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essay about plagiarism

Essay on Plagiarism

essay on plagiarism

Here we have shared the Essay on Plagiarism in detail so you can use it in your exam or assignment of 150, 300, 500, or 1000 words.

You can use this Essay on Plagiarism in any assignment or project whether you are in school (class 10th or 12th), college, or answer writing for competitive exams. 

Topics covered in this article.

Essay on Plagiarism in 150 words

Essay on plagiarism in 250-300 words, essay on plagiarism in 500-1000 words.

Plagiarism is a pervasive issue in academia and various fields of work, posing significant ethical concerns. It refers to the act of presenting someone else’s ideas, words, or work as one’s own without proper acknowledgment. Plagiarism undermines intellectual integrity, originality, and the pursuit of knowledge.

Academic plagiarism can lead to severe consequences like failing grades or expulsion, while professional plagiarism can damage reputations and result in legal consequences. To combat plagiarism, it is crucial to promote academic integrity and educate individuals on proper citation practices. By fostering a culture that values originality and proper attribution, we can prevent plagiarism, uphold ethical standards, and encourage the growth of genuine ideas.

In conclusion, plagiarism undermines the principles of honesty, integrity, and intellectual growth. By fostering a culture that encourages originality and proper attribution, we can mitigate the prevalence of plagiarism and uphold the values of academic and professional excellence.

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s work as your own, without proper attribution. It is an ethical issue that undermines originality and knowledge development. Plagiarism undermines intellectual integrity, originality, and the pursuit of knowledge.

Academic plagiarism can lead to severe consequences like failing grades or expulsion, while professional plagiarism can damage reputations and result in legal consequences. Moreover, plagiarism stifles creativity and innovation as it discourages the development of unique ideas and perspectives.

To combat plagiarism, it is crucial to foster a culture of academic integrity and educate individuals about proper citation practices. Educational institutions and educators play a critical role in raising awareness about the importance of originality and providing guidance on how to avoid plagiarism. They can teach students about the various forms of plagiarism, such as copying and pasting from online sources, paraphrasing without proper attribution, or submitting someone else’s work as their own.

Furthermore, promoting the use of proper citation styles, such as APA or MLA, can help students and professionals understand the significance of giving credit to the original authors. Learning how to cite sources correctly ensures that others’ contributions are acknowledged and respected, while also enabling readers to verify the information and engage with the original work.

In addition to education, the availability of plagiarism detection software has become essential in detecting and preventing plagiarism. Institutions can utilize these tools to identify instances of copied content and take appropriate actions to address the issue.

In conclusion, plagiarism undermines the principles of honesty, integrity, and intellectual growth. By fostering a culture that encourages originality, providing education on citation practices, and utilizing plagiarism detection software, we can combat plagiarism effectively. Upholding the values of academic and professional excellence will promote genuine knowledge development, innovation, and ethical conduct in all fields.

Title: Plagiarism: A Threat to Intellectual Integrity and Knowledge Development

Introduction

Plagiarism, the act of using someone else’s work without giving proper credit, is a pervasive issue that poses significant ethical concerns in academic and professional environments. This essay aims to explore the definition of plagiarism, its various forms, the ethical implications associated with it, the consequences in academic and professional settings, and the strategies to combat this unethical practice.

I. Definition and Forms of Plagiarism

Plagiarism can take several forms, including verbatim copying, paraphrasing without proper attribution, and submitting someone else’s work as one’s own. It encompasses the use of ideas, words, or creative expressions without acknowledging the original source. It is essential to recognize that plagiarism is not limited to textual content but also applies to other forms of intellectual property, such as images, graphics, and ideas.

II. Ethical Implications of Plagiarism

Plagiarism raises serious ethical concerns as it violates the principles of honesty, integrity, and respect for intellectual property. When individuals plagiarize, they disregard the effort and originality of the original author. Plagiarism undermines the values of academic and professional integrity, hindering the growth of knowledge and innovation. It diminishes the value of personal effort, discourages critical thinking, and impedes the development of original thought.

III. Consequences of Plagiarism

A. academic consequences, b. professional consequences.

In academic settings, plagiarism is met with severe consequences. Students who engage in plagiarism risk facing disciplinary actions, ranging from failing grades and academic probation to expulsion from educational institutions. These penalties aim to maintain the credibility and academic standards of institutions and promote a culture of originality and integrity.

In professional contexts, individuals who commit plagiarism face severe professional repercussions. Plagiarism can damage one’s reputation, credibility, and career prospects. Professionals who plagiarize risk losing job opportunities, damaging relationships with colleagues and clients, and facing legal consequences. Plagiarism undermines trust and undermines the foundation of professionalism.

IV. Combating Plagiarism

A. promoting academic integrity, b. teaching proper citation, c. utilizing plagiarism detection tools, d. encouraging critical thinking and originality, e. raising awareness and conducting workshops.

Educational institutions play a vital role in promoting academic integrity. They should emphasize the importance of originality, ethical research practices, and proper citation techniques. By instilling a strong sense of academic integrity among students, institutions create an environment that values honesty, fosters critical thinking, and encourages the pursuit of knowledge.

Educators should provide comprehensive guidance on proper citation practices, including different citation styles such as APA, MLA, or Chicago. Students must be taught how to accurately cite sources, attribute ideas, and avoid plagiarism. Understanding the importance of acknowledging the contributions of others and giving credit where it is due is crucial in avoiding plagiarism.

The advent of plagiarism detection software has become an invaluable tool in combating plagiarism. Educational institutions can employ these tools to identify instances of copied content and take appropriate actions to address the issue. Plagiarism detection tools act as deterrents, promoting honesty and discouraging students from engaging in unethical practices.

Educators should foster an environment that encourages critical thinking and originality. Assignments and assessments should promote personal reflection, analysis, and synthesis of ideas. By designing tasks that require students to engage with the material and develop their perspectives, educators can mitigate the temptation to plagiarize and nurture creativity.

Educational institutions and professional organizations should conduct workshops, seminars, and awareness campaigns to educate individuals about plagiarism, its consequences, and how to avoid it. By creating an open dialogue and providing resources on proper citation practices, institutions can empower students and professionals to uphold ethical standards.

Plagiarism is a significant ethical dilemma that undermines intellectual integrity, originality, and the pursuit of knowledge. It is essential to recognize the ethical implications of plagiarism and the severe consequences it poses in academic and professional settings. By promoting academic integrity, teaching proper citation practices, utilizing plagiarism detection tools, encouraging critical thinking, and raising awareness, we can combat plagiarism effectively. Upholding the values of honesty, integrity, and originality not only fosters the growth of genuine knowledge but also ensures the proper attribution of ideas and intellectual property, benefiting both individuals and society as a whole.

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Information about what plagiarism is, and how you can avoid it.

The University defines plagiarism as follows:

“Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition, as is the use of material generated wholly or in part through use of artificial intelligence (save when use of AI for assessment has received prior authorisation e.g. as a reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability). Plagiarism can also include re-using your own work without citation. Under the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.”

The necessity to acknowledge others’ work or ideas applies not only to text, but also to other media, such as computer code, illustrations, graphs etc. It applies equally to published text and data drawn from books and journals, and to unpublished text and data, whether from lectures, theses or other students’ essays. You must also attribute text, data, or other resources downloaded from websites.

Please note that artificial intelligence (AI) can only be used within assessments where specific prior authorisation has been given, or when technology that uses AI has been agreed as reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability (such as voice recognition software for transcriptions, or spelling and grammar checkers).

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good academic practice from the beginning of your university career. Avoiding plagiarism is not simply a matter of making sure your references are all correct, or changing enough words so the examiner will not notice your paraphrase; it is about deploying your academic skills to make your work as good as it can be.

Students will benefit from taking an  online course  which has been developed to provide a useful overview of the issues surrounding plagiarism and practical ways to avoid it.

Forms of plagiarism

Verbatim (word for word) quotation without clear acknowledgement Quotations must always be identified as such by the use of either quotation marks or indentation, and with full referencing of the sources cited. It must always be apparent to the reader which parts are your own independent work and where you have drawn on ideas and language from another source.

Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement Information derived from the Internet must be adequately referenced and included in the bibliography. It is important to evaluate carefully all material found on the Internet, as it is less likely to have been through the same process of scholarly peer review as published sources.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their order, or by closely following the structure of their argument, is plagiarism if you do not give due acknowledgement to the author whose work you are using.

A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough; you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words, indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising. You must also properly attribute all material you derive from lectures.

Collusion This can involve unauthorised collaboration between students, failure to attribute assistance received, or failure to follow precisely regulations on group work projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entirely clear about the extent of collaboration permitted, and which parts of the work must be your own.

Inaccurate citation It is important to cite correctly, according to the conventions of your discipline. As well as listing your sources (i.e. in a bibliography), you must indicate, using a footnote or an in-text reference, where a quoted passage comes from. Additionally, you should not include anything in your references or bibliography that you have not actually consulted. If you cannot gain access to a primary source you must make it clear in your citation that your knowledge of the work has been derived from a secondary text (for example, Bradshaw, D. Title of Book, discussed in Wilson, E., Title of Book (London, 2004), p. 189).

Failure to acknowledge assistance You must clearly acknowledge all assistance which has contributed to the production of your work, such as advice from fellow students, laboratory technicians, and other external sources. This need not apply to the assistance provided by your tutor or supervisor, or to ordinary proofreading, but it is necessary to acknowledge other guidance which leads to substantive changes of content or approach.

Use of material written by professional agencies or other persons You should neither make use of professional agencies in the production of your work nor submit material which has been written for you even with the consent of the person who has written it. It is vital to your intellectual training and development that you should undertake the research process unaided. Under Statute XI on University Discipline, all members of the University are prohibited from providing material that could be submitted in an examination by students at this University or elsewhere.

Auto-plagiarism You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this, or any other, university, unless this is specifically provided for in the special regulations for your course. Where earlier work by you is citable, i.e. it has already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.

