Plagiarism and Cheating in the Science and Technology Field - Article Example

09 March Plagiarism and Cheating in the Science and Technology field The word “Plagiarism” is derived from the Latin word “Plagiare” which means to kidnap or abduct. Plagiarism literally means to copy another person’s ideas and pretend that they are one’s own. Plagiarism is one of the most severe violations of academic writing. It is a punishable offence and may have a very serious consequence like expulsion and demotion. Plagiarism is a common phenomenon, which can be seen in all the disciplines, educational levels and all the type of professions. Whether in the field of writing, science, music, art etc, all the fields have incidents of plagiarism. The action of one copying or cheating the contents of others are becoming more and more common with the easy access of unlimited information on internet. Merely paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s idea and not directly using it is still considered as plagiarism With the development in the field of science and technology, cases of plagiarism are increasing in the modern era. Moreover, with the usage of a large amount of information in the background, it becomes our responsibility to take into consideration of some moral ethics. That is, recognizing work created by other people and rightfully understanding that it is their intellectual property. If a person wants to use any part of that work, then it is his or her responsibility to acknowledge that work. “Taking over the ideas, methods or written words of another, without acknowledgement and with the intention that they be taken as the work of the deceiver (American Association of University Professors (September/October, 1989)” (Roig p.3) rightly describes what Plagiarism is? As the above quotation suggests, “plagiarism has been traditionally defined as the taking of words, images, ideas etc from an author and presenting them as one’s own” (Roig p.3). As the above quotation suggests, plagiarism means using words and ideas of others or can be defined as kidnapping of words, ideas, cheating, fraud and literary theft. Plagiarism can manifest itself in variety of ways and is not only confined to the field of education, that is, in publishing of articles or books but is also growing in the field of science and technology. In the field of science and technology the most widely recognized unethical lapse is plagiarism. Scientific writing is a complex process, which demands clarity of ideas, conciseness along with accuracy and integrity. Good scientific writing must be a combination of clear expression, conciseness, accuracy of what is being reported, and the most important of all, originality. The entire scientific process has strict deadlines and competing pressure as a result, scientific papers generated by science students or professionals often use few ideas of other people. There have been many instances where one can see a scientist accusing another scientist or research expert of using his ideas and claiming them as their own and not acknowledging the original creator of the idea. For example, a scientist makes a presentation and delivers it in a conference and discusses the ideas and concept with the people present which have already been proposed by someone else. During his presentation, he misleads the audience into thinking that he is the originator of that idea and fails to fully acknowledge the specific source of idea. This constitutes an instance of plagiarism. The most commonly known example of plagiarism is the Apple V/s Samsung case, where Apple accused Samsung of stealing design, ideas and features of i-phone and i-pad in order to capture its market share. It has been found that a technology launched with unique features will have many competitors using the same feature making it as an instance of plagiarism, a mobile, a DVD player, a washing machine launched with a new feature will have many other brands following the same if it captures huge demand in the market. Although plagiarism can take many forms there are two major types: plagiarism of ideas and plagiarism of text. Plagiarism of ideas can be defined as appropriating an idea that is an explanation, a theory, a conclusion, a hypothesis, a metaphor in whole or in part, or with superficial modifications without giving credit to its originator. Plagiarism of text is copying a portion of text from other source without giving credit to its authors and without enclosing the borrowed text in quotation marks. At times the act of plagiarism is unintentional, the author borrows from a source and due to carelessness, fails to credit the source. This kind of acts whether intentional or unintentional are considered as an unethical act in the society and a sheer violation of the copyright law, hence, is punishable by law. Plagiarism is a serious offence and has to be dealt carefully, a person found guilty of plagiarism is to be severely punished at all times leading to demotion from schools, from jobs, degrees, honours as a result of their misdeed. In science, as in most other scholarly endeavours, the references taken from other sources or others contributors must be properly acknowledged; if not properly acknowledged whether intentionally or unintentionally, it would be considered a crime. The manner of making acknowledgement varies from one discipline to the other and can be in the form of a footnote or reference citation. An ethical writer always acknowledges the contributions of others and the source of his ideas. Stealing is a crime although it is easy to identify when someone is stealing in tangible items, it is hard to recognize the theft of ideas, thoughts but if caught it deserves punishment. Ever since the early man discovered the wheel, things changed for the better. The wheel marked a new beginning for the humankind. Wheels one of the greatest inventions of all times is the base for every automobile we see today. The advancements in science and technology have allowed man to build machines that transport him to where he desires. Needless to say there have been a lot of plagiarism seen in cars as well. For example, the Geely car, is said to be a “Rolls- Royce look a like” (Go Auto News, 1). In case of mobile phones, for example, the Canvas A 110 superphone from Micromax looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy S III. Although Micromax has not been reported of having stolen anything from Samsung, the fact still remains that the phone is a look alike of the phone launched by Samsung. Accordingly, many new companies have launched eco friendly air-conditioners, such as the Panasonic’s “Econavi” (Panasonic Air Conditioners 2012/2013). It is only a matter of time before other companies copy this policy and make some modifications and launch their own version of the product. Technology has greatly changed the lives of mankind. At the same time it also poses a threat to them in terms of copy and infringement. Today’s world is full of competitiveness and this rising competition puts a lot of pressure on the companies. When companies fail to get new innovative ideas, they resort to stealing. This should be put an end to as there are certain ethics which need to be honoured and followed at all times. Works Cited Roig, Miguel. Avoiding Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism, and other Questionable Writing Practices: A Guide to Ethical Writing. n.d. Web. 9 March 2013. Roig, Miguel. Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism in the Sciences: Definitions and Cases. St .John’s. 2010. Web. 9 March 2013. Hammerton, Ron. Go Auto News. 2009. Web. 9 March, 2013. Panasonic Air Conditioners 2012/2013. Web. 9 March 2013. Read More