Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

1025 Words3 Pages

As students of high school and college, and even in the professional world, we are asked to research and write on subjects that are seen to be important. The research that we are asked to do, has been done many times in the past, which means people are bound to use others’ ideas and words with no recognition, sometimes without even knowing it. This leads to plagiarism, which is something many people have heard of, but never learned the true definition and the harm it can create. Schools and society need to be more proactive in explaining what plagiarism is, how to write correctly in order to prevent it, and teach the consequences plagiarism has. What is Plagiarism? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to “plagiarize” means, “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own, to use (another's production) without crediting the source, to commit literary theft, to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source”(“Plagiarism Merriam Webster”, 2014). Not many people realize this, but plagiarism is an act of fraud since you are stealing something and claiming it as your own (“Overview-Plagiarism”, 2014). It may seem that copying a peace of writing is irrelevant to the law, and not important enough to be a crime, but the U.S. laws recognizes original ideas as intellectual property. Documented original ideas and words are protected by the copyright law(plag.org). An additional source, The Writing and Humanistic Studies of MIT, states the definition of plagiarism is, Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas or language without acknowledging that they were not created by you. This definition applies to ideas, words and unusual structures regardless of where you find ... ... middle of paper ... ...egrity and Plagiarism. (n.d.). English Language and Literatures. (2014). Retrieved January 20, 2014, from https://liberal- arts.wright.edu/english-language-and-literatures/university-writing- program/academic-integrity-and-plagiarism Avoiding Plagiarism. (n.d.). Writing and Humanistic Studies. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://writing.mit.edu/wcc/avoidingplagiarism OFFICE OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS AND STUDENT CONDUCT. (n.d.). Code of Conduct. (2012). Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.wright.edu/students/judicial/integrity.html Overview - Plagiarism.org - Best Practices for Ensuring Originality in Written Work. (n.d.). Plagiarism.org. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/overview Plagiarism. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism

Open Document