Andrew Morrison

Student ID 4030660
Assignment 2-1
4/9/2017

Plagiarism and My Plan

I remember hearing a few years back about a popular pastors resignation from

the Acts 29 church network, and though there were multiple reasons, I was shocked to

see plagiarism listed as one of those reasons. I was shocked because plagiarism

seems to be something most pastors and church goers seem to overlook. I can think of

countless examples of times where I have read a pastors blog post or short article,

which contained no sources or citations, even when they openly admit to quoting from

someone else's work. Its as if Christians are expected to be forgiving in this area and

let it pass.

But as Christians we need to be above reproach, and, as Romans 13 tells us,

we should give honor and credit where it is deserved. Learning how to properly cite my

sources protects myself from any accusations against me and honors my God by giving

proper credit to those to whom I have gleaned from. From this week's lesson I learned

both the importance and the precautions to take when it comes to plagiarism.

For plagiarism, its best to err on the side of caution when it comes to citations

rather than to fall under the accusation of plagiarism. As the authors warned us in the

book Students Guide to Writing Papers, they say, Many students fail to realize that they

risk a charge of plagiarism even when they are not intentionally dishonest, but only

ignorant or careless. If I take solid notes, I can easily go back and find my sources, and

if I ever doubt if i should use quotations or if I am paraphrasing too closely, that I should

be cautious and follow the steps to properly cite the source. Ignorance is no longer a
valid excuse in our day and age, and at college level courses, it's expected that I know

how and when to give proper credit to someone.

As a pastor and student, plagiarism is something I must watch out for. As a

pastor, when it comes to blog pages and sources, I need to be careful on how I use

paraphrases. As Perman and Taylor mentioned in their article, general

acknowledgments are not enough, Instead, each quoting, paraphrasing, or another's

idea needs to be given to the source. I think its best to always err on the side of caution

and just use proper quotations instead, and by giving credit on my sermon notes if I am

just using the structure of a sermon.

Another way I can protect myself from plagiarism is keeping good notes. If I track

all my sources and a quick summary next to them on what the source was, I can easily

go back to it in my writing and easily include the works cited information. If I don't have

notes, I can easily overlook where I got the resources from.

In our day and age, where information is so easily accessible, and with

technology that can scan an essay easily to track quotations or matches from another

source, I don't want to become another victim to intentional or ignorant plagiarism.

However, if I start from the beginning with good notes, and err on the side of caution,

and put in a little more effort, I can protect myself and my reputation.

Works CIted
Turabian, Kate L., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Student's guide to

writing college papers. Chicago: The U of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.

Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments ; NKJV, New King James

Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991. Print.