"Plagiarism is the act of presenting another's works or ideas as your own."
Previously, I have read on an article provided by The University of Ottawa in August 2009. The whole article mainly focused on the understanding of plagiarism and ways to avoid it. This is some of the reflections that I would like to share.
Nowadays, many people think that plagiarism was an act of copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. However, this statement have to be corrected as it could disguise the seriousness of offence.
According to the Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means
1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
2) to use (another's production) without crediting the source
3) to commit literary theft
4) to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterwards.
On one side, I actually do believe that at this stage of maturity, all of us (students) now already clear on what plagiarism is actually all about. There are too many types of plagiarism that we have been doing it since we're in primary school. But during that age, I never knew that 'this and that so-called' kind of act was considered plagiarism.
As mentioned by Dr Krish in our English for Academic Writing (ELC550) class previously, in universities degree level, we, as a students, were actually not expected to write any article on our own. We may use any articles or ideas provided by the early one as our source of reference. However, we need to remember on these two basic principles:
i) If we use someone else’s words or data, use quotation marks and give a complete reference.
ii) When borrowing another person’s ideas, do acknowledge their origin.
REMEMBER! Do not paraphrase another writer's word and claim it as your own.
I believe that by now, all of you (readers) already have the consciousness on not to steal others ideas or work. Thus, I would like to share with you some information gained from an article provided by University of California, Davis on August 2006 regarding the basic steps to avoid plagiarism :-
1) Consult with your instructor
2) Plan your paper well
3) Take effective notes
4) When in doubt, cite the sources
5) Make it clear on who said what
6) Know how to paraphrase
7) Evaluate your source
By following all these steps accordingly, I believe that from time to time, we could improve our self-skill not to steal someone's else ideas or works. Furthermore, as from my self-perception, we; students from Faculty of Education are all future educators. We really need to realize that plagiarism is wrong. Stealing other's idea will also cause students not to think and unable to generate new ideas. This kind of attitude could also cause the student's intelligent level to decrease. So, yeah, future educator, please do not take for granted on this issue.
REMEMBER !
"Originality is undetected plagiarism" - William Ralph Inge
