The word "plagiarism" sounds frightening for all the people who at least once faced with the scientific work writing or the creation of some creative products like paintings, for example. Since the word “plagiarism” has only one meaning, the most suitable synonym to it is “stealing”. In other words, if someone`s idea was used by someone else without mentioning the author`s name, it is called plagiarism. It looks simple, but there are still people who do not understand the seriousness of the problem of plagiarism, that is why it is necessary to give some additional explanation on this subject. Everyone who creates an idea (or something new), applies to this much effort. That is why it is necessary to preserve the memory of authorship. Therefore, to avoid the theft of other people's ideas, it is necessary to remember a few rules. If some of the ideas were borrowed from another author, it is necessary to take a direct quotation in quotation marks and indicate the author`s name, year of publication and page. Or, if this is a common theory, taken from another author, it is necessary to mention his or her name and the name of the publication. It should be said that avoidance of plagiarism is something like good manners in the scientific world.
In order to avoid plagiarism, students and scientists often use databases where they can find and read existing research on a topic of interest. In order to understand the whole process, it is necessary to provide an example. The database PsycINFO is perfect for searching for articles in psychology journals. For example, if in this case we want to find articles regarding the father`s influence on children early development, it is necessary to type proper key words in the search line on the database`s website. After typing a phrase “father children family”, and applying such filters as “Journal Article” and “Children”, we see 17 results. One of which perfectly satisfies our search. It is “Fathers' Influence on Children's Cognitive and Behavioural Functioning: A Longitudinal Study of Canadian Families” by Erin Pougnet et al. (2011). This article can also be found at the WSU website. A hard copy of this article can also be found at WSU.
The article, which was found, tells about how the presence of fathers in the parenting process influences children`s progress in development. For this aim the authors analyzed family experience of sample. The results show that girls have less discomfort or problems in preadolescence if their father was present during their middle childhood (Pougnet at al., 2011). Moreover, all the children, whose childhood was spent with fathers` presence, demonstrated higher IQ level (Pougnet at al., 2011).
After reading this article, at its reference list at the end of the article, there are many used articles listed. So in order to find some additional information on this topic, we copy the name of the proper article from the reference list, and then search it at the PsycINFO. It was also easy to find that article in the database. This article is called “Father's Presence and Young Children's Behavioral and Cognitive Adjustment” (Crockett et al., 1993). The authors of this study make accent at the importance of the biological fathers in children`s adjustment in life. The results of this study are rather surprising. It is said that father`s presence has positive effects, but not the unique ones. Probably that is because in 1993, when the article was written, “highly involved fathers appeared to be relatively rare” (Crockett et al., 1993). That is why at that time that was rather difficult to have a representative sample for the study.
At the end, it is necessary to conclude some important things. It is not difficult to avoid plagiarism. All that is needed is to look for the proper article at the database, study it, and then cite it properly.
“I, ______________________________________________, verify that this assignment is my original work.”
References
Crockett, L. J., Eggebeen, D. J., & Hawkins, A. J. (1993). Father's presence and young children's behavioral and cognitive adjustment. Journal of Family issues, 14(3), 355-377.
Pougnet, E., Serbin, L. A., Stack, D. M., & Schwartzman, A. E. (2011). Fathers' influence on children's cognitive and behavioural functioning: A longitudinal study of Canadian families. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 43(3), 173.
