What is Plagiarism?
Academic Dishonesty and Copyright Violations are College Concerns
If you get caught, plagiarism can end you college career. But if you don't get caught, plagiarism can be the reason your college never succeeds in teaching you to think.
One of the most common problems that students have in college revolves around the issue of plagiarism. There are really two sides of the issue. On the one hand, some students do it and are punished by their college or university for committing plagiarism. That punishment can be severe. On the other hand, some students do it and get away with it, over and over again. That can mean that they graduate from college without developing essential critical thinking skills.
Defining Plagiarism
Plagiarism, according to Wikipedia is "the practice of claiming or implying original authorship of (or incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one's own without adequate acknowledgement."
The Oxford English Dictionary is more concise: '"to take and use as one's own the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another."
Many students today have a oversimplified view of plagiarism. They think that plagiarism involves stealing other people's words. But stealing other people's ideas and rewording them to make them sound like they're yours is also plagiarism.
Policies on Plagiarism
Harvard's policy on plagiarism is typical, if politely phrased: "Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, and ordinarily required to withdraw from the College."
But Harvard is an Ivy league school. So you may not believe that all schools are that strict. If that's the case, perhaps you should look at the plagiarism policy of the University of Mississippi: "The faculty member shall inform the student of the recommended sanction. If this recommended sanction is less than probation, suspension, or expulsion and is accepted by the student, the matter shall stop at this point."
In other words, plagiarism at Ole Miss can result in you being expelled. While there may be a graduated scale of some sort to judge plagiarism at your school, the chances are very good that you can be expelled for it.
The Difference Between Plagiarism and Copyright Violation
In today's world of instant access to information over the Internet, the distinction between plagiarism and copyright violation has been muddied considerably. This is an appropriate place to try and explain the distinction.
Plagiarism is an honesty issue. It involves trying to convince someone (like your college professor) that an idea or a written piece of work is original to you when the truth is that someone else thought of it first and you got it from them. Colleges depend on academic honesty to ensure the quality of education. Academic dishonesty is so incompatible with the philosophy of most liberal arts college that if you're caught at it very often you'll be asked to leave. But plagiarism in and of itself is not a crime or a legal offense. It's not illegal, it's just dishonest.
Copyright violation occurs when you use the actual words (or images) of someone else without their permission. It is a civil offense - something you may owe them compensation (money) for, and something that your college may get upset about because they may share in your liability if you used college equipment to commit copyright violation. You can be sued.
There doesn't have to be any real dishonesty involved in copyright violation. You liked an article from the newspaper, so you made 25 photocopies and gave it away to friends. The newspaper had copyrighted the article, and if they find out about what you did, they may feel like you owe them the price of 25 newspapers. They'd probably be right...
If you copy someone else's words exactly and turn it in as your own word, there's a good chance you've committed both plagiarism and copyright violation. But the two are different things.
Plagiarism's Ultimate Price
The biggest consequence of plagiarism really is quite simple. College assignments are often intended to strengthen your ability to think. Why you steal someone else's ideas, you never learn to come up with your own.
