Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work.[1][2]

Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like penalties, suspension, and even expulsion. Recently, cases of "extreme plagiarism" have been identified in academia.[3]The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe in the 18th century, particularly with the Romantic movement.

Plagiarism is not in itself a crime, but can constitute copyright infringement. In academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offense.[4][5] Plagiarism and copyright infringement overlap to a considerable extent, but they are not equivalent concepts, and many types of plagiarism do not constitute copyright infringement, which is defined by copyright law and may be adjudicated by courts. Plagiarism is not defined or punished by law, but rather by institutions (including professional associations, educational institutions, and commercial entities, such as publishing companies).

Etymology
In the 1st century, the use of the Latin word plagiarius (literally "kidnapper") to denote stealing someone else's work was pioneered by the Roman poet Martial, who complained that another poet had "kidnapped his verses". Plagiary, a derivative of plagiarus, was introduced into English in 1601 by dramatist Ben Jonson during the Jacobean Era to describe someone guilty of literary theft.[4][6]

The derived form plagiarism was introduced into English around 1620.[7] The Latin plagiārius, "kidnapper", and plagium, "kidnapping", have the root plaga ("snare", "net"), based on the Indo-European root *-plak, "to weave" (seen for instance in Greek plekein, Bulgarian "плета" pleta, and Latin plectere, all meaning "to weave").

Legal aspects
Although plagiarism in some contexts is considered theft or stealing, the concept does not exist in a legal sense, although the use of someone else's work in order to gain academic credit may meet some legal definitions of fraud.[8]"Plagiarism" specifically is not mentioned in any current statute, either criminal or civil.[9][5] Some cases may be treated as unfair competition or a violation of the doctrine of moral rights.[5] The increased availability of copyrighted material due to the development of information technology has furthered the debate as to whether copyright offences are criminal.[citation needed] In short, people are asked to use the guideline, "if you did not write it yourself, you must give credit".[10]

Plagiarism is not the same as copyright infringement. While both terms may apply to a particular act, they are different concepts, and false claims of authorship generally constitute plagiarism regardless of whether the material is protected by copyright. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material whose use is restricted by copyright is used without consent. Plagiarism, in contrast, is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author's reputation, or the obtaining of academic credit, that is achieved through false claims of authorship. Thus, plagiarism is considered a moral offense against the plagiarist's audience (for example, a reader, listener, or teacher).

Plagiarism is also considered a moral offense against anyone who has provided the plagiarist with a benefit in exchange for what is specifically supposed to be original content (for example, the plagiarist's publisher, employer, or teacher). In such cases, acts of plagiarism may sometimes also form part of a claim for breach of the plagiarist's contract, or, if done knowingly, for a civil wrong.

In academia and journalism
Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, and offenders are subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion. Some institutions use plagiarism detection software to uncover potential plagiarism and to deter students from plagiarizing. Some universities address the issue of academic integrity by providing students with thorough orientations, required writing courses, and clearly articulated honor codes[citation needed]. Indeed, there is a virtually uniform understanding among college students that plagiarism is wrong[citation needed]. Nevertheless, each year students are brought before their institutions’ disciplinary boards on charges that they have misused sources in their schoolwork."[11] However, the practice of plagiarizing by use of sufficient word substitutions to elude detection software, known as rogeting, has rapidly evolved as students and unethical academics seek to stay ahead of detection software.[12]

An extreme form of plagiarism, known as contract cheating involves students paying someone else, such as an essay mill, to do their work for them.[8]

In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, and reporters caught plagiarizing typically face disciplinary measures ranging from suspension to termination of employment[citation needed]. Some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic or journalistic contexts claim that they plagiarized unintentionally, by failing to include quotations or give the appropriate citation. While plagiarism in scholarship and journalism has a centuries-old history, the development of the Internet, where articles appear as electronic text, has made the physical act of copying the work of others much easier.[13]

Predicated upon an expected level of learning/comprehension having been achieved, all associated academic accreditation becomes seriously undermined if plagiarism is allowed to become the norm within academic submissions.[14]

For professors and researchers, plagiarism is punished by sanctions ranging from suspension to termination, along with the loss of credibility and perceived integrity.[15][16] Charges of plagiarism against students and professors are typically heard by internal disciplinary committees, by which students and professors have agreed to be bound.[17] Plagiarism is a common reason for academic research papers to be retracted.[18]

Academia
One form of academic plagiarism involves appropriating a published article and modifying it slightly to avoid suspicion.

