Understanding Plagiarism - Essay Example

Understanding Plagiarism ID Lecturer Plagiarism is the voluntary copying or stealing of someone else’s information with one’s own name. This is mostly witnessed in academic pursuits by students, in their writing regimes and works so that they can complete their respective work domains quickly and without much hassle. This is an unethical act in entirety and is uncalled for under all moral constructs that have been shaped up by the society. Plagiarism is a barbarian act as it sabotages other’s right of work and grants the same to the plagiarist without any mistake on the part of the person who is plagiarizing in the first place.

The kind of information that must be acknowledged and documented in written assignments include the name of the person who wrote the piece, the exact date of the publication from where the matter has been taken, the publication or the article that is being used with the exact title, page numbers, volume details and so on. All the pertinent information would then facilitate the academic writing checker to gauge the authenticity of the written piece. However those pieces written by the writer himself and are referred to as his personal thoughts usually do not require any citation or source at all.

These written documents are usually the personal reflections of the people who are actually penning down what they think about a particular subject. Any viewpoint which is the writer’s very own must not be cited because this is exclusive to him and is considered his own work. If one is borrowing the same words of someone else, then it is a must that the citations are provided so that the work is not regarded as plagiarized. This is important as it gives the actual writer the much needed attention that he deserves with respect to his work.

It also allots significance to the fact that the academic writer has made use of others’ works and properly credited them for their respective work areas (Cryer 2000). Outside sources must also be used when work is paraphrased because the main content is of the original author that made use of the text within his written piece in essence. This is an important barometer for measuring the depth of genuineness within work and hence gives a good indicator as to whether someone has taken information from someone else or written it by his own self.

Paraphrasing is a good thing but it must be done in such a way that it brings the viewpoint of the academic writer within the written piece as well. He must not change the words alone rather provide his own inputs so that the written piece is elaborate and concise in all directions. However it is always advisable to paraphrase in such a way that the information remains genuine and does not look distorted in any way. This will have a lasting impression on the minds of the readers and give the element of authenticity towards the meaning that is to be transmitted to him.

ReferencesCryer, P. (2000). The Research Students Guide to Success. Open University PressWord Count: 500