Why does plagiarism matter?

Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity. It is a principle of intellectual honesty that all members of the academic community should acknowledge their debt to the originators of the ideas, words, and data which form the basis for their own work. Passing off another’s work as your own is not only poor scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the degrees it issues.

Why should you avoid plagiarism?

There are many reasons to avoid plagiarism. You have come to university to learn to know and speak your own mind, not merely to reproduce the opinions of others - at least not without attribution. At first it may seem very difficult to develop your own views, and you will probably find yourself paraphrasing the writings of others as you attempt to understand and assimilate their arguments. However it is important that you learn to develop your own voice. You are not necessarily expected to become an original thinker, but you are expected to be an independent one - by learning to assess critically the work of others, weigh up differing arguments and draw your own conclusions. Students who plagiarise undermine the ethos of academic scholarship while avoiding an essential part of the learning process.

You should avoid plagiarism because you aspire to produce work of the highest quality. Once you have grasped the principles of source use and citation, you should find it relatively straightforward to steer clear of plagiarism. Moreover, you will reap the additional benefits of improvements to both the lucidity and quality of your writing. It is important to appreciate that mastery of the techniques of academic writing is not merely a practical skill, but one that lends both credibility and authority to your work, and demonstrates your commitment to the principle of intellectual honesty in scholarship.

What happens if you are thought to have plagiarised?

The University regards plagiarism in examinations as a serious matter. Cases will be investigated and penalties may range from deduction of marks to expulsion from the University, depending on the seriousness of the occurrence. Even if plagiarism is inadvertent, it can result in a penalty. The forms of plagiarism listed above are all potentially disciplinary offences in the context of formal assessment requirements.

The regulations regarding conduct in examinations apply equally to the ‘submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, or other coursework not undertaken in formal examination conditions but which counts towards or constitutes the work for a degree or other academic award’. Additionally, this includes the transfer and confirmation of status exercises undertaken by graduate students. Cases of suspected plagiarism in assessed work are investigated under the disciplinary regulations concerning conduct in examinations. Intentional plagiarism in this context means that you understood that you were breaching the regulations and did so intending to gain advantage in the examination. Reckless, in this context, means that you understood or could be expected to have understood (even if you did not specifically consider it) that your work might breach the regulations, but you took no action to avoid doing so. Intentional or reckless plagiarism may incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree or expulsion from the university.

If plagiarism is suspected in a piece of work submitted for assessment in an examination, the matter will be referred to the Proctors. They will thoroughly investigate the claim and call the student concerned for interview. If at this point there is no evidence of a breach of the regulations, no further disciplinary action will be taken although there may still be an academic penalty. However, if it is concluded that a breach of the regulations may have occurred, the Proctors will refer the case to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

If you are suspected of plagiarism your College Secretary/Academic Administrator and subject tutor will support you through the process and arrange for a member of Congregation to accompany you to all hearings. They will be able to advise you what to expect during the investigation and how best to make your case. The Oxford SU Student Advice Service can also provide useful information and support. 

Does this mean that I shouldn’t use the work of other authors?

On the contrary, it is vital that you situate your writing within the intellectual debates of your discipline. Academic essays almost always involve the use and discussion of material written by others, and, with due acknowledgement and proper referencing, this is clearly distinguishable from plagiarism. The knowledge in your discipline has developed cumulatively as a result of years of research, innovation and debate. You need to give credit to the authors of the ideas and observations you cite. Not only does this accord recognition to their work, it also helps you to strengthen your argument by making clear the basis on which you make it. Moreover, good citation practice gives your reader the opportunity to follow up your references, or check the validity of your interpretation.

Does every statement in my essay have to be backed up with references?

You may feel that including the citation for every point you make will interrupt the flow of your essay and make it look very unoriginal. At least initially, this may sometimes be inevitable. However, by employing good citation practice from the start, you will learn to avoid errors such as close paraphrasing or inadequately referenced quotation. It is important to understand the reasons behind the need for transparency of source use.

All academic texts, even student essays, are multi-voiced, which means they are filled with references to other texts. Rather than attempting to synthesise these voices into one narrative account, you should make it clear whose interpretation or argument you are employing at any one time - whose ‘voice’ is speaking.

If you are substantially indebted to a particular argument in the formulation of your own, you should make this clear both in footnotes and in the body of your text according to the agreed conventions of the discipline, before going on to describe how your own views develop or diverge from this influence.

On the other hand, it is not necessary to give references for facts that are common knowledge in your discipline. If you are unsure as to whether something is considered to be common knowledge or not, it is safer to cite it anyway and seek clarification. You do need to document facts that are not generally known and ideas that are interpretations of facts. 

Does this only matter in exams?

Although plagiarism in weekly essays does not constitute a University disciplinary offence, it may well lead to College disciplinary measures. Persistent academic under-performance can even result in your being sent down from the University. Although tutorial essays traditionally do not require the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes and referencing, it is still necessary to acknowledge your sources and demonstrate the development of your argument, usually by an in-text reference. Many tutors will ask that you do employ a formal citation style early on, and you will find that this is good preparation for later project and dissertation work. In any case, your work will benefit considerably if you adopt good scholarly habits from the start, together with the techniques of critical thinking and writing described above.

As junior members of the academic community, students need to learn how to read academic literature and how to write in a style appropriate to their discipline. This does not mean that you must become masters of jargon and obfuscation; however the process is akin to learning a new language. It is necessary not only to learn new terminology, but the practical study skills and other techniques which will help you to learn effectively.

Developing these skills throughout your time at university will not only help you to produce better coursework, dissertations, projects and exam papers, but will lay the intellectual foundations for your future career. Even if you have no intention of becoming an academic, being able to analyse evidence, exercise critical judgement, and write clearly and persuasively are skills that will serve you for life, and which any employer will value.

Borrowing essays from other students to adapt and submit as your own is plagiarism, and will develop none of these necessary skills, holding back your academic development. Students who lend essays for this purpose are doing their peers no favours.

Unintentional plagiarism

Not all cases of plagiarism arise from a deliberate intention to cheat. Sometimes students may omit to take down citation details when taking notes, or they may be genuinely ignorant of referencing conventions. However, these excuses offer no sure protection against a charge of plagiarism. Even in cases where the plagiarism is found to have been neither intentional nor reckless, there may still be an academic penalty for poor practice.

It is your responsibility to find out the prevailing referencing conventions in your discipline, to take adequate notes, and to avoid close paraphrasing. If you are offered induction sessions on plagiarism and study skills, you should attend. Together with the advice contained in your subject handbook, these will help you learn how to avoid common errors. If you are undertaking a project or dissertation you should ensure that you have information on plagiarism and collusion. If ever in doubt about referencing, paraphrasing or plagiarism, you have only to ask your tutor.

Examples of plagiarism

There are some helpful examples of plagiarism-by-paraphrase and you will also find extensive advice on the referencing and library skills pages.

The following examples demonstrate some of the common pitfalls to avoid. These examples use the referencing system prescribed by the History Faculty but should be of use to students of all disciplines.

Source text

From a class perspective this put them [highwaymen] in an ambivalent position. In aspiring to that proud, if temporary, status of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society. Yet their boldness of act and deed, in putting them outside the law as rebellious fugitives, revivified the ‘animal spirits’ of capitalism and became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force. Therefore, it was not enough to hang them – the values they espoused or represented had to be challenged.

(Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213. [You should give the reference in full the first time you use it in a footnote; thereafter it is acceptable to use an abbreviated version, e.g. Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 213.]

Plagiarised

  • Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, posing a serious threat to the formation of a biddable labour force. (This is a patchwork of phrases copied verbatim from the source, with just a few words changed here and there. There is no reference to the original author and no indication that these words are not the writer’s own.)
  • Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen exercised a powerful attraction for the working classes. Some historians believe that this hindered the development of a submissive workforce. (This is a mixture of verbatim copying and acceptable paraphrase. Although only one phrase has been copied from the source, this would still count as plagiarism. The idea expressed in the first sentence has not been attributed at all, and the reference to ‘some historians’ in the second is insufficient. The writer should use clear referencing to acknowledge all ideas taken from other people’s work.)
  • Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen ‘became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London [and] a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force’.1 (This contains a mixture of attributed and unattributed quotation, which suggests to the reader that the first line is original to this writer. All quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and adequately referenced.)
  • Highwaymen’s bold deeds ‘revivified the “animal spirits” of capitalism’ and made them an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London.1 Peter Linebaugh argues that they posed a major obstacle to the formation of an obedient labour force. (Although the most striking phrase has been placed within quotation marks and correctly referenced, and the original author is referred to in the text, there has been a great deal of unacknowledged borrowing. This should have been put into the writer’s own words instead.)
  • By aspiring to the title of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, highwaymen did not challenge the unfair taxonomy of their society. Yet their daring exploits made them into outlaws and inspired the antagonistic culture of labouring London, forming a grave impediment to the development of a submissive workforce. Ultimately, hanging them was insufficient – the ideals they personified had to be discredited.1 (This may seem acceptable on a superficial level, but by imitating exactly the structure of the original passage and using synonyms for almost every word, the writer has paraphrased too closely. The reference to the original author does not make it clear how extensive the borrowing has been. Instead, the writer should try to express the argument in his or her own words, rather than relying on a ‘translation’ of the original.)