No universally adopted definition of academic plagiarism exists[19]; however, this section provides several definitions to exemplify the most common characteristics of academic plagiarism.

According to Bela Gipp[20] academic plagiarism encompasses:

The definition by B. Gipp is an abridged version of Teddi Fishman's definition of plagiarism, which proposed five elements characteristic of plagiarism.[21] According to T. Fishman, plagiarism occurs when someone: Furthermore, plagiarism is defined differently among institutions of higher learning and universities:
 * 1) Uses words, ideas, or work products
 * 2) Attributable to another identifiable person or source
 * 3) Without attributing the work to the source from which it was obtained
 * 4) In a situation in which there is a legitimate expectation of original authorship
 * 5) In order to obtain some benefit, credit, or gain which need not be monetary[21]
 * Stanford sees plagiarism as the "use, without giving reasonable and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or source, of another person's original work, whether such work is made up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other form."[22]
 * Yale views plagiarism as the "... use of another's work, words, or ideas without attribution," which includes "... using a source's language without quoting, using information from a source without attribution, and paraphrasing a source in a form that stays too close to the original."
 * Princeton perceives plagiarism as the "deliberate" use of "someone else's language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source."[23]
 * Oxford College of Emory University characterizes plagiarism as the use of "a writer's ideas or phraseology without giving due credit."[24]
 * Brown defines plagiarism as "... appropriating another person's ideas or words (spoken or written) without attributing those word or ideas to their true source."[25]
 * The U.S. Naval Academy defines plagiarism as "the use of the words, information, insights, or ideas of another without crediting that person through proper citation."[26]

Common forms of student plagiarism
According to "The Reality and Solution of College Plagiarism"[27][better source needed] created by the Health Informatics department of the University of Illinois at Chicago there are 10 main forms of plagiarism that students commit:
 * 1) Submitting someone's work as their own.
 * 2) Taking passages from their own previous work without adding citations.
 * 3) Re-writing someone's work without properly citing sources.
 * 4) Using quotations, but not citing the source.
 * 5) Interweaving various sources together in the work without citing.
 * 6) Citing some, but not all passages that should be cited.
 * 7) Melding together cited and uncited sections of the piece.
 * 8) Providing proper citations, but fails to change the structure and wording of the borrowed ideas enough.
 * 9) Inaccurately citing the source.
 * 10) Relying too heavily on other people's work. Fails to bring original thought into the text.

Sanctions for student plagiarism
In the academic world, plagiarism by students is usually considered a very serious offense that can result in punishments such as a failing grade on the particular assignment, the entire course, or even being expelled from the institution[citation needed]. Generally, the punishment increases as a person enters higher institutions of learning[citation needed]. The seriousness with which academic institutions address student plagiarism may be tempered by a recognition that students may not fully understand what plagiarism is. A 2015 study showed that students who were new to university study did not have a good understanding of even the basic requirements of how to attribute sources in written academic work, yet students were very confident that they understood what referencing and plagiarism are.[28] The same students also had a lenient view of how plagiarism should be penalised.

For cases of repeated plagiarism, or for cases in which a student commits severe plagiarism (e.g., purchasing an assignment), suspension or expulsion may occur. There has been historic concern about inconsistencies in penalties administered for university student plagiarism, and a plagiarism tariff was devised in 2008 for UK higher education institutions in an attempt to encourage some standardization of approaches.[29]

However, to impose sanctions, plagiarism needs to be detected. Strategies faculty members use to detect plagiarism include carefully reading students work and making note of inconsistencies in student writing, citation errors and providing plagiarism prevention education to students.[30] It has been found that a significant share of (university) teachers do not use detection methods such as using text-matching software.[31] A few more try to detect plagiarism by reading term-papers specifically for plagiarism, while the latter method might be not very effective in detecting plagiarism – especially when plagiarism from unfamiliar sources needs to be detec-F***! This is just the wikipedia article for the same thing! How can you get more ironic?