Importance of Referencing - Avoiding Plagiarism - Essay Example

Importance of Referencing: Avoiding Plagiarism Introduction The need to understand and practice proper writing conventions and academic research is one of the basic aspects of college learning. It is therefore necessary that every student studying at college level develop the skills and habits of submitting work which is completely free of plagiarism. This process requires a high degree of honesty as well as academic integrity which means doing extensive research and honestly using the work of others while keeping the originality of the work by thinking creatively and bringing forward new intelligent ideas. Non-cited work, in the era of internet, has moulded its face in a very confusing manner and the line of distinction between original and plagiarized work has faded out to a much greater extent. Despite the technical advances seen in the computer and internet technology, lack of citations and referencing knowledge appears to be affecting a great deal of creative thinking that otherwise could have contributed greatly to the growth of human knowledge as well as our college education standards. The use of others’ work without providing reference continues to affect our education standards despite the fact that many counter measures are in place. Such actions are deemed to be expected as plagiarism. Although plagiarism is academic dishonesty, it is not always intentional and this aspect of plagiarism demands special consideration. Cases of intentional and unintentional plagiarism should always be differentiated, and the consequences of both cases should also differ. Discussion Plagiarism is defined as “the wrongful appropriation or purloining and publication as ones own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas (literary, artistic, musical, mechanical, etc.) of another” (The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. XI, Second Edition). Plagiarism is a punishable offense that can be further classified as intentional or unintentional. The various definitions of intellectual property rights fall under the categories of ethics and law. For the resolution of issues, intent may be given due consideration in ethical realm, however, intent is not a consideration when it comes to matters of law (Anderson, 1998, p22). Although the ultimate outcome of matters of intentional and unintentional plagiarism may be similar, a basic difference lies at the base of both types of plagiarism, i.e., intent. The penalties for unintentional plagiarism may be severe, but not as harsh as those of intentional plagiarism (Kirszner, 2009, p177). There is no doubt that plagiarism is academic dishonesty, but all matters of plagiarism are not the same. On many occasions it has been observed that a number of students are not even clear about what constitutes plagiarism. The demarcation between paraphrasing and plagiarism is altogether lost in such cases (Roig, 1997). Detailed analysis of such work should be carried out prior to labeling it as plagiarized or otherwise. In addition, proper counseling of such students should be done and they should be trained to avoid unintentional plagiarism in future. Students often involve in unintentional plagiarism because of lack of information and practice of referencing and citing the work. Hence, the plagiarism in such cases is not aimed at violating the laws or rules of the university but merely the result of unconsciousness of the students about referencing and plagiarism concepts. Referencing or citing the original work and author name helps the teachers to ensure that the work submitted is first of all, relevant to the existing literature on the current topic and secondly is not copied in any way. Citations and references provide the information about the original source of the content and the teachers may grade the students’ work as per their efforts on analyzing and singling out the main points from different sources. Proper referencing and citations are important at the college and professional level in order to provide the reader with a credible source of information as well as a reading list related to the topic for further research. A reference list, at university/academic level helps the teachers in analyzing the researching abilities and efforts made by students to gather relevant information. These efforts helps students in gaining useful information from within and outside their course on a subject matter related to their fields. Hence, referencing and citing the work helps in ensuring that the students are actually reading materials and not merely copying others work which may be termed as ‘plagiarized’. Citations and referencing requirements lead the student to carry out individual or group researches which results in creating original work. When plagiarized or unreferenced work is submitted to a teacher and the teacher comes to know about plagiarism, the teacher feels violated. There is a feeling that the student was playing them for a fool or was being lazy (Wells, 1993). Ultimately, this may result in loss of scores, academic losses and in severe cases expulsion from educational institutions, which can have monetary losses too. Referencing and properly cited work helps in avoiding such instances. In the real world, there are intellectual property rights which associate particular materials to its authors and creators. People are not legally allowed to use that material without prior permission from the authors, creators or researchers of that particular piece of information. The violation of such rights may end up creating penalties, charges and punishments from the legal authorities. Hence, citations and taking prior consent of the authors is important in order to avoid situations which may end up creating great losses both in monetary and reputational grounds (Anderson 1998). There are a number of referencing and citing styles. However, the common practice is to refer to the author’s last name and year of publishing the content within the text and providing a corresponding reference at the end of the paper on a separate page. The legitimate and acceptable referencing styles include MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago etc. The choice of referencing style, however, depends on the policies of the university and the teachers’ preferences as per the learning environment and region. Lack of proper referencing and mentioning the original author’s name most of the times, constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism refers to copying someone else’s idea and words without any prior acknowledgement to the original owner of the material. Moreover, using someone else’s work without indicating that it belongs to them is also plagiarism. For example, if a student makes the following text: “While the absence of one universally accepted definition of diversity management may have an attraction to employers in that it can be moulded to suit the prevailing organisational priorities, a lack of clarity about what ‘managing diversity’ means can lead to inconsistencies and the dominance of expediency among those required to put the concept into practice” as a part of their assignment or paper without referring to the original writer (i.e. Carley Foster and Lynette Harris) or text (i.e. Easy to say, difficult to do: diversity management in retail) this part of text is plagiarized. However, if someone wants to use others work or research he can use it and provide a reference within the text and/or at the end of the paper on a separate page to confirm that it is not their own efforts to find out certain facts but they have just used others knowledge. Conclusion Plagiarism is no doubt a punishable offence. However, not all plagiarism is intentional. There are occasions when students fail to appreciate the difference between original and unoriginal work. Under such circumstances, there is a need to understand the problem of student who has indulged into the crime of plagiarism. To be fair with the student, the student should be given ample opportunity to defend himself while explaining his confusion of the problem, in case he is confused. On the other hand, there are cases when the plagiarist is proud of his plagiarism. Such writers should be dealt with according to the rules and regulations of the educational institutions, and punitive action should be taken against them to protect ethically and legally intellectual property rights of others. Students must be given proper education and lessons on referencing and the positive effects of it (Carroll & Appleton, 2001). Moreover, researching and citing the works should be appreciated and such practices should be adopted which may enhance students’ abilities to carry out research and use them in accordance with the allowed way and referencing technique of the university. References ANDERSON, J. (1998). Plagiarism, copyright violation, and other thefts of intellectual property: an annotated bibliography with a lengthy introduction. Jefferson, N.C., McFarland & Co, p22. CARROLL, J., & APPLETON, J. (2001). Plagiarism: a good practice guide. [U.K.?], Joint Information Systems Committee. KIRSZNER, L. G., & MANDELL, S. R. (2009). The pocket Wadsworth handbook. Boston, MA, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, p177. ROIG, M. (1997). Can Undergraduate Students Determine Whether Text Has Been Plagiarized? The Psychological Record. 47, 113. WELLS, D. (1993). An Account of the Complex Causes of Unintentional Plagiarism in College Writing. WPA: Writing Program Administration. 16, 59-71. Foster, C., & Harris, L. (2005). Easy to say, difficult to do: diversity management in retail. Human Resource Management Journal. 15 (3), 4-17. Read More