Non-plagiarised

  • Peter Linebaugh argues that although highwaymen posed no overt challenge to social orthodoxy – they aspired to be known as ‘Gentlemen of the Road’ – they were often seen as anti-hero role models by the unruly working classes. He concludes that they were executed not only for their criminal acts, but in order to stamp out the threat of insubordinacy.1 (This paraphrase of the passage is acceptable as the wording and structure demonstrate the reader’s interpretation of the passage and do not follow the original too closely. The source of the ideas under discussion has been properly attributed in both textual and footnote references.)
  • Peter Linebaugh argues that highwaymen represented a powerful challenge to the mores of capitalist society and inspired the rebelliousness of London’s working class.1 (This is a brief summary of the argument with appropriate attribution.) 1 Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism

It's not enough to know why plagiarism is taken so seriously in the academic world or to know how to recognize it. You also need to know how to avoid it. The simplest cases of plagiarism to avoid are the intentional ones: If you copy a paper from a classmate, buy a paper from the Internet, copy whole passages from a book, article, or Web site without citing the author, you are plagiarizing. Here's the best advice you'll ever receive about avoiding intentional plagiarism: If you're tempted to borrow someone else's ideas or plagiarize in any way because you're pressed for time, nervous about how you're doing in a class, or confused about the assignment, don't do it . The problems you think you're solving by plagiarizing are really minor compared to the problems you will create for yourself by plagiarizing. In every case, the consequences of plagiarism are much more serious than the consequences of turning in a paper late or turning in a paper you're not satisfied to have written.

"...the consequences of plagiarism are much more serious than the consequences of turning in a paper late..."

The consequences of accidental plagiarism are equally daunting and should be avoided at all costs. Whether or not you intended to plagiarize, you will still be held responsible. As a member of an intellectual community you are expected to respect the ideas of others in the same way that you would respect any other property that didn't belong to you, and this is true whether you plagiarize on purpose or by accident. The best way to make sure you don't plagiarize due to confusion or carelessness is to 1) understand what you're doing when you write a paper and 2) follow a method that is systematic and careful as you do your research . In other words, if you have a clear sense of what question you're trying to answer and what knowledge you're building on, and if you keep careful, clear notes along the way, it's much easier to use sources effectively and responsibly and, most of all, to write a successful paper. If you have questions about plagiarism at any point in your research or writing process, ask. It's always better to ask questions than it is to wait for an instructor to respond to work that you have turned in for a grade. Once you have turned in your final work, you will be held responsible for misuse of sources.

With these principles in mind, here are some guidelines for conducting research responsibly:

Keep track of your sources; print electronic sources

While it's easy enough to keep a stack of books or journal articles on your desk where you can easily refer back to them, it's just as important to keep track of electronic sources. When you save a PDF of a journal article, make sure you put it into a folder on your computer where you'll be able to find it. When you consult a Web site, log the Web address in a separate document from the paper you're writing so that you'll be able to return to the Web site and cite it correctly. You should also print the relevant pages from any Web sites you use, making sure you note the complete URL and the date on which you printed the material. Because electronic sources aren't stable and Web pages can be deleted without notice, beware of directing your readers to sources that might have disappeared. Check when the Web site you're using was last updated and update the URLs as you work and once again right before you submit your essay. If an electronic source disappears before you submit your work, you will need to decide whether or not to keep the source in your paper. If you have printed the source and can turn it in with your paper, you should do so. If you have not printed the source, you should consult your instructor about whether or not to use that source in your paper.

The library has several helpful resources for managing your sources, including RefWorks .

Keep sources in correct context

Whenever you consult a source, you should make sure you understand the context, both of the ideas within a source and of the source itself. You should also be careful to consider the context in which a source was written. For example, a book of essays published by an organization with a political bias might not present an issue with adequate complexity for your project.

The question of context can be more complicated when you're working with Internet sources than with print sources because you may see one Web page as separate from an entire Web site and use or interpret that page without fully understanding or representing its context. For example, a definition of "communism" taken from a Web site with a particular political agenda might provide one interpretation of the meaning of the word—but if you neglect to mention the context for that definition you might use it as though it's unbiased when it isn't. Likewise, some Internet searches will take you to a URL that's just one Web page within a larger Web site; be sure to investigate and take notes on the context of the information you're citing.

Research can often turn out to be more time-consuming that you anticipate. Budget enough time to search for sources, to take notes, and to think about how to use the sources in your essay. Moments of carelessness are more common when you leave your essay until the last minute and are tired or stressed. Honest mistakes can lead to charges of plagiarism just as dishonesty can; be careful when note-taking and when incorporating ideas and language from electronic sources so you always know what language and ideas are yours and what belongs to a source.

Don't cut and paste: File and label your sources

Never cut and paste information from an electronic source straight into your own essay, and never type verbatim sentences from a print source straight into your essay. Instead, open a separate document on your computer for each source so you can file research information carefully. When you type or cut and paste into that document, make sure to include the full citation information for the print source or the full URL and the date you copied the page(s). For Web sources, make sure to cite the page from which you're taking information, which may not necessarily be the home page of the site you're using. Use logical and precise names for the files you create, and add citation information and dates. This allows you to retrieve the files easily, deters you from accidentally deleting files, and helps you keep a log of the order in which your research was conducted. It's a good idea to add a note to each file that describes how you might use the information in that file. Remember: you're entering a conversation with your sources, and accurate file names and notes can help you understand and engage that conversation. And, of course, always remember to back up your files.

Keep your own writing and your sources separate

Work with either the printed copy of your source(s) or (in the case of online sources), the copy you pasted into a separate document—not the online version—as you draft your essay. This precaution not only decreases the risk of plagiarism but also enables you to annotate your sources in various ways that will help you understand and use them most effectively in your essay.

Keep your notes and your draft separate

Be careful to keep your research notes separate from your actual draft at all stages of your writing process. This will ensure that you don't cut language from a source and paste it into your paper without proper attribution. If you work from your notes, you're more likely to keep track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those in a source.

Paraphrase carefully in your notes; acknowledge your sources explicitly when paraphrasing

When you want to paraphrase material, it's a good idea first to paste the actual quotation into your notes (not directly into your draft) and then to paraphrase it (still in your notes). Putting the information in your own words will help you make sure that you've thought about what the source is saying and that you have a good reason for using it in your paper. Remember to use some form of notation in your notes to indicate what you've paraphrased and mention the author's name within the material you paraphrase. You should also include all citation information in your notes.

When you decide to use paraphrased material in your essay, make sure that you avoid gradually rewording the paraphrased material from draft to draft until you lose sight of the fact that it's still a paraphrase. Also, avoid excessive paraphrasing in which your essay simply strings together a series of paraphrases. When the ideas taken from your sources start to blend in deceptively with your own thinking, you will have a more difficult time maintaining the boundaries between your ideas and those drawn from sources. Finally, whenever you paraphrase, make sure you indicate, at each logical progression, that the ideas are taken from an authored source.

Avoid reading a classmate's paper for inspiration

If you're in a course that requires peer review or workshops of student drafts, you are going to read your classmates' work and discuss it. This is a productive way of exchanging ideas and getting feedback on your work. If you find, in the course of this work, that you wish to use someone else's idea at some point in your paper (you should never use someone else's idea as your thesis, but there may be times when a classmate's idea would work as a counterargument or other point in your paper), you must credit that person the same way you would credit any other source. On the other hand, if you find yourself reading someone else's paper because you're stuck on an assignment and don't know how to proceed, you may end up creating a problem for yourself because you might unconsciously copy that person's ideas. When you're stuck, make an appointment with your instructor or go to the Writing Center for advice on how to develop your own ideas.

Don't save your citations for later

Never paraphrase or quote from a source without immediately adding a citation. You should add citations in your notes, in your response papers, in your drafts, and in your revisions. Without them, it's too easy to lose track of where you got a quotation or an idea and to end up inadvertently taking credit for material that's not your own.

Quote your sources properly

Always use quotation marks for directly quoted material, even for short phrases and key terms.

Keep a source trail

As you write and revise your essay, make sure that you keep track of your sources in your notes and in each successive draft of your essay. You should begin this process early, even before you start writing your draft. Even after you've handed in your essay, keep all of your research notes and drafts. You ought to be able to reconstruct the path you took from your sources to your notes and from your notes to your drafts and revision. These careful records and clear boundaries between your writing and your sources will help you avoid plagiarism. And if you are called upon to explain your process to your instructor, you'll be able to retrace the path you took when thinking, researching, and writing, from the essay you submitted back through your drafts and to your sources.

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

What this handout is about

This handout explains what plagiarism is and outlines steps students can follow to avoid plagiarizing.

What is plagiarism?

At UNC, plagiarism is defined as “deliberate or reckless representation of another’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise” ( Instrument of Student Judicial Governance 5). Because it is considered a form of cheating, the Office of the Dean of Students can punish students who plagiarize with course failure and suspension. Full information can be found on the UNC Honor System page.

Often when students plagiarize, they do not intentionally steal another person’s work. Instead, they plagiarize by accident because they do not have a complete understanding of what constitutes plagiarism. This is what we mean by “reckless.” If you fail to give proper credit to someone else’s ideas because you didn’t know you were supposed to or because you didn’t know how to do so, you face the same consequences as if you intentionally stole someone else’s work. Therefore, it is your responsibility to understand when and how to acknowledge someone else’s contribution.

Why are my instructors so concerned about plagiarism?

In order to understand plagiarism, it helps to understand the process of sharing and creating ideas in the university. All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are drawing on other people’s ideas. Building on their ideas and experiences, we create our own. When you put your ideas on paper, your instructors want to distinguish between the building block ideas borrowed from other people and your own newly reasoned perspectives or conclusions. You make these distinctions in a written paper by citing the sources for your building block ideas. Providing appropriate citations will also help readers who are interested in your topic find additional, related material to read—in this way, they will be able to build on the work you have done to find sources.

Think of it this way: in the vast majority of assignments you’ll get in college, your instructors will ask you to read something (think of this material as the building blocks) and then write a paper in which you analyze one or more aspects of what you have read (think of this as the new structure you build). Essentially, your instructors are asking you to do three things:

  • Show that you have a clear understanding of the material you’ve read.
  • Refer to your sources to support the ideas you have developed.
  • Distinguish your analysis of what you’ve read from the authors’ analyses.

