Plagiarism Issues - Essay Example

Most papers are said to lose credibility when they fail to cite the source of information (Roberts, 9). No matter how good one has an understanding of the concept he is putting down. The originality of the conclusion and the conceptualization issues, all come down as useless if plagiarism is detected in his work. We should ensure appropriate citations for our work.

We should ensure academic honesty in whatever we do. Plagiarism makes one not learn how to write his thoughts in his own words. We also fail to acquire individual needs and skills. To avoid this kind of dishonesty and/or misleading by misrepresenting the work of others as our own, we should paraphrase, and cite original work. When one copies exact words, we expect the use of quotation marks followed by a citation of the source. Paraphrasing a sentence will also require one to cite the source. Paraphrasing entails the representation of the writers meaning, information, and ideas in your own words (Watkins, 19). We are also warned of using words that represent another as a way of paraphrasing sentences. Everyone is supposed to use their own words and ideas. The practice that we put into this writing is essential to learning. Each time we choose a word, order our thoughts, and convey our ideas we are improving our writing.

It is important to let the reader be aware of the source of information one is writing from to avoid the redundancy that is created by several sentences describing another’s ideas. We should be careful with what we are citing. It is also good to use an editor to realize common or technical mistakes that arise during our writing (Cvetkovic, 13).

The penalty for plagiarism has not been quoted but it is clear that the act is dishonest and misleading (Lipson, 21). Apart from that it violates the code of academic conduct; this can lead to the deduction of marks, suspension, or dismissal from institutions. When one presents another person’s professional work as his own he devalues and takes unfair advantage of others who do their advantage. It is also wrong to use another author’s work without actually giving the owner the credit or clue. According to Cvetkovic (24), these violations can as well lead to fines, damages, or worse. Therefore, it is better when we create something professional by being creative and playing with the words to deliver original documents for marking.