Inspiration is an important instinct of human being. This instinct has leaded the human generations to prosper and develop towards better future but picture is totally different on the other side of coin. Due the lack of hard work and struggle this instinct has somewhere given birth to the crimes like kidnappings, robbery and cheating. Through such crimes one can satisfy its need to get control over its inspirations. This usually happens in the materialistic world but the world of knowledge is not safe from it. Therefore nineteenth century, being crowned as century of knowledge, is facing a new crime popularly known as plagiarism.
The word plagiarized means to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (a created production) without crediting the source VI: to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
(FROM: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 9th ed, (Springfield, Ma: Merriam 1981, p. 870).
Therefore the word plagiarism, is originated from a Latin word which means kidnapping of certain ideas. It is stealing of ideas of other people. Words and ideas are commodity of a particular mind, generating particular thoughts and producing a particular vision. Through plagiarism an effort is made to robe some one else property. Plagiarism can be done intentionally and unintentionally. Sometimes a student or a writer cite some journal, book or website and copies the content without expressing it in his own words. He neither credits the reference nor does he use any quotation marks as safety to avoid plagiarism. Sometimes a student tries to reproduce the content in his own words without knowing that he is stealing the idea or the expression already published. In cases of reproducing the expression sometimes the meanings of a phrase is disturbed. When a student is mixed among many ideas he commits such kind of unintentional crime. Let's clarify our vision of plagiarism by following example.
Recognize Acceptable from Unacceptable
Here's the ORIGINAL text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890s by Joyce Williams et al.:
The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the three great developments of late nineteenth century American history. As new, larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American landscape in the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided jobs for a rising tide of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the Bordens lived) which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade.
Here's an UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase that is plagiarism:
The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three large factors of nineteenth century America. As steam-driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave of immigrants. With industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well as production.
What makes this passage plagiarism?
The preceding passage is considered plagiarism for two reasons:
the writer has only changed around a few words and phrases, or changed the order of the original's sentences
the writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas or facts
If you do either or both of these things, you are plagiarizing.
According to my own point of view one should try to discover the sea of knowledge deep inside the human brain, like the sea,which expresses itself by throwing sea tides. Simialrly we should have our own expression to express ourself. It is the esteem of human being to credit the source of knowledge he has used. Copying one's knowledge is like shadowing the beacons sparkling in us. Palgiarism is a crime and it should be punished to ensure the proper commitment with knowledege we have abosrbed.
In united states if one does not obey the copy rigth law he is on the track of plagiarism. For this crime he would be punished acoording to 17 USC §§ 102, 401, and 405. Similarly in colleges the professors build their careers on the on basis of publications that are printed after their names. But sometimes the research work has been done by some one else. Such publications are an offence of crime which breaks the unfair competitive law. According to US law, “recognizing this harm, the true author could sue the plagiarist in federal court for "false designation of origin", 15 USC § 1125, since the plagiarist was misrepresenting someone else's work as his own. Similarly, there are also possible remedies under state unfair competition law. Restatement of the Law (Third) Unfair Competition §§ 2, 3(b), 5 (1995)”. Plagiarism is a kind of fraud .It can be sued for playing fraud with someone. Many students tend to sell out the examination paper which is a kind of plagiarism. Such kinds of activities bring unfair justice along with acts of severe cheating. In USA this offense is a misdemeanor, with a typical maximum punishment between two and six months in jail or a fine not to exceed US$ 1000. In theory, each act of selling a term paper is a separate offense, so a businessman who sells 1200 term papers could receive consecutive sentences to run for 200 years, at 2 months for each sale.
Plagiarism can be avoided.
Following are some of the ways, through which plagiarism can be avoided.
- Keep track of all references you have cited for doing a particular assignment .Credit them along with the passage you have copied or at the end of assignment.
- Try to express things in your own words without copying the expression of the author. But be aware do not flip the meanings of things while expressing.
- Use Quotation marks while copying the passage or expression.
- For expressing the demographic knowledge pin point the actual findings to make them authenticate.
- Use trademark or copyright law, which ever is applicable to prevent your content from getting misused.
- To avoid cyber crimes of plagiarism special software's must be developed to judge the plagiarism. Such kinds of software's must be frequently used by search engines and publishing web sites to trace out the duplication.
- Professors and teachers should take special steps to create ethical awareness to limit this crime.
- Ample time must be given to students to finish out assignments to avoid plagiarism, so that student can enjoy the fresh feeling of knowledge absorbed by expressing in one's own expression.
Cheating would lead the coming generation to an edge of black hole from where further progress would be limited. We all must take special concern to eliminate it.
