Plagiarism is the appropriation of authorship to someone else's work of science, literature, art or someone else's discovery, invention or rationalization proposal, as well as the use in his writings of someone else's work without reference to the author.
So, the meaning of the word plagiarism has been known since the 17th century. This term was used when he characterized the literary theft. As for more ancient times, in Roman law there was the concept of "plagium," which was the name of selling a free man into slavery. The punishment for such an act was scourged. To date, the lexical meaning of this term evolved a bit, and now he stands for the assignment of copyright, which is carried out by publishing someone else's works or any part thereof under his own name.
Now a single, comprehensive and universally accepted definition of plagiarism does not exist. For example, there are such definitions of this concept:
• to steal an idea or words of another person and pass them off as your own;
• use the results of another person's work without indicating the source from which they were taken;
• fully or partially to steal artistic, scientific or other work, or work and presenting them as their own;
• to present an existing idea or product as new and original. (Comstock, Gary)
The existence of science is impossible without the development, the emergence of new knowledge. This idea emphasized in his report to the German historian and sociologist Max Weber: "Perfect work of art will never be surpassed and will never become obsolete; a single individual for him could assess its value, but nobody will ever be able to say about artistically perfect work, that it "surpassed" the other work, equally perfect". (Comstock, Gary) In the opinion of the scientist this is the meaning of science, which is completely lost as a result of plagiarism.
Borrowing, of course, possible and even necessary, but they must be accompanied by references to the author. Plagiarism is not only direct quotation without specifying the source of borrowing, but it is also the abuse of quotes and paraphrase other people's thoughts in your own words, and compilation from multiple sources, and self-plagiarism.
Any person who, anyway, is faced with information in one form or another, you should know that plagiarism is a violation of copyrights, patents and personal rights. Therefore, for such actions are provided not only civil but also criminal liability. And, if you decide to use any information, ask the author whether he is against your actions. It is best to obtain written confirmation.
In conclusion I would like to emphasize that plagiarism is an imitation of scientific work, and it does not move the science forward, and thus not contributes to the development of human society. Even borrowing some ideas and regulations, a real scientist exposes their intellectual processing, presenting new scientific knowledge, and new approach to the problem. Therefore, the fight against plagiarism is a struggle for the very existence of science and the future of mankind.
Work Cited
Comstock, Gary. Research Ethics: A Philosophical Guide To The Responsible Conduct Of Research. 1st ed., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012,.
