What_Is_Plagiarism_

What is Plagiarism' Doward E. Crawford Colorado Technical University Online What Is Plagiarism' Plagiarism is often thought of as just copying someone else’s work and using it as your own. Plagiarism means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own”. Or “to use (another's production) without crediting the source” (Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary 2010). In other words, plagiarism is essentially cheating and fraud. It involves taking and using someone else's work as your own and then not giving the author of the work any credit (Plagiarism.org). Plagiarism is so important at school, and in the work place, because it keeps people from utilizing and then taking credit for someone else’s work. In school, you are learning so much information, through so many different sources, that it would be so easy to plagiarize someone’s work. Most people assume that taking ideas from other’s work is pretty much plagiarism. What they usually miss is that they need to give credit where credit is due by citing the work that they used. You not only have to use the in-text citations, but you also need to insert a bibliography reference at the end of your paper. It is not just a problem confined to academics. Plagiarism can also be found in the workplace. For instance, I’m sure that there have been several newspaper journalists that may have taken some information from other journalists or magazine writers and used it for themselves, whether knowingly or not, and didn’t give the proper credit to the original author. With the Internet being so easily accessible, it can cause numerous ethical problems. With there being so much information and so many different sources on the Internet, it is extremely easy for anyone to take someone else’s work and use it as their own. Also, with this being the case, you start to have problems such as integrity issues and trust issues. No one wants to work with or be acquainted with someone that they cannot trust in that manner. Who would trust you to do a job when you have been suspected of accepting credit for someone else’s work' Do you really know what you are doing' Nobody wants to have their supervisor or coworker taking credit for the work that they achieved and even a fellow student. Especially, after all the hard work that they put into the job. Would you want your professor teaching you if they got the credentials, but did not do the work when he or she was in school' I do not think so. He or she probably would not know any more than you. Being able to deal with these issues is the question we need to answer. One way to deal with this is to ensure that you do your homework. Gather all the appropriate information in order to cite all information that you use from any of your sources. Also, make sure that you include a reference page at the end of your paper containing the correct information in the proper format for the style of paper that you are writing. Be sure that you are being true to yourself and your work. It is all about honesty and being able to use your own thinking skills and writing skills. REFERENCES Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2010). Retrieved from http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html