rootsstory, which was authored by Harold Courlander. He pressed charges of plagiarism on Haley, though later the issue was resolved out of court (Forbidden Knowledge, 2009).

So what is the deal about Plagiarism? According to The Office Of Research Integrity, plagiarism is defined as "both the theft or misrepresentation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work." (ORI Newsletter, 1994). In common mans language, ripping off someone else's text property, be it words or ideas and to claim it your own is Plagiarism. This does not mean that one is restricted from gathering information from different sources and putting it forward, it only implies that when it is done so, a proper disciple of acknowledging the source must be followed at all times it is done, in other words "Citing" the source is of utmost importance here.

The issue of plagiarism is mainly faced by students whose source for knowledge, research, references are all from books by different authors, different articles and from the many website options available. The issue arises when one or all of the following are not taken seriously: • When opting the exact words from a text and not quoting or/and referring the source. • When not referring to the source while paraphrasing the content. • When not referring to the source from where the idea for content was borrowed. • While reusing any electronically available pictures, videos, presentations, etc. • While reusing any content from e-mails, or failure in quoting another persons words.
The basic concept here for one to understand is that any material while borrowing from some source must and should always be cited. (Stolley, Brizee, 2010)
Citing of sources must be taken very seriously as plagiarism can result in some very strict consequences, sometimes getting dispelled from the university or losing employment and in some cases losing the profession altogether.

There have been many cases in which plagiarism results due to sheer lack of knowledge. Though we have seen some pointers in the above paragraph that could avoid the mess. According to the Library Guides, University of Alberta, some of the main reasons why students are victims to plagiarism are as follow: • "Lack of research skills" • "Problems evaluating Internet sources" • "Confusion between plagiarism and paraphasing" • "Careless notetaking" • "Confusion about how to cite sources" • "Misconception of common knowledge", etc (Guide to Plagiarism, 2012).

Though avoiding plagiarism seems to look very easy,but due to lack of knowledge of how to present information one can easily fall into the trap. Since this issue sometimes could lead to legal consequences, it is highly recommended that while presenting information, the right method must be followed. At the end of the day, human psycology

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium • Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing • When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase • When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials • When you reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including images, audio, video, or other media