When you cite a source, you are using an expert’s ideas as proof or evidence of a new idea that you are trying to communicate to the reader.

What about “common knowledge”?

In every professional field, experts consider some ideas “common knowledge,” but remember that you’re not a professional (yet). In fact, you’re just learning about those concepts in the course you’re taking, so the material you are reading may not yet be “common knowledge” to you. In order to decide if the material you want to use in your paper constitutes “common knowledge,” you may find it helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Did I know this information before I took this course?
  • Did this information/idea come from my own brain?

If you answer “no” to either or both of these questions, then the information is not “common knowledge” to you. In these cases, you need to cite your source(s) and indicate where you first learned this bit of what may be “common knowledge” in the field.

What about paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing means taking another person’s ideas and putting those ideas in your own words. Paraphrasing does NOT mean changing a word or two in someone else’s sentence, changing the sentence structure while maintaining the original words, or changing a few words to synonyms. If you are tempted to rearrange a sentence in any of these ways, you are writing too close to the original. That’s plagiarizing, not paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is a fine way to use another person’s ideas to support your argument as long as you attribute the material to the author and cite the source in the text at the end of the sentence. In order to make sure you are paraphrasing in the first place, take notes from your reading with the book closed. Doing so will make it easier to put the ideas in your own words. When you are unsure if you are writing too close to the original, check with your instructor BEFORE you turn in the paper for a grade. So, just to be clear—do you need to cite when you paraphrase? Yes, you do!

How can I avoid plagiarizing?

Now that you understand what plagiarism is, you’re ready to employ the following steps to avoid plagiarizing in your written work.

Step 1: Accentuate the positive. Understand the value of citations.

Do you feel that you use too many citations? Too few? Many students worry that if they use too many citations their instructors will think that they’re relying too heavily on the source material and therefore not thinking for themselves. In fact, however, using citations allows you to demonstrate clearly how well you understand the course material while also making clear distinctions between what the authors have to say and your analysis of their ideas.

Thus, rather than making your paper look less intellectually sophisticated, using citations allows you to show off your understanding of the material and the assignment. And instead of showing what you don’t know, citing your sources provides evidence of what you do know and of the authority behind your knowledge. Just make sure that your paper has a point, main idea, or thesis that is your own and that you organize the source material around that point.

Are you worried that you have too few citations? Double-check your assignment to see if you have been given any indication of the number or kind of source materials expected. Then share your writing with another reader. Do you have enough evidence or proof to support the ideas you put forward? Why should the reader believe the points you have made? Would adding another, expert voice strengthen your argument? Who else agrees or disagrees with the ideas you have written? Have you paraphrased ideas that you have read or heard? If so, you need to cite them. Have you referred to or relied on course material to develop your ideas? If so, you need to cite it as well.

Step 2: How can I keep track of all this information? Improve your note-taking skills.

Once you’ve reconsidered your position on using citations, you need to rethink your note-taking practices. Taking careful notes is simply the best way to avoid plagiarism. And improving your note-taking skills will also allow you to refine your critical thinking skills. Here’s how the process works:

(1) Start by carefully noting all the bibliographic information you’ll need for your works cited page. (See #3 for more details on how to determine exactly what information you’ll need for different kinds of sources.) If you’re photocopying an article or section out of a book or journal, why not photocopy the front pages of the source as well? That way you’ll have the bibliographic information if you need it later. If you forget to gather the information for a book, you can usually get it from the library’s online card catalogue. Simply pull up the entry for the book you used to see the bibliographic information on that source. If you’re working on an article from a journal, you can return to the database from which you got the original citation to find the bibliographic information.

(2) Next, try thinking about your notes as a kind of transitional space between what you’ve read and what you’re preparing to write. Imagine yourself having a conversation with the author of the story/novel/play/poem/article/book you’re reading, in which you repeatedly ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the author trying to explain?
  • Why do they think these points are important?
  • How have they decided to construct the argument?
  • How does the structure of the argument affect the reader’s response to the author’s ideas?
  • How effective is the author’s argument?

Adopting this “conversational” approach to note-taking will improve your analysis of the material by leading you to notice not just what the author says, but also how and why the author communicates their ideas. This strategy will also help you avoid the very common temptation of thinking that the author’s way of explaining something is much better than anything you could write. If you are tempted to borrow the author’s language, write your notes with the book closed to ensure that you are putting the ideas into your own words. If you’ve already taken a step away from the author’s words in your notes, you’ll find it easier to use your own words in the paper you write.

(3) Finally, be careful to use quotation marks to distinguish the exact words used by the author from your own words so that when you return to your notes later in the writing process, you won’t have to guess which ideas are yours and which ones came directly from the text. You’ll have to experiment with different note-taking techniques until you find the one that works best for you, but here’s one example of how your notes might look:

James Leoni, trans. Ten Books on Architecture by Leone Battista Alberti. London: Alec Tirani, Ltd., 1955.

BOOK I, CHAPTER X: “Of the Columns and Walls, and Some Observations Relating to the Columns”

(p. 14) Alberti begins by talking about walls, and then says a row of columns is simply “a Wall open and discontinued in several Places;” he says the column supports the roof, and that columns are the most beautiful of the architectural elements; here, he’ll address what columns have in common, and later he’ll discuss their differences.

(p. 14) all columns rest on a plinth (or dye), which supports a base, which supports the column, which is topped by a capital; columns are usually widest at the base, and taper toward the top; Alberti says the column was invented simply to hold up the roof, but men sought to make their buildings “immortal and eternal,” so they embellished columns with architraves, entablatures, etc.

Notice that you can adapt this note-taking strategy to any format—whether you prefer to take notes by hand, on note cards, on your computer, or some other way. For more information on developing an effective note-taking technique, you can consult any grammar handbook. Here are a few particularly helpful ones:

Leonard J. Rosen and Laurence Behren. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook. 4th ed., Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

Kate L. Turabian. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Step 3: So many details, so little time! Locate the appropriate style manual.

Don’t worry—no one can remember all the different citation conventions used in all the different university disciplines! Citing your sources appropriately is a matter of:

  • determining which style your instructor wants you to use,
  • finding the appropriate style manual, and
  • copying the “formula” it gives for each type of source you use.

First, carefully read the assignment to determine what citation style your instructor wants you to use (APA, MLA, Chicago, and CSE are the most common). If they don’t specify a citation style in the assignment, check your syllabus, coursepack, and/or Sakai site. If you can’t find the citation style in any of those places, ask your instructor what style they prefer.

Second, academic citation styles follow specific formats, so making an educated guess about how to structure your citations and works cited page is usually not a good idea. Instead, find the specified style manual in the reference section of the library, on the reference shelf in the Writing Center, or online.

Finally, style manuals provide easy-to-follow formulas for your citations. For example, the MLA handbook provides the following format for citing a book by a single author:

Author’s name. Title of the book. Publication information.

You can use this formula for your own citation by simply plugging in the information called for, following the format of the formula itself. Here’s an example of how that might look:

Berlage, Gai Ingham. Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History. Praeger, 1994.

If you’d like more information on citation styles, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Step 4: Seek instruction.

Tell your professors that you’d like to make sure you’re not plagiarizing. Ask them if they’d be willing to meet with you to review your draft before you turn it in for a grade. Ask if they’d be willing to help you identify any passages that need better citation. Bring your draft, your notes, and your sources so your professor can see the original. Be proactive in this process! Point out areas you’re not sure about. Don’t wait silently, thinking that a passage must be okay if the professor doesn’t point it out. Have this conversation well before the draft is due, and explain to your professor that you are trying not to be reckless.

Also remember that you can make an appointment with a Writing Center coach. Bring your draft and source materials, and show your coach the passages you’re concerned about. Your coach can teach you strategies for paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting effectively, and for attributing properly.

How can I tell whether I’ve plagiarized?

If you’ve followed the above guidelines but still aren’t sure whether you’ve plagiarized, you can double-check your work using the checklist below.

You need to cite your source, even if:

  • you put all direct quotes in quotation marks.
  • you changed the words used by the author into synonyms.
  • you completely paraphrased the ideas to which you referred.
  • your sentence is mostly made up of your own thoughts, but contains a reference to the author’s ideas.
  • you mention the author’s name in the sentence.

**The moral of this handout: When in doubt, give a citation.**

Where can I look for more information on UNC’s policies regarding plagiarism?

If you’re interested in exactly how plagiarism is defined for the UNC community, see the Honor System webpage . Because it is considered a form of academic cheating and constitutes a serious violation of the University’s Honor Code, the usual punishment for a student found guilty of plagiarizing is suspension for one semester and an “F” in the course.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Alberti, Leone Battista. 1955. Ten Books on Architecture . London: Alec Tiranti.

Modern Language Association. 2016. MLA Handbook , 8th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook , 5th ed. New York: Longman.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Plagiarism Overview 

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Plagiarism  is  using  someone else’s ideas or words without giving them proper credit.  Plagiarism can range from unintentional (forgetting to include a source in a bibliography) to intentional (buying a paper online, using another writer’s ideas as your own to make your work sound smarter). Beginning writers and expert writers   alike can all plagiarize.  Understand that plagiarism is a serious charge in academia, but also in professional setting s . 

If you are...

  • a student — consequences can include failing grades on assignments or classes, academic probation, and even expulsion.
  • a researcher — plagiarism can cause a loss of credibility, legal consequences, and other professional consequences.
  • an employee in a corporate or similar setting — you can receive a reprimand or lose your job.

It is important to recognize that standards and conventions for citing sources vary from the classroom to scholarly publishing to the professional sphere, sometimes very widely, but in all  situations  we must attribute other people’s words and ideas to their appropriate source.

Please note:  This resource, which does not reflect any official university policy, is designed to help you develop strategies for knowing how to avoid accidental plagiarism. For instructors seeking a key statement on definitions and avoidance on plagiarism, see  Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices .  

