* Plagiarism can get you expelled from your course * Plagiarism can result in your work being destroyed * Plagiarism can result in expulsion from your academic institution * Plagiarism can result in legal action.
Plagiarism: is when you are copying someone’s else ideas or taking credit of something that is not ours it is most likely If you get caught plagiarising, it's possible you may lose your job and the opportunity to move forward not only will you be removed from your course and institution, but you may never be able to study for a degree again. Plagiarism offences a lot of people who are unable to make up their own work word for word.
The problem is that students today are faced not only with increasing pressure and a consequent temptation to plagiarise However, don't fall into the trap of thinking that because more people are tempted to plagiarise this somehow both reduces its seriousness and the likelihood of your facing plagiarism consequences, as it does neither of these.
The consequences of plagiarism could seriously endanger your academic career because your record will follow you, and should you be compelled to leave your course of study, then you will find it extremely difficult to obtain a place elsewhere Should you be embarked on a longer piece of work, such as a dissertation or thesis, and plagiarise, the work will probably be destroyed. In fact, in these cases, your work will be scrutinised even more carefully for any instance of plagiarism and the consequences of any plagiarism discovered will be even more severe because originality is the basis of this type of high-level research and you will be required to produce work of publication standard.
Different types of plagiarism:
Deliberate plagiarism
This needs little explanation because it is the simple - and totally wrong - act of attempting to pass off someone else's work as your own.
Patchwork paraphrasing
Much as above, except that you've read and stolen from more books and 'patched' them together - easily detectable, deliberate and definitely deceitful, aided and abetted by online plagiarism!
WHY ARE MY INSTRUCTORS SO CONCERNED ABOUT PLAGIARISM?
In order to understand plagiarism, it helps to understand the process of sharing and creating ideas in the university. All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are drawing on other people’s ideas. Building on their ideas and experiences, we create our own. When you put your ideas on paper, your instructors want to distinguish between the building block ideas borrowed from other people and your own newly reasoned perspectives or conclusions. You make these distinctions in a written paper by citing the sources for your building block ideas. Providing appropriate citations will also help readers who are interested in your topic find additional, related material to read in this way, they will be able to build on the work you have done to find sources.
Think of it this way: in the vast majority of assignments you’ll get in college, your instructors will ask you to read something (think of this material as the building blocks) and then write a paper in which you analyze one or more aspects of what you have read (think of this as the new structure you build). Essentially, your instructors are asking you to do three things: * Show that you have a clear understanding of the material you’ve read. * Refer to your sources to support the ideas you have developed. * Distinguish your analysis of what you’ve read from the authors’ analyses.
When you cite a source, you are using an expert’s ideas as proof or evidence of a new idea that you are trying to communicate to the reader.
HOW CAN I AVOID PLAGIARIZING?
Now that you understand what plagiarism is, you’re ready to employ the following three simple steps to avoid plagiarizing in your written work.
Step 1: Accentuate the positive. Change your attitude about using citations.
Do you feel that you use too many citations? Too few? Many students worry that if they use too many citations their instructors will think that they’re relying too heavily on the source material and therefore not thinking for themselves. In fact, however, using citations allows you to demonstrate clearly how well you understand the course material while also making clear distinctions between what the authors have to say and your analysis of their ideas.
Thus, rather than making your paper look less intellectually sophisticated, using citations allows you to show off your understanding of the material and the assignment. And instead of showing what you don’t know, citing your sources provides evidence of what you do know and of the authority behind your knowledge. Just make sure that your paper has a point, main idea, or thesis that is your own and that you organize the source material around that point.
Are you worried that you have too few citations? Double-check your assignment to see if you have been given any indication of the number or kind of source materials expected. Then share your writing with another reader. Do you have enough evidence or proof to support the ideas you put forward? Why should the reader believe the points you have made? Would adding another, expert voice strengthen your argument? Who else agrees or disagrees with the ideas you have written? Have you paraphrased ideas that you have read or heard? If so, you need to cite them. Have you referred to or relied on course material to develop your ideas? If so, you need to cite it as well.
Step 2: How can I keep track of all this information? Improve your note-taking skills.
Once you’ve reconsidered your position on using citations, you need to rethink your note-taking practices. Taking careful notes is simply the best way to avoid plagiarism. And improving your note-taking skills will also allow you to refine your critical thinking skills. Here’s how the process works: