Avoiding Plagiarism

To discuss whether plagiarism is in the students’ best interest, we must first acknowledge

what plagiarizing is and how it is done. “Plagiarism is presenting as one’s own in whole or in

part the argument, language, creations, conclusions, or scientific data of another without explicit

acknowledgment” (LibGuides: Avoid Plagiarism: Plagiarism, n.d.). Plagiarism takes form in

many ways. Some common forms of plagiarism include, but are not limited to: using another

person’s words and claiming them as your own, paraphrasing without using the correct citation,

using information from a website and not correctly citing the author, and even using one’s work

from a previous course to fulfill the requirements of another class (LibGuides: Avoid

Plagiarism: Plagiarism, n.d.). Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is wrong, and it

does no one justice to steal the works of another.

While some people commit plagiarism intentionally, it is often an unintentional act.

There are many forms of plagiarizing. It may be easy for people to make the common mistake of

unintentionally committing the action themselves. As technology has expanded rapidly in recent

years, it has made plagiarizing that much easier. With that, many forms of plagiarizing have

come to light. Oftentimes, a person does not have enough knowledge to fully conceptualize the

differences between intentionally plagiarizing something and unintentionally doing so. Many

people lack the skills to evaluate sources critically, differentiate between public information, and

what needs to be cited. Furthermore, they may lack the organizational skills to professionally

write and cite a work (Plagiarism Prevention Guide, (n.d.).

 While plagiarizing is a dishonest and inequitable act that heavily impacts the original

creator, the person most affected is the one that is plagiarizing. When someone makes the

conscious decision to steal works and pass it off as their own, they downplay their potential to

develop content to suit their original ideas. They miss out on the opportunity to fully immerse

themselves into a new learning opportunity. Unfortunately, plagiarizing is often a slippery slope;

someone decides to copy a sentence or two from someone else. Before they know it, they’ve

formed a habit that is lost upon a moral compass (The Ten Consequences of Plagiarism, n.d.).

This only serves as a purpose to discredit their reputation, smear their name, or even possibly get

them into legal trouble.

Plagiarism has been constant since before there were published works. We must

implement a knowledgeable curriculum to facilitate our students’ learning and understanding of

how to credit a source appropriately. The world and subsequently, the internet are ever-evolving.

It is more pertinent now than ever before that we as teachers properly educate our students to

avoid plagiarizing unnecessary consequences.

References

LibGuides: Avoid Plagiarism: Plagiarism. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2020, from

https://library.highline.edu/c.php?g=344491

Plagiarism Prevention Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2020, from

https://www.mga.edu/plagiarism/why.php
The ten consequences of plagiarism. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2020, from

https://irafpa.org/en/about-us/the-ten-consequences-of-plagiarism/