In addition, there is a one page handout available that provides an overview of plagiarism with answers to common questions asked about how to avoid it.

Intellectual Challenges in American Academic Writing

There are some intellectual challenges that all students are faced with when writing. Sometimes these challenges can almost seem like contradictions, particularly when addressing them within a single paper.   

For example, American teachers often instruct students to:  

  • Develop a topic based on what has already been said and written   BUT write something new and original.  
  • Rely on experts’ and authorities’ opinions BUT build upon and/or disagree with those opinions.
  • Give credit to previous researchers BUT make your own significant contribution.  
  • Improve your English to fit into a discourse community by building upon what you hear and read BUT use your own words and your own voices.  

This may sound confusing, however, something simple to keep in mind when it comes to research is: You are not reinventing the wheel, you are simply contributing in a significant way. For beginners, this can be a challenge, but once you start to see that there is a pattern that is unique to you, you will find that plagiarism is not needed. Remember — your professor or your supervisor want your ideas to build on what is already established or familiar and NOT to simply repurpose someone else’s ideas and calling it your own.   

Why is understanding this so important? Plagiarism is not a victimless crime. Someone, including yourself, will get hurt.   

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Essay on Plagiarism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Plagiarism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Plagiarism

Understanding plagiarism.

Plagiarism is when you use someone else’s work without giving them credit. This could be a book, an article, a picture, or even a piece of music. It’s like stealing.

Why is Plagiarism Wrong?

Plagiarism is wrong because it’s unfair to the original creator. It also doesn’t allow you to learn and grow. You miss out on the chance to develop your own ideas and skills.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, always give credit to the original creator. This is called citing. Also, try to write in your own words as much as possible.

250 Words Essay on Plagiarism

Plagiarism, a term derived from the Latin word ‘plagiarius’ meaning ‘kidnapper’, refers to the act of using someone else’s work without giving them due credit. It is a serious ethical breach that can have far-reaching consequences in academia and beyond.

Types of Plagiarism

Consequences of plagiarism.

The repercussions of plagiarism are severe and multifaceted. In academia, it can lead to failure in assignments, expulsion, and a tarnished reputation. In the professional world, it can result in legal action, job loss, and damaged credibility.

Preventing Plagiarism

Preventing plagiarism necessitates a strong understanding of proper citation and referencing techniques. It also requires a commitment to integrity and respect for intellectual property. Using plagiarism detection tools can further assist in ensuring originality.

The Role of Technology

Technology plays a double-edged role in plagiarism. While it has made it easier to access and copy others’ work, it has also provided tools to detect and prevent plagiarism. It is thus a powerful ally in fostering academic honesty.

In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious issue that requires concerted effort to combat. By understanding its forms and consequences, and by leveraging technology, we can promote a culture of integrity and originality in academia and beyond.

500 Words Essay on Plagiarism

Introduction.

Plagiarism is a pervasive issue in academic, professional, and creative spaces, often leading to serious consequences. It involves appropriating someone else’s work and presenting it as one’s own, without giving due credit to the original author. This act not only violates academic and professional ethics but also stifles personal growth and creativity.

Implications of Plagiarism

The implications of plagiarism are far-reaching. It can lead to academic penalties, professional disgrace, and legal repercussions. It devalues the effort and creativity of original authors and compromises the integrity of academic and professional fields. Furthermore, those who plagiarize miss out on the opportunity to develop critical thinking, research, and writing skills – aspects that are integral to personal and professional growth.

Preventing plagiarism requires a concerted effort from both institutions and individuals. Educational institutions should have strict policies against plagiarism and should educate students about its implications. They should also use plagiarism detection tools to maintain the integrity of academic work.

In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious issue that undermines the value of education and research, and it should be actively discouraged. It is essential for students and professionals to understand the implications of plagiarism and to strive for integrity and originality in their work. By doing so, they will not only uphold academic and professional standards but also foster personal growth and innovation.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Happy studying!

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Plagiarism Essay | Essay on Plagiarism Essay for Students and Children in English

February 14, 2024 by Prasanna

Plagiarism Essay: The representation of another author’s ideas, thoughts, expression or language as one’s own original work is plagiarism. Depending on the institution, the definition of plagiarism does differ in the educational context. A breach of journalistic ethics and academic integrity is considered to be violated by the practice of plagiarism.

In all other countries, plagiarism might not be the same. Some countries, like Poland and India, consider plagiarism to be a crime, and people do get imprisoned for plagiarizing in some cases. In other instances, some countries find the act of plagiarizing a professional’s work flattering and might be the complete opposite of “academic dishonesty”.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Plagiarism for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic Plagiarism for reference.

Long Essay on Plagiarism Essay 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Plagiarism Essay is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s ideas, words, work, production, ideas and researches without the approval or the acknowledgement of the writer or producer, and claiming the credit as one’s original work. Cultural, linguistic, environmental, historical and educational background one of the many reasons and factors that attribute for the use of plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty, digital cheating and academic misconduct are various forms of plagiarism. Plagiarism is declared to be an unacceptable legal act and violation of institutional regulations. Increase in the understanding of how to use digital technology to facilitate their academic writing in schools, universities and instructors will decrease plagiarism and does leave a positive effect on student writings.

Students are often confused about what is considered plagiarism and what is not. The students must ask their respective instructors about some of the grey areas and if they have any questions about it. Plagiarism can be the ground for failure in a course and should be taken very seriously.

Another important point is that the standards become higher as you progress in your education. Being a student, you are expected to have your own ideas and present them in your respective College. Also, one should have the ability to read information and explain it in their own words. Your understanding level for something is not properly exhibited if you complete an assignment by copying material. Only that you can repeat what the textbook says does not show that you understand.

One might think that they would never plagiarize, but many plagiarism cases are the result of a lack of self-confidence, negligence or ignorant. Taking of Sloppy note, not having good sources in the paper itself but citing sources in the bibliography, often slavishly copying someone’s ideas, in the same order, feelings of inadequacy, misunderstanding what constitutes plagiarism and Last-minute panic can be a few reasons why even good students sometimes plagiarize, for instance, while handing in similar papers while working on an assignment with others.

Yet even the plagiarism should be with no excuse even on the grounds of inadvertent and unintended, ignorance. One need to present your argument and cite their sources.

Many institutions use plagiarism checker to check for plagiarism but also for marking and providing feedback. The tool is primarily detects borrowed content and provide aid to the instructor. Plagiarism checker also provides a resource that is more directly meant for students. Checkers not only checks for originality, but it also provides grammar tips.

You can now access more Essay Writing on this topic and many more.

One must take the help of an instructor to know the institution’s rules inside and out. It would be better to assign a smaller penalty (e.g., a 10% deduction). The instructor thus has to know the rules and to apply them generously in favour of the student.

The culture of googling has a detrimental effect on students’ self-confidence. Instead of thinking for themselves, students begin most assignments by seeing what other people have to say. As a society, we have to encourage students to believe in themselves, to trust that they can be great independent thinkers. That’s the only way to deal with plagiarism properly.

Short Essay on Plagiarism Essay 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Plagiarism Essay is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Plagiarism is known as the representation of another author’s ideas, thoughts, expression or language as one’s own original work. A breach of journalistic ethics and academic integrity gets violated by the practice of plagiarism, and its definition differs depending on the institution.

Countries like Poland and India, consider plagiarism to be a crime and provides imprisonment in some cases. While others consider the act of plagiarizing a professional’s work of flattering and the complete opposite of “academic dishonesty”.

Students think that they would never plagiarize, but many plagiarism cases are the result of a lack of self-confidence, negligence or ignorant. A few reasons like sloppy note, slavishly copying, or last-minute panic are why even good students sometimes plagiarize.

Plagiarism checkers and having a proper instructor to keep a check on plagiarism will encourage the students to believe in themselves, to trust that they can be great independent thinkers. That’s the only way to deal with plagiarism properly.

10 Lines on Plagiarism Essay in English

1. Students should give credit to the original source of ideas that they are using or mentioning. 2. A student must not assume that only direct quotations need to be cited. 3. Do not be the bearer of bad news by simply re-arranging the wording of a quote or idea doesn’t get you out of the need to cite the source. 4. Using your own work can be classed as plagiarism if you use the same idea twice, and you don’t reference it. 5. The 47th Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, to withdraw his bid of allegations of plagiarism at law school for the presidency in 1988 (Dionne Jr). 6. The University College of San Diego has an office dedicated to stamping out plagiarism and cheating, and enhance ethical decision-making to maintain academic integrity. 7. Downloading selling pre-written essays from online agencies have serious consequences that should deter you if found guilty by the institutions. 8. Most tutors are pretty good at detecting a change in their student’s usual writing style or academic ability. If not, colleges can use anti-plagiarism detection software to double-check that all work is your own. 9. Professionals releasing plagiarized work into the public domain can ensure lawsuits often running into millions of dollars as copyright law applies to everyone. 10. Simply keeping a good record of the sources that you use, and works cited lists, footnotes, and annotated bibliographies can help you to avoid plagiarism.

FAQ’s on Plagiarism Essay

Question 1.  What is plagiarism essay?

Answer:  The essay discussing the act of stealing and passing off ideas of another as one’s own, also known as plagiarism.

Question 2. How many words does it take to plagiarize?

Answer:  It takes five words to plagiarize.

Question 3.  What are the four types of plagiarisms?

Answer:  Direct, Self, Mosaic, Accidental Plagiarism are the four types.

Question 4. How do we avoid plagiarism?

Answer:  Keeping a track on the sources, paraphrasing, credit the original author and use a plagiarism checker are a few ways to avoid plagiarism.

