Reasons and ways to avoid plagiarism
Introduction
Referencing is of paramount importance in the academic world. Most students find this practice unnecessary or even annoying, and will be constantly wondering why teachers are so concerned about plagiarism. This apparent major fault has historical roots and reasons to be penalized and correct referencing is not something that comes from capricious decisions of academic authorities as some might think. Students committed to get the most out of their learning processes, should know why certain institutions, such as referencing, should be carefully observed. If a student wants to pursue a successful professional career, he or she must then be watchful and find ways to avoid being accused of plagiarism. This paper provides insight of the reasons why referencing is so important in the academic and professional world, as well as some ways of making sure a writing piece is not flawed with plagiarism.
Why is referencing important?
Humans like to be recognized for what they produce and they produce a lot of things. From art to the many mechanical devices we depend on in our everyday life, they are all a product of someone´s creative work, or a collection of ideas put together to solve a particular problem. The same way it would be dishonest to claim being the inventors of the car or the computer (and make money out of them), it is dishonest to take credit for someone else´s ideas. Ideas are products as well, and using them without acknowledging the intellectual effort of their authors is considered theft.
The invention of printing transformed writing into an article of mass consumption, and some people started making a living out of their writing skills, so it became necessary to protect their products since others could be tempted to emulate or even copy them , without even giving credit to their source of inspiration. This gave way to our extensive copyright legal apparatus, dedicated to protect the ideas, essays, articles, books, songs, plays and movies made by others. In fact, The 1710 statute of Anne, was the first attempt to protect ideas, as it “established both copyright for the authors of books and other writings, and the principle of a fixed term of protection against piracy for published works” .
Competition among authors made referencing something of utmost importance in the academic field. Since quality intellectual production is often rewarded, in terms of money or academic recognition, rewards must go to the producer. So it is just fair that when ideas that were thought by others are used, one should give credit to their rightful owner. Referencing is what we use in order to respect this tradition, and is defined as “the practice of acknowledging in your own writing the intellectual work of others” .
Plagiarism and how to avoid it
In the academic environment, professors encourage students to learn how to reference properly, but it can be perceived simply as a bothersome requirement for better marks. Students sometimes see that the benefit of cheating outweighs the cost of being caught, and the access to internet appears to have a mixed impact on academic research. The internet gives tools to students that make plagiarism very tempting , and students can now even hire someone to write a paper for them , so chances are that many would try to take advantage of these tools.
One way to encourage students to be more responsible with their work is to help them develop writing skills and confidence, this way it is less likely that they engage in plagiarism practices . But an even more effective way can be giving students clear steps for avoiding plagiarism since some students, and academics, don´t even realize when they are committing an act of intellectual theft . One other way is to give clear repercussions “when an author chooses to use someone else’s words as his or her own without proper citation” . Plagiarism is sometimes hard to detect, but after years of experience, professors can discern when an idea has been copied by detecting changes in style, use of unfamiliar words and incorrect spelling . They can also use electronic tools for detecting plagiarism as well, and they are very common now. Most British institutions take strong disciplinary actions against plagiarism in an attempt to discourage students from doing it .
Roy Don Baker, editor-in-chief of the Association of Operating Room Nurses Journal, describes 6 steps for making sure a work does not contain any form of plagiarism. According to her, when writing an article we should inform the readers where the ideas we are using came from, review all available literature in order to know if our ideas are in fact original or were presented in a different way before, check the relevance of material used and make sure the content cited is not taken out of context or if it indeed supports our argument, respect the rights of publishers and avoid self-plagiarism, respect the rules of citing and quoting in order to properly record and attribute ideas to their authors, and take time to a thorough revision before submitting our work .
There is one other issue that causes confusion at the time of referencing. Sometimes it is hard to know when to do it. At school it is made obvious that anything taken from a published document should be cited, but it is also necessary to give credit when we take ideas from songs, TV programs, movies, the internet, a computer program, an advertisement, an interview, a conversation we have over the phone or face to face, and any graphic element or media we use in our work . Of course there are things that can´t be cited such as personal experiences, products of our own effort such as results from an experiment or lab practice, our own conclusions, an artwork made by ourselves, and things that are considered common knowledge or generally accepted facts . Something can be considered as common knowledge if it can be found “undocumented in at least five credible sources” .
Conclusion
Referencing should not be simply regarded as a requirement for better marks. It is a way of paying homage to the authors that gave us the grounds for our own ideas. It is then a good idea that teachers instill a sense of responsibility and help them develop confidence in their writing skills. It is also important to know how and when to cite in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism, sometimes writers do it unintentionally and never realize it, so it is a good idea to follow the 6 R´s of avoiding plagiarism and make sure our ideas are indeed our own. Professors can help students get familiar with revision software too, so they can check their work before they submit it, thus having a chance to correct their own mistakes and avoid bad markings.
References
Anderson, I. (2009). Avoiding plagiarism in academic writing. Nursing Standard, 23(18), 35-37.
Baker, J. D. (2012). The seven r´s of supporting opinion and avoiding plagiarism. Association of Operating Room Nurses, 96(5), 465-468.
Neville, C. (2007). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Stolley, K., Brizee, A., & Paiz, J. (2013, February 13). Is it plagiarism yet? Retrieved June 5, 2013, from Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/
