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Friday, January 15, 2010

Plagiarism





Plagiarize: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own /use (another's production) without crediting the source
: to commit literary theft /present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarizing

I feel plagiarism should not be condoned as when someone writes an article, he puts a lot of hard work into it. When we blatantly copy someone's work, it is as good as cheating as all we need to do is find the information and then copy it. Imagine the person taking so much time to write the essay, and for us to instantly copy it and hand it in as our own. How would the author feel? And if that happens to us, how will we feel? The intended use if the essay is for people to refer to the information and understand the topic. Plagiarizing is the same as stealing, just that it is over the internet. People seem to think that since it is over the internet which has a vast array of information ,it is harder for the teachers to find out as compared to the times where you had to copy your essays from books. Actually, with the introduction of the internet, teachers can ‘google’ the essay or use websites such as ‘Essay Rater’ to find out whether a student has plagiarized. So although it has become easier to plagiarize, it has also become easier for teachers to check for plagiarism! But when we write essays, it is imperative that we need some information, so it may be necessary to copy. In that case, we should always cite sources and not copy too much. As Mr. Lundberg said, when in doubt, cite sources. Also, we should use programs like ‘Essay Rater‘(http://www.essayrater.com/ ) or ‘Write Check (http://writecheck.turnitin.com/static/home.html?gclid=CNnshNTpp58CFYItpAodHBla1A ) to ensure that we do not unintentionally plagiarize. All in all, just don't plagiarize!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbAcQcDTxdo

Pictures:
pandemiclabs.com
unf.edu
http://bitsnbytesoflife.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/a-meeting-with-plagiarism/
hwlibrary.wordpress.com