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Causes and Effects of Plagiarism Essay

  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment

Every human being has an inherent element of creativity within, and this enables that person to produce works of art. Those who recognize such traits and nourish them become good in particular arts or crafts. Writing is perhaps the most significant of art forms because everybody has to indulge in this activity as part of his or her routine. This may be the reason why developing adequate writing skills is considered as a crucial part of a person’s academic life. Plagiarism is an act of copying someone’s writing or any other form of creative output and using it as if it were the user’s own creation. In other words, it is a kind of ‘intellectual plunder’, which means a person is stealing something conceived and created by another individual and pretending that it is his or her own work. This, obviously, is an act to be condemned because it nullifies the values of originality, creativity, integrity morality and ethics.

Plagiarism is basically wrong because it is an act of stealing another person’s work and using it for a specific purpose. The values and principles imbibed in human beings teach them that ‘stealing’ is a wrong thing ethically besides being a criminal offence. Laws in all counties across this universe recognize ‘stealing’ as a criminal offence which needs to be tried in a court of law. Thus the civilized society wants every citizen to abstain from this activity. In the same context, stealing the creative work of another person and using it for one’s purpose, must be seen as a heinous offence and suitably dealt with. The morals, values and principles that humans have been taught to follow, are against stealing of any kind and, therefore, plagiarism which is an act of intellectual theft, should be avoided.

As stated in the introduction all humans are born with an element of creativity. Individuals who nourish this trait can hone up their talents and become good artists. Writing is a daily activity that every person has to indulge in, and this is especially significant in the case of students who pursue academic degrees. Students therefore, need to acknowledge the fact that they also possess a talent element of creativity and only by grooming it to full maturity they can tap their potential. Thus they need to nourish their writing from the very beginning itself and appropriately improve their skills at every level of their academic career graph, to become effective writers. When a student commits plagiarism it mars the creativity in that person and he or she, instead of learning the art of writing will end up copying and learn nothing on his or her own. This defeats the very purpose of education. Therefore, students should desist from activities like plagiarising to become real learners.

Personal and academic integrity are qualities that are very important for students. At no stage in their academic life should they allow these traits to be eroded by activities that are considered as unethical or immoral. Students should also include in them respect for values and principles. From the above discussions, it emerges that plagiarism, besides being unethical and immoral, is an act of criminal offence at par with stealing. Moreover, it destroys rather than enhances the creativity in students who are pursuing academic goals. Thus it can be stated that plagiarism is a wrong thing to do and all students should avoid it all together.

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  • v.50(6); Nov-Dec 2016

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What is plagiarism and how to avoid it?

Ish kumar dhammi.

Department of Orthopaedics, UCMS and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, New Delhi, India

Rehan Ul Haq

Writing a manuscript is an art. Any clinician or an academician, has a hidden desire to publish his/her work in an indexed journal. Writing has been made mandatory for promotions in certain departments, so the clinicians are more inclined to publish. Often, we note that we (Indian Journal of Orthopaedics) receive more articles from China, Turkey, and South Korea (abroad) instead of from our own country though the journal is an official publication of Indian Orthopaedic Association. Therefore, we have decided to encourage more and more publications, especially from our own country. For that reason, we have decided to educate our members by publishing an editorial on “How to write a paper?,” which is likely to be published soon. In one of our last editorials, we discussed indexing. In this issue, we will be discussing the plagiarism. In forthcoming issues, we are planning to discuss “Ethics in publication,” How to write Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Referencing, Title, Abstract, and Keywords, and then how to write case report which is acceptable. The editorial team tries to help out our readers, so that their hidden instinct of writing their own work could be made true.

D EFINITION OF P LAGIARISM

Plagiarism is derived from Latin word “ plagiarius ” which means “kidnapper,” who abducts the child. 1 The word plagiarism entered the Oxford English dictionary in 1621. Plagiarism has been defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as ones own.” 2 It is an act of forgery, piracy, and fraud and is stated to be a serious crime of academia. 3 It is also a violation of copyright laws. Honesty in scientific practice and in publication is necessary. The World Association of Medical Editors 4 (WAME) defines plagiarism as “… the use of others’ published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source.”

In 1999, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) 5 , 6 defined plagiarism as “Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others’ published and unpublished ideas including research grant applications to submission under new authorship of a complex paper, sometimes in a different language. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing or publication; it applies to print and electronic versions.”

F ORMS OF P LAGIARISM

  • Verbatim plagiarism: When one submits someone else's words verbatim in his/her own name without even acknowledging him publically. Copy and paste from a published article without referencing is a common form of verbatim plagiarism. Most commonly, it is seen in introduction and discussion part of manuscript 2 , 7
  • Mosaic plagiarism: In this type of plagiarism each word is not copied but it involves mixing ones own words in someone else's ideas and opinions. This is copying and pasting in patchy manner 2
  • Paraphrasing: If one rewrites any part/paragraph of manuscript in his/her own words it is called paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is a restatement in your own words, of someone else's ideas. Changing a few words of the original sentences does not make it your writing. Just changing words cannot make it the property of borrower; hence, this should be properly referenced. If it is not referenced, it will amount to plagiarism
  • Duplicate publication: When an author submits identical or almost identical manuscript (same data, results, and discussion) to two different journals, it is considered as duplicate (redundant) publication. 9 As per COPE guidelines, this is an offense and editor can take an action as per the COPE flowchart
  • Augmented publication: If the author adds additional data to his/her previously published work and changes title, modifies aim of the study, and recalculates results, it amounts to augmented publication. Plagiarism detection software usually do not pick it because it is not same by verbatim. This self plagiarism is as such technical plagiarism and is not considered with same strictness as plagiarism. The editor may consider it for publication in the following three situations: If author refers to his/her previous work; if ’methods’ cannot be written in any other form; and if author clearly states that new manuscript contains data from previous publication 10
  • Segmented publication: Also called “Salami-Sliced” publication. In this case, two or more papers are derived from the same experimental/research/original work. Salami-sliced papers are difficult to detect and usually are pointed out by reviewers or readers. The decision regarding such manuscript is again on editor's shoulder. The author must be asked to refer to his/her previously published work and explain reasonably the connection of the segmented paper to his/her previously published work
  • Text recycling: If the author uses large portions of his/her own already published text in his/her new manuscript, it is called text recycling. It can be detected by plagiarism software. It can be handled as per the COPE guidelines.
  • Cyber plagiarism: “Copying or downloading in part or in their entirety articles or research papers and ideas from the internet and not giving proper attribution is unethical and falls in the range of cyber plagiarism” 2
  • Image plagiarism: Using an image or video without receiving proper permission or providing appropriate citation is plagiarism. 7 “Images can be tampered on support findings, promote a specific technique over another to strengthen the correctness of poorly visualized findings, remove the defects of an image and to misrepresent an image from what it really is”? 11

H OW TO D ETECT P LAGIARISM ?

It is generally difficult to detect plagiarism, but information technology has made available few websites which can detect/catch plagiarism. Few of them are www.ithentical.com , www.turnitin.com , www.plagiarism.org , etc. 12

Besides this, learned and watchful reviewers and readers can detect it due to his/her familiarity with published material in his/her area of interest.

H OW TO A VOID P LAGIARISM ?

Practice the ethical writing honestly. Keep honesty in all scientific writings. Crediting all the original sources. When you fail to cite your sources or when you cite them inadequately, you commit plagiarism, an offense that is taken extremely seriously in academic world and is a misconduct. Some simple dos and don’ts 5 are outlined in Table 1 .

Dos and don’ts of plagiarism

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Object name is IJOrtho-50-581-g001.jpg

In the following situation, permission is required to use published work from publisher to avoid plagiarism. 8

  • Directly quoting significant portion of a published work. How much text may be used without approaching publisher for permission is not specified. The best approach is whenever in doubt, ask for permission
  • Reproducing a table
  • Reproducing a figure/image.

H OW TO D EAL W ITH P LAGIARISM

Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and breach of ethics. Plagiarism is not in itself a crime but can constitute copyright infringement. 7 In academia, it is a serious ethical offense. Plagiarism is not punished by law but rather by institutions. Professional associations, educational institutions, and publishing companies can pose penalties, suspensions, and even expulsions of authors. 7

As per the COPE guidelines, “If editors suspect misconduct by authors, reviewer's editorial staff or other editors then they have a duty to take action. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. Editors first see a response from those accused. If the editors are not satisfied with the response, they should ask the employers of the authors, reviewers, or editors or some other appropriate body to investigate and take appropriate action.” 6

If the editor is satisfied that the act of plagiarism has taken place, minimum he should do is “reject” the manuscript if it is in different stage of editorial process and “retract” if it is already published.

To conclude, we must increase awareness about plagiarism and ethical issues among our scientists and authors. We must be honest in our work and should not violate copyright law. There should be serious steps against authors, which should bring disrespect to author and even loss of his academic position.

We will end it by quote of Albert Einstein “Many people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist, they are wrong, it is the character.”

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  • Consequences of Mild, Moderate & Severe Plagiarism

Consequences of Mild, Moderate & Severe Plagiarism

Published on October 18, 2021 by Tegan George . Revised on May 30, 2024.

If you use someone else’s words or ideas without properly crediting them, you could be committing plagiarism . The consequences of plagiarism vary based on the severity of the offense.

Consequences of mild, moderate, and severe plagiarism
Level of plagiarism Examples Likely consequence
Mild Grade penalty or automatic zero
Moderate Failing grade on course
Severe Academic probation or expulsion

Plagiarism can also have serious consequences in high school and during the college application process . Many high schools use plagiarism checkers and treat plagiarism the same way colleges do, and admissions officers will typically disregard your application if they find you’ve plagiarized any part of it.

Table of contents

What colleges say about the consequences of plagiarism, why is plagiarism so serious, frequently asked questions about plagiarism.

Plagiarism in college has serious consequences, even when committed by accident. You can usually find the details of your institution’s plagiarism policy and examples of plagiarism in your code of conduct. If you’re unsure about the specifics, ask your instructor.

Some examples from different institutions are shown below.

  • American University
  • Cerro Coso Community College

“Academic Integrity Code violations are treated very seriously. The misperceived short-term gain from these acts is not worth the long-term consequences of the penalty.

