Hailey College of Commerce University of Punjab, Lahore

Advance Research Methodology

Topic : Plagiarism
Submitted to : sir Sajid Javed Akbar
Submitted by : Asma Tariq
Roll No. : 109 “Afternoon”
M.com Hons.

What is Plagiarism?
Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work, or borrowing someone
else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the
seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means
• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existi
ng source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone
else's work and lying about it afterward.
But can words and ideas really be stolen?
According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is co
nsidered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like or
iginal inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protectio
n as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
• turning in someone else's work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without gi
ving credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majori
ty of your work, whether you give credit or not .
Types of Plagiarism
Anyone who has written or graded a paper knows that plagiarism is not always a b
lack and white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is often uncl
ear. Learning to recognize the various forms of plagiarism, especially the more
ambiguous ones, is an important step towards effective prevention. Many people t
hink of plagiarism as copying another's work, or borrowing someone else's origin
al ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness
of the offense:
Educational tips on plagiarism prevention
The most important steps in preventing plagiarism are those taken to address its
causes. The strategies in this section are intended as guidelines to help you:
1. become aware of the reasons plagiarism occurs
2. identify the different forms of plagiarism
3. integrate plagiarism prevention techniques into your courses
Why Students Plagiarize
There are many reasons students plagiarize. Sometimes deadlines come around more
quickly than expected, sometimes assignments feel overwhelming, and sometimes t
he boundaries of plagiarism and research just get confused.
Intentional Plagiarism
Just like hacking into websites, plagiarizing papers can be something of a thril
l in itself. For many students it becomes a question of ingenuity: "can I sneak
a plagiarized paper past my professor?" But there is usually more behind intenti
onal plagiarism than just the thrill of deception.
Unintentional Plagiarism
No honest student would walk out of a neighbors' house accidentally carrying the
ir television. But even the most well-intentioned writers sometimes "appropriate
" the work of others without proper authority.
Facts about plagiarism
Here are some recent findings reguarding plagiarism:
• A study by The Center for Academic Integrity found that almost 80% of co
llege students admit to cheating at least once.
• According to a survey by the Psychological Record 36% of undergraduates
have admitted to plagiarizing written material.
• A poll conducted by US News and World Reports found that 90% of students
believe that cheaters are either never caught or have never been appropriately
disciplined.
• The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next (Free Press, July 1
996) states that 58.3% of high school students let someone else copy their work
in 1969, and 97.5% did so in 1989.
• According to the Gallup Organization (October 6-9, 2000), the top two pr
oblems facing the country today are: 1) Education and 2) Decline in Ethics (both
were ranked over crime, poverty, drugs, taxes, guns, environment, and racism, t
o name a few).
• A national survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students
admitted to plagiarizing from the internet; 74% of students admitted that at le
ast once during the past school year they had engaged in "serious" cheating; and
47% of students believe their teachers sometimes choose to ignore students who
are cheating.
And although many instructors are aware of the problem, most feel powerless to s
top it.
Plagiarism and the internet
Plagiarism has never been easier than it is today. Before the internet, cheating
was labor-intensive and obvious. Potential plagiarists had to find appropriate
works from a limited pool of resources, usually a nearby library, and copy them
by hand. Since these resources were almost always professionally written, the ri
sk of detection was very high.
The Internet now makes it easy to find thousands of relevant sources in seconds,
and in the space of a few minutes plagiarists can find, copy, and paste togethe
r an entire term paper or essay. Because much of the material online is produced
by other students, it is often difficult or impossible for educators to identif
y plagiarism based on expectations of student-level work.
Even when an instructor does suspect plagiarism, the sheer size of the internet
seems to work in the plagiarist's favor. Search engines can be useful for tracki
ng down suspect passages, but even they have their limitations, given the number
, variety, and password-protected nature of many websites. Even where search eng
ines do prove useful, manually searching the internet for matches of hundreds of
student papers can be a formidable task.
Additionally, the seemingly "public" nature of online content blurs the distinct
ion between publicly and privately owned information. Electronic resources, by n
ature easily reproducible, are not perceived as "intellectual property" in the s
ame way that their material counterparts are. Just as file transfer programs suc
h as Napster make it easy to trade copyrighted music files most people would nev
er think to steal in physical form, the internet makes plagiarism easy for stude
nts who might have thought twice about copying from a book or published article.
Perhaps the greatest resources for would-be plagiarists are the hundreds of onli
ne paper-mills, or "cheatsites", that exist solely for the purpose of providing
students with quick-fix homework and term-paper solutions. Many of these service
s contain hundreds of thousands of papers on a wide variety of topics, and some
even offer customized papers for an additional fee. The fact that many of these
sites have become profitable ventures (complete with paid advertising!) only att
ests to the unfortunate truth that plagiarism has become a booming industry.
Turnitin created The Learning Center because we believe preemptive education is
the most effective way to prevent plagiarism. We also know some students will pl
agiarize regardless. If you are an educator and have used plagiarism education p
reemptively in your classroom, but still suspect many of your students are plagi
arizing, automated plagiarism detection can be an enormously effective deterrent
. Click here if you would like to find out more about Turnitin's plagiarism prev
ention system and other online learning tools.

Refernce
Internet (www.goggle .com)