“Sanctions for code violations include loss of credit for the assignment, a failing grade for the course, a permanent notation on the transcript, and dismissal from the university. Second offenses will result in suspension or dismissal from the university.”

Source: American University

“While it is recognized that scholarly work often involves reference to the ideas, data and conclusions of other scholars, intellectual honesty requires that such references be explicitly and clearly noted. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence.”

Source: University of Calgary

“If you are found responsible for academic misconduct, appropriate grade penalties for the infraction will be at the discretion of the instructor in accordance to the syllabus or the course/department policy, if applicable. Grade penalties can range from a grade reduction on the assessment to failure of the course.

In addition, you may also be assigned college sanctions by the Office of Student Academic Affairs.   Most first-time offenses of academic misconduct result in a college-level sanction of disciplinary probation.  

Source: University of Michigan

“An instructor who determines that a student has cheated or plagiarized has a range of many options, which may be as severe as giving the student a failing grade for the course. Furthermore, the student may face other penalties as stated in the college’s Student Conduct Policy. Finally, it must be understood that a student who knowingly aids in another student’s cheating e.g., permitting the other student to copy a paper or examination question, is as guilty as the other of the offense.”

Source: Cerro Coso Community College

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

You might wonder why universities and other organizations impose such serious consequences for plagiarism, even when it’s accidental.

Plagiarism amounts to theft, and there are good reasons for institutions (and for you!) to take it seriously. Plagiarism:

  • Is dishonest : When done deliberately, plagiarism indicates that the person responsible is not honest about their work, which is a problem in any context.
  • Harms the person you’re plagiarizing: It’s easy to see why you wouldn’t want your writing stolen and passed off as someone else’s—especially in publishing.
  • Hinders the learning process: If you’re stealing words and ideas from others, your own creativity is not being tested, and you’re not learning.
  • Obscures the sources of ideas: All academic writing builds on the ideas of others, and it’s important that the reader can clearly trace where those ideas came from.
  • Results in bad writing: Whatever the quality of the text(s) you’re plagiarizing, a paper made up of a patchwork of different unacknowledged sources is usually a mess.

The consequences of plagiarism vary depending on the type of plagiarism and the context in which it occurs. For example, submitting a whole paper by someone else will have the most severe consequences, while accidental citation errors are considered less serious.

If you’re a student, then you might fail the course, be suspended or expelled, or be obligated to attend a workshop on plagiarism. It depends on whether it’s your first offense or you’ve done it before.

As an academic or professional, plagiarizing seriously damages your reputation. You might also lose your research funding or your job, and you could even face legal consequences for copyright infringement.

Plagiarism has serious consequences , and can indeed be illegal in certain scenarios.

While most of the time plagiarism in an undergraduate setting is not illegal, plagiarism or self-plagiarism in a professional academic setting can lead to legal action, including copyright infringement and fraud. Many scholarly journals do not allow you to submit the same work to more than one journal, and if you do not credit a co-author, you could be legally defrauding them.

Even if you aren’t breaking the law, plagiarism can seriously impact your academic career. While the exact consequences of plagiarism vary by institution and severity, common consequences include: a lower grade, automatically failing a course, academic suspension or probation, or even expulsion.

Plagiarism is a form of theft, since it involves taking the words and ideas of others and passing them off as your own. As such, it’s academically dishonest and can have serious consequences .

Plagiarism also hinders the learning process, obscuring the sources of your ideas and usually resulting in bad writing. Even if you could get away with it, plagiarism harms your own learning.

Accidental plagiarism is one of the most common examples of plagiarism . Perhaps you forgot to cite a source, or paraphrased something a bit too closely. Maybe you can’t remember where you got an idea from, and aren’t totally sure if it’s original or not.

These all count as plagiarism, even though you didn’t do it on purpose. When in doubt, make sure you’re citing your sources . Also consider running your work through a plagiarism checker tool prior to submission, which work by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts.

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker takes less than 10 minutes and can help you turn in your paper with confidence.

Self-plagiarism means recycling work that you’ve previously published or submitted as an assignment. It’s considered academic dishonesty to present something as brand new when you’ve already gotten credit and perhaps feedback for it in the past.

If you want to refer to ideas or data from previous work, be sure to cite yourself.

If you’re concerned that you may have self-plagiarized, Scribbr’s Self-Plagiarism Checker can help you turn in your paper with confidence. It compares your work to unpublished or private documents that you upload, so you can rest assured that you haven’t unintentionally plagiarized.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2024, May 30). Consequences of Mild, Moderate & Severe Plagiarism. Scribbr. Retrieved September 4, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism/

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  • Open access
  • Published: 23 August 2024

Knowledge and practices of plagiarism among journal editors of Nepal

  • Krishna Subedi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5409-1751 1 ,
  • Nuwadatta Subedi 2 &
  • Rebicca Ranjit 3  

Research Integrity and Peer Review volume  9 , Article number:  9 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

160 Accesses

10 Altmetric

Metrics details

This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and ongoing practices of plagiarism among the journal editors of Nepal.

This web-based questionnaire analytical cross-sectional was conducted among journal editors working across various journals in Nepal. All journal editors from NepJOL-indexed journals in Nepal who provided e-consent were included in the study using a convenience sampling technique.

A final set of questionnaires was prepared using Google Forms, including six knowledge questions, three practice questions (with subsets) for authors, and four (with subsets) for editors. These were distributed to journal editors in Nepal via email, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and WhatsApp. Reminders were sent weekly, up to three times.

Data analysis was done in R software. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for the demographic variables, correct responses regarding knowledge, and practices related to plagiarism. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare mean knowledge with demographic variables. For all tests, statistical significance was set at p  < 0.05.

A total of 147 participants completed the survey.The mean age of the participants was found to be 43.61 ± 8.91 years. Nearly all participants were aware of plagiarism, and most had heard of both Turnitin and iThenticate. Slightly more than three-fourths correctly identified that citation and referencing can avoid plagiarism. The overall mean knowledge score was 5.32 ± 0.99, with no significant differences across demographic variables.

As authors, 4% admitted to copying sections of others' work without acknowledgment and reusing their own published work without proper citations. Just over one-fifth did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles. Fewer than half reported that their journals used authentic plagiarism detection software.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned through their journal. Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. Nearly all participants believe every journal must have plagiarism-detection software.

Conclusions

Although journal editors' knowledge and practices regarding plagiarism appear to be high, they are still not satisfactory. It is strongly recommended to use authentic plagiarism detection software by the journals and editors should be adequately trained and update their knowledge about it.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

With the rise in the number of publications, misconduct in research is increasing which is a global threat to evidence-based research [ 1 ]. The National Academy of Sciences in the United States (US) in 1992 defined misconduct in science as “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism, in proposing, performing, or reporting research” [ 2 ]. Plagiarism is possibly the most serious and widely recognized violations of ethical standards [ 3 ].

World Association of Medical Editors has defined plagiarism as the “use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source” [ 4 ]. The US Office of Research Integrity (ORI) defined plagiarism as “both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work. This does not pertain to authorship or credit disputes ” [ 5 ]. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author reuses sections of their previous writings on the same subject in another publication without providing proper citation using quotation marks [ 4 ].

Poor quality of the journal and lack of education regarding plagiarism are the two reasons besides many other reasons for plagiarism [ 6 ]. To overcome this problem, software (iThenticate, Turnitin, Grammarly, PlagScan, Plagiarism Scanner, etc.) has been developed to detect plagiarism [ 7 , 8 ].

Though the exact prevalence of plagiarism in Nepal is not known, several incidents related to plagiarism across universities have been reported [ 9 ]. Seven researchers, including professors and PhD students, were penalized after plagiarism was detected in Nepal [ 10 ].

Till date, there are no any published literature available regarding the knowledge and practices of editors regarding plagiarism in Nepal. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the knowledge and ongoing practices of plagiarism among the journal editors of Nepal.

Study design, setting, and participants

This was a web-based analytical cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted among journal editors working across various journals in Nepal. The data collection was done from 1st December 2023 to 30th April 2024.

All Nepali journals listed in Nepal Journal Online (NepJOL) with available Email IDs of the editorial team on their website and journals that have updated their website after 2020 were included. All journal editors from NepJOL-indexed journals in Nepal who provided e-consent were included in the study using a convenience sampling technique.

Data collection technique

Demographic characteristics including age, sex, education, province, duration of working in the journal, and number of publications were recorded.

The questionnaires included the knowledge and self-reported practice components. Knowledge components include ten items that were taken from previous research [ 11 ] as well as prepared by the authors. Self-reported practice components included practice as an author and practice as a journal editor. Self-reported practice as an author includes six items and as an editor includes four items. The content validity of the questionnaire was done by sending questions to five experts. Lynn indicated that at least three experts are required and five experts will provide a sufficient level of agreement whereas using more than 10 experts will be of no use in calculating the content validity [ 12 ]. Each member of the panel was asked to respond to the following question for each of the items: Is the skill (or knowledge) measured by this item for the essential scale to measure knowledge and practice of plagiarism among journal editors as 1 = Not essential; 2 = Useful but not essential; 3 = Essential, relevant scale as: 1 = Not relevant; 2 = Somewhat relevant (need some revision); 3 = Quite relevant (need minor revision); 4 = Very relevant and clarity scale as: 1 = Not clear; 2 = Item needs some revision; 3 = Very clear [ 13 ].

Content validity Index (CVI): CVI is the most widely reported approach for content validity in instrument development and can be computed using the Item-CVI (I-CVI). I-CVI is computed as the number of experts giving a rating of “very relevant” for each item divided by the total number of experts. Values range from 0 to 1 where the item is relevant if I-CVI > 0.79, the item needs revision if it is between 0.70 and 0.79, and if the value is below 0.70, the item is eliminated [ 14 , 15 ]. A I-CVIs ≥ 0.78 have excellent content validity [ 15 , 16 ].

Questions were distributed to five experts for content validation through email. Experts chosen were highly knowledgeable in research and plagiarism, and have experience working as editors for both national and international journals. Experts provided their opinions via email, and their responses were analyzed for the I-CVI. Two questions from the knowledge section and three questions from the practice as an author section were removed as the I-CVI score was less than 1.0. Therefore final set of questionnaire included eight questions for knowledge, three questions (with subsets) for practice as an author and four questions (with subsets) as an editor. Two questions from the knowledge Sect. (1. Are you aware of plagiarism? 2. Have you heard about any plagiarism detection software?) were put in the demographic sections as these questions could not measure the knowledge. Therefore a total of six questions were for the knowledge section. Each of the six questions had a single correct answer with a binary outcome coded as one for correct and zero for incorrect. Every correct answer was scored as one, while incorrect answers were scored as zero. An overall composite score was then calculated by summing the individual scores for each question. The highest possible knowledge score for each individual was six.

The prepared questionnaires underwent pilot testing among journal editors of a medical journal to assess readability and comprehension. Items in the questionnaire that were found to be confusing to the editors were subsequently revised.

The final questionnaires were prepared using Google Forms and sent via email, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Whats app to the various journal editors in Nepal. There were a total of 396 journals listed in NepJOL. Out of which 16 were no longer being published, 12 had not updated their journal since 2020, two had changed their name, 60 had no contact lists on their website on the date of March 15, 2024. Therefore a total of 306 journals were selected and 497 editors were contacted using their Email-Ids. In some journals, only the Email IDs of the Editor-in-Chief and/or managing editors were available, but not for all editorial teams. In such cases, an Email was sent to the designated address with a request to circulate the link to their editorial team members. NepJOL is a comprehensive database that features journals published in Nepal across various academic disciplines. All materials on NepJOL are freely available for viewing, searching, and browsing. However, the copyright of all content is retained by the journals or authors. This resource is managed by the Tribhuvan University Central Library and hosted by Ubiquity Press [ 17 ].

A set of questionnaire was sent a maximum of three times, once a week as a reminder. Questionnaires that were not responded to even after a reminder of three times were not considered in the analysis.

Dependent Variables: Knowledge and practice of journal editors.

Independent Variables: Sex, role in a journal, working province, working experience in journal (in years), and number of publications.

Ethical consideration and informed consent

Ethical clearance was obtained from Gandaki Medical College -Institutional Review Committee (ref no: 08/080/081-F). Electronic informed consent was taken from all participants before starting the survey. The survey was anonymous, and confidentiality was ensured.

Statistical analysis

All data in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet linked to the online survey Google form was imported into R. The frequencies and percentages were calculated for background characteristics, knowledge, and practice scores of plagiarism. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare mean knowledge with demographic variables. For all tests, statistical significance was set at p  < 0.05.

The reliability of the factors and scales was based on I-CVI value.

A total of 147 participants completed the survey with a response rate of 29.58% (147/497). The mean age of the participants was found to be 43.61 ± 8.91 (ranging from 22.0 to 67.0) years. More than two-thirds of the participants were male. Bagmati province accounted for over half of the participants, while Madhesh province represented less than 3%. Just over half of the participants had completed master's level education. Approximately half comprised the editorial team members. Slightly more than half of the participants were affiliated with biomedical journals. More than six out of every ten participants had published 10 or more research articles. Nearly all participants were aware of plagiarism, and the majority had heard of both plagiarism software: Turnitin and iThenticate (Table  1 ).

The majority of participants correctly answered questions about plagiarism, with almost everyone agreeing that plagiarism can be a severe form of ethical misconduct. Additionally, slightly more than three-fourths of participants correctly identified that citation and referencing can be used to avoid plagiarism (Table  2 ).

As an author, 4% had ever copied and pasted a section of someone's else work without acknowledgment and quotation as well as reused their published work without proper citations and references. Just over one-fifth of the participants did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles. Among those who did use such software, two-fifths utilized freely available online tools, while nearly a quarter used Turnitin, and another quarter used iThenticate (Table  3 ).

Fewer than half of the participants indicated that the journals they worked for used authentic plagiarism detection software. Among them almost half of the journal used iThenticate as a plagiarism detection software. Almost 18% didn't mentioned the name of software their journal were using.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned through their journal. Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. Nearly all participants believe it is necessary for every journal to have plagiarism detection software (Table  4 ).

The overall mean knowledge score of the participants was 5.32 ± 0.99. No significant difference was found in mean knowledge across various demographic variables (Table  5 ).

This study is unique compared to others on similar topics because it exclusively involves journal editors, whereas previous studies have not focused specifically on this group.

The reason for not conducting similar studies on journal editors might be the assumption that editors are already well aware of plagiarism, making it seem unnecessary to study their knowledge on the topic.

However, the authors of this study believe that not all editors and journals may be fully informed about plagiarism, and even if they are aware, they may not be practicing proper plagiarism control. It is crucial for those in central roles to thoroughly understand and implement anti-plagiarism measures. This ensures they can identify and minimize plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to their journals.

Due to a lack of similar studies, comparisons are made with the few available studies. A study conducted by Smart et al. among journal editors found that 2–5% of submitted manuscripts were plagiarized [ 18 ].

The results of the study showed that overall knowledge and practice related to plagiarism seem to be higher.

Bagmati province accounted for over half of the participants, while Madhesh province had less than 3%. Bagmati Province is the most populous in Nepal, and most developmental and research activities are highly centralized there compared to other provinces. Additionally, Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is located in Bagmati Province, where a larger number of journals and editors are based. This could explain the higher number of participants from this province. Additionally, the lack of personal communication with the editors form other provinces might be another contributing factor.

Nearly one in seven participants disagreed that using other’s image or video without receiving proper permission or providing appropriate citations is plagiarism. While this number may seem low in general, it is relatively high for journal editors. Journal editors should be well-trained and regularly updated on issues of plagiarism.

Almost 15% of the participants disagreed that paraphrasing or quoting can be used to avoid plagiarism which is higher as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ]. The reason may be due to the fact that most of the editors have completed master or Ph.D. courses and already have done research whereas in the study done by Phyo et al. involved postgraduate students.

More than one-fifth of the participants disagreed that citation and referencing can be used to avoid plagiarism which is lower as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ].

Around one in eleven disagreed that plagiarism detection software can be used to avoid or detect plagiarism which is lower as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ]. This supports the authors' opinion that not all editors are fully aware of or trained in handling plagiarism. Therefore, it's crucial for all journal editors to receive training and updates on plagiarism to effectively manage manuscripts and check for plagiarism. The other reason may be the accuracy of the software detection. Some software may not accurately detect plagiarism. It can incorrectly flag properly cited and referenced material as non-original content [ 19 ].

Almost 5% disagreed that authors reusing their previously written work or data in a ‘new’ written article without citation and referencing is plagiarism. This percentage is lower compared to university students, where one-quarter of the participants did not know that self-plagiarism is considered plagiarism [ 20 ].

Almost all agreed that plagiarism can be a very serious form of ethical misconduct. It is universally acknowledged that plagiarism is a serious ethical misconduct. Authors should be fully aware of this before writing a research manuscript to minimize or avoid instances of plagiarism.

Practice as an author

Almost 4% ever copied and pasted a section of someone else’s work without acknowledgment and quotation and a similar proportion reused their work that has been published in one journal without proper citations and references. There are no directly comparable studies. However, a study by Gupta et al. [ 21 ] reported that slightly less than one-fifth of the participants, who were editors and researchers, had published articles containing copied parts.

Just over one-fifth of the participants did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles which is almost similar to a study done by Gupta et al. [ 21 ] where one-fourth of the participants did not use any form of plagiarism detection software.

Practice as an editor

Fewer than half of the participants indicated that the journals they worked for used authentic plagiarism detection software. It is crucial for every journal to use authentic plagiarism detection software, as freely available online tools may not accurately detect all instances of plagiarism [ 22 ]. Cost may be a factor in choosing plagiarism detection software. Individuals can use freely available tools cautiously, but it is always recommended that journals or institutions use authentic, reliable software.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned to them, which is higher than the findings of Smart et al., where just under two-thirds reported experiencing some plagiarized submissions. The larger percentage in this study may be because participants only suspected plagiarism, while in the study by Smart et al., they reported confirmed cases of plagiarism [ 18 ]. This indicates that a significant number of manuscripts were suspected of plagiarism. To confirm these suspicions, reliable software should be used before corresponding with the authors.

Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. It is recommended to report detected plagiarism to both the author and the journal. Failure to do so can harm the author’s career and damage the journal’s reputation.

The primary reason that not all editors were well-informed about plagiarism may be that they were trained in editorial processing but did not receive specific training on plagiarism.

Limitations

Due to the use of convenience sampling and social media for data collection, the survey may have primarily attracted participants who were genuinely interested and had better knowledge. Those with less knowledge might not have participated, potentially leading to over-reporting. Social desirability bias could have occurred. This may lead to more positive responses in knowledge as well as in practice-based questionnaires. Since this study includes only journal editors from Nepal, its findings cannot be generalized beyond the country. However, the study participants include editors working in various areas of Nepal, covering a wide range of disciplines, the results could be generalized to the Nepalese population.

Although journal editors' knowledge and practices regarding plagiarism appear to be high, they are still not satisfactory. It is strongly recommended to use authentic plagiarism detection software by the journals and editors should be adequately trained and update their knowledge about it. Authors should also be aware of plagiarism and its consequences when writing and submitting a research manuscript to a journal.

Availability of data and materials

Data will be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author (Krishna Subedi).

Abbreviations

Content validity Index

Nepal Journal Online

Office of Research Integrity

United States

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KS participated in selecting the research title, conducted statistical analysis, contributed to the study design, and drafted the manuscript. KS, NS, and RR conducted the studies, literature search, and participated in